Middle East

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UK About-Face On Sailors Selling Stories

Public outcry leads to ban on further embarrassing interviews

(Newser) - The British Ministry of Defense bowed to public opinion last night and banned further media deals for the sailors and marines released from captivity in Iran. The decision to let the detainees sell their stories had "not reached a satisfactory outcome," the defense secretary said.

Israel Begs to Differ With Pelosi Statement

PM's office distances itself from speaker's promise of talks

(Newser) - The Israeli PM is backing off from Nancy Pelosi's suggestion yesterday that an Israeli-Syrian summit is in the offing. Pelosi told reporters that she had conveyed to  Syria's Bashar al-Assad a message that Ehud Olmert was "ready to engage in peace talks." Olmert's office quickly responded that it...

Baghdad Merchants Beg to Differ With McCain

Say sunny security assessment is phony

(Newser) - Of course John McCain found Baghdad's central market perfectly safe during his weekend visit: He came with 100 soldiers in armored Humvees, backed by attack helicopters and sharpshooters. In a follow-up visit, Kirk Semple of the New York Times found merchants  incredulous at the Congressional delegation's sunny description of the...

Olmert Offers Talks With Arab Leaders

Cites Saudi peace plan as positive step

(Newser) - Ehud Olmert says he's keen for multilateral talks with Arab leaders, after a Saudi summit last week produced the outlines of a peace plan, Haaretz reports. "The readiness to accept Israel as a fact and to debate the terms of a future solution is a step that I...

Thompson Joins Race for 2008
Thompson Joins Race for 2008
Apr 2, 2007 6:18 AM CDT

Thompson Joins Race for 2008

Claims he's the only real conservative in the GOP field

(Newser) - Former governor and Bush cabinet member Tommy Thompson announced  for president yesterday, staking a claim to the territory to the right of the other GOP contenders. "I am the reliable conservative, my record shows that,"  said the one-time secretary of Health and Human Services and four-term governor...

Saudi King Calls Iraq War Illegal
Saudi King Calls Iraq War Illegal
Mar 29, 2007 8:53 AM CDT

Saudi King Calls Iraq War Illegal

Latest evidence of breach with ally

(Newser) - King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia fired a warning shot at the Bush administration yesterday, calling Iraq “an illegal foreign occupation” and urging Arab leaders to unite to prevent U.S. domination of the region.  The Saudis "are telling the U.S. they need to listen to their...

Ian Paisley Does the Unthinkable
Ian Paisley Does the Unthinkable
Mar 28, 2007 7:01 PM CDT

Ian Paisley Does the Unthinkable

Middle East Can Learn From Northern Ireland

(Newser) - "Watching this stooped white-haired man reverse a lifetime's course made one feel that change might be possible in other intractable situations," writes Trudy Rubin of Ian Paisley's meeting with Gerry Adams to agree on power sharing in Northern Ireland. The "other situation" Rubin has in mind is ...

Iran Promises Female Soldier's Release

Britain steps up pressure by freezing business activity

(Newser) - Iran promised to release by Friday the female sailor captured along with 15 men in a British patrol boat last week. England stepped up pressure to free  the soldiers by cutting off "bilateral business" and publicizing secret documents which mark its boat nearly two miles from Iranian waters at...

Klein: War on Terror Has Hurt Israel
Klein: War on Terror Has Hurt Israel
Mar 26, 2007 12:33 PM CDT

Klein: War on Terror Has Hurt Israel

Hawks in the Bush administration were pro-Israel, but the results weren't

(Newser) - "As a Jew, I am embarrassed by the role that so many prominent Jews have had in empowering the enemy," Joe Klein writes in a blog from Jerusalem, noting the number of neoconservatives in the Bush  war machine who had close ties to the Israeli government. Klein says...

Sunni Baghdad Lies in Ruins as Shiites Rebuild

Insurgents target efforts to provide food, fuel, services

(Newser) - Baghdad's Sunni neighborhoods are in collapse, lacking food, fuel,  electricity and health care even as their Shiite neighbors have regained basic services, Alissa Rubin reports. In Shiite areas, the Mahdi Army fills in for the government by keeping order and organizing resources, but Sunnis now find themselves under attack...

Iraqi Refugees Flood Into Syria and Jordan

Iraqis are fleeing to their neighbors by the millions, while the U.S. sits pretty

(Newser) - The Iraq war has created nearly two million refugees, and they're going largely ignored by world governments, the UN warns. "There has been an abject denial of the impact, the humanitarian impact, of the war," says a UN refugee agency spokesperson. Most of the refugees stream into neighboring...

Iraqi Bombers Use Kids to Get Through Checkpoint

(Newser) - Insurgents in Baghdad used two children in the backseat of a car to lower suspicion at an American security checkpoint, then blew up the car, with the children in it.  Once they cleared the checkpoint, the bombers parked near a school, ran from the car, and detonated the bomb,...

Kelley: Bush Offspring Should Be Serving in Iraq

(Newser) - While the president has been busy assuring Americans that Iraq is a "noble" war, among those who haven't been listening are his wife, his children and his nieces and nephews, observes Kitty Kelley, who chronicled the Bush clan in 2004. The first family is AWOL on the war effort,...

U.S. Stiffs Brits in Friendly Fire Investigation

British coroner calls soldier's 2003 death "criminal"

(Newser) - The British government is taking aim at the U.S. military for its role in covering up the 2003 friendly-fire death of a British solider in Iraq. A coroner’s report Friday ruled Lance Cpl. Matty Hull’s death at the hands of American pilots avoidable—and criminal—but the...

Gunmen Ambush Sadr City Mayor
Gunmen Ambush Sadr City Mayor
Mar 16, 2007 12:07 PM CDT

Gunmen Ambush Sadr City Mayor

Target was key figure in U.S. efforts to disarm militia, create jobs

(Newser) - The mayor of Sadr City was wounded and his police chief killed in an ambush yesterday, creating new challenges for the U.S. military effort to bring security to the Shiite stronghold and rein in the Mahdi Army. The mayor, Rahim al-Daraji, has been a key figure in negotiating with...

A Generation Is Lost to Violence
A Generation Is Lost to Violence
Mar 12, 2007 2:19 PM CDT

A Generation Is Lost to Violence

Palestinians coming of age have no jobs, no hopes, no agenda but resistance

(Newser) - The generation of Palestinians now coming of age—and 56.4 percent of the population is under 19—have no hopes for peace, only of a lifetime of “resistance.”  Growing up through two intifadas, they are isolated from the world, divided amongst themselves, and surrounded by violence,...

Does Saudi Arabia Have a Dubai Complex?

Building binge aims to diversify boom-or-bust oil economy

(Newser) - Saudi Arabia is on a building binge. King Abdullah City—a planned $26.7-billion development where multi-million-dollar yachts will dock in the ports that currently welcome 300,000 Mecca-bound pilgrims—is one of five major “economic cities” the government is building in an attempt to spur private-sector growth and...

King of Jordan Chides Congress for Coddling Israel

(Newser) - The U.S. must lead negotiations to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict, King Abdullah II of Jordan told a joint session of Congress yesterday. Abdullah chided the U.S. for favoring Israel, saying Palestinians question "whether the West really means what it says about equality and respect and universal justice....

Chalabi Rides Surge Back Into Office

The divisive Iraqi politician will build public backing for security push

(Newser) - Ahmed Chalabi, the former U.S. darling and deputy prime minister spurned by Iraqi voters in the 2005 elections, is back in office. He won a post created as a buffer between residents and the troops pouring into Baghdad for the new security push. Chalabi's new role involves organizing reimbursement...

Iraqi Cabinet Approves Deal to Divide Oil Revenues

Every region would get a share of profits based on population

(Newser) - The Iraqi cabinet approved a law yesterday spelling out how revenue from the country's petroleum reserves will be doled out to provinces: based on population. The deal, which must be approved by the parliament, eases Sunni fears about being cut out of wealth generated by oil reserves in Shiite areas.

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