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PRESIDENT BUSH: Mr. President, welcome to the Oval Office. Last time we met was in Georgia, and now you're here in Washington, D.C. and I'm really honored you're here. First, I want to thank you for your courage and your vision for a united and free Iraq. The President and I just had a great conversation about the future of Iraq -- he can speak for himself, but I came away that I'm talking to a man who has got great confidence in the Iraqi people's capacity to self-govern and a great belief in the fact that it's going...

Recent public opinion surveys conducted by IRI show Iraqis to be surprisingly optimistic about their future and much stronger supporters of democracy than many new reports would lead you to believe.Over 51% of Iraqis polled felt that their country is headed in "the right direction," up slightly from IRI's May/June poll. More telling, the number who feel that things are heading in "the wrong direction" has dropped from 39% to 31% over the same time period.Some of this confidence may be a result of wide public support for the Iraqi Interim Government. Prime Minister Allawi holds an enviable approval rating,...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell made an unannounced trip to Baghdad early Friday for talks with top Iraqi officials, including the country's new president, Ghazi al-Yawer. U.S. Embassy spokesman Bob Callahan said Powell was met at Baghdad International Airport by U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, John D. Negroponte. Powell is the highest ranking American official to visit since Iraq's interim government took power on June 28. Callahan told The Associated Press that Powell is expected to hold talks Friday with al-Yawer and Iraq's deputy prime minister, Barham Saleh.

London Times July 12, 2004 'Like A Menu Of Choice, We Will Offer The Amnesties First, Then The Executions' Iraq’s President believes in a carrot and stick approach By Richard Lloyd Parry IRAQ’S new Government is to pursue a carrot-and-stick approach to the country’s security crisis with a general amnesty for insurgents to be followed by a revival of judicial executions, the country’s President told The Times yesterday. The steps will cause disquiet in America and Britain, the two key partners in the coalition which overthrew Saddam Hussein. The amnesty will bring immunity from punishment to the killers of more...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi interim President Ghazi al-Yawer threatened Monday to use a "very sharp sword" to fight insurgents threatening the security of the country, a day after three U.S. soldiers died in attacks north of Baghdad. Also Monday, France and Iraq restored diplomatic relations that were severed before the Gulf War 13 years ago. Al-Yawer spoke two weeks after the United States handed sovereignty over to an interim Iraqi government. The handover, however, has not quelled the violence that has wracked the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime nearly 15 months ago. Foreign and local insurgents have...

By JAMIE TARABAYASSOCIATED PRESS BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - 0712iraq-alyawer Iraqi interim President Ghazi al-Yawer threatened Monday to use a "very sharp sword" to fight insurgents threatening the security of the country, a day after three U.S. soldiers died in attacks north of Baghdad. Also Monday, France and Iraq restored diplomatic relations that were severed before the Gulf War 13 years ago. Al-Yawer spoke two weeks after the United States handed sovereignty over to an interim Iraqi government. The handover, however, has not quelled the violence that has wracked the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime nearly 15...

New Iraqi President Calls Saddam 'Weapon of Mass Destruction' By Kathleen T. RhemAmerican Forces Press Service BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 20, 2004 – The new Iraqi president said he feels there must have been elements of weapons of mass destruction inside Iraq. "Saddam (Hussein) used chemical weapons, he used (them) against Iraqis inside Iraq," said Ghazi al-Yawer. Yawer agreed to speak briefly June 19 with American reporters in Baghdad accompanying Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. When asked to comment on the American political debate surrounding WMDs not being found in Iraq, Yawer said that wasn't the real issue. "After all,...

<p>Iraq's new president, seeking to calm tensions between his nation's Shi'ites and Kurds, pledged yesterday that promises of Kurdish autonomy in the country's interim constitution will be honored.</p> <p>"Iraq will be a free and democratic federal country. Federalism has been accepted by all Iraqis," Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer said during his first visit to Washington since being named to the largely ceremonial post last week.</p>

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A car bomb exploded Tuesday in central Baghdad outside the offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, killing three people and injuring 20, the military said. A roadside bomb also exploded near the U.S. military base in Beiji in northern Iraq, killing 11 Iraqis — including seven members of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps — and wounding 23 others. Two U.S. 1st Infantry Division Soldiers were wounded and evacuated to a combat hospital, together with 16 Iraqis who were hurt. The Baghdad blast ripped through the building in the early afternoon, shortly after a party attended by...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Former Foreign Minister Adnan Pachachi was appointed as Iraq's new president Tuesday but turned down the post, an aide said. Governing Council President Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer was then named to the top post, a council member said. Nasser Kamel al-Chaderchi said al-Yawer accepted the post in a move to break the deadlock over selection of a new government to take power June 30, council member Nasser Kamel al-Chaderchi said. The Americans had favored Pachachi, 81, while most of the Governing Council backed al-Yawer. An aide to Pachachi, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the elderly figure...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The head of Iraq's Governing Council said Wednesday that President Bush 's idea of demolishing the notorious Abu Ghraib prison was a waste of resources. "We must not be sentimental," Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer told reporters. "Torture has taken place in every vault in Iraq. As the Governing Council, we do not agree with demolishing it and the matter will be left for the transitional government" which takes office Jan. 30. He called the idea of destroying the prison "a waste of resources." Bush told an audience Monday night at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa.,...