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Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki hinted today that Syria was responsible for last week’s bombings in Baghdad. In an unusually belligerent tone Maliki added that Iraq could respond in kind but refrains from doing so because of “our values and keen interest to reach an agreement with this country to get rid of those elements they host”. This is the first time the Prime Minister points at a particular state for involvement in violence in Iraq. Previous statements usually used the loose “neighboring countrie(s)” term. Although he only spoke about Syria, he also hinted that Syria might have a partner in...

CAIRO, Aug. 24 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Twenty people were killed and 10 wounded as bombs planted on two buses exploded in the southern Iraqi town of Kut on Monday, news media reported.

In the midst of ear-splitting explosions, the Iraqi coalition originally forged between 38 countries has dwindled to one, a coalition of one – the U.S.A. With most of the media attention focused on health-care reform and the sky-rocketing U.S. deficit, little attention was paid to Iraq as the last of the 2003 coalition members withdrew, leaving the Americans to go it alone. The U.S., as the leader of Multi-National Force, maintains roughly the same level of troop strength in Iraq as when President Obama took office. Mr. Obama campaigned aggressively on a pledge to bring the American troops home, however...

Just the other day, a friend was complaining about the Iraqi army checkpoints all over Baghdad. “These checkpoints kill all the fun when I go out on a picnic with my family,” he moaned. The next day, his wife found herself sitting among bleeding and dying colleagues at the Iraqi foreign ministry after a massive truckbomb devastated the facade of the building and cut down dozens of people in a cloud of shattered glass. “It was judgment day,” his wife said about the scene. “Some people had lost their eyes. Everyone was crying or slaughtered by the flying glass,” she...

An all-out attack on the Iraqi government came in the form of a series of powerful assaults that hit central Baghdad, the Iraqi capital. The attacks raise a number of questions, among them who had the capacity to carry out the co-ordinated attacks and was the US right to pull out of Iraq's cities when it did? As Baghdad reels from its bloodiest day this year, experts and journalists consider who might have been behind the attacks and what their motives might have been. Mosab Jasim, Al Jazeera English producer in Baghdad Jasim: It would be really difficult to enter...

A series of explosions struck the Iraqi capital Wednesday, targeting primarily government and commercial buildings, killing at least 50 people and wounding more than 300 others, Iraqi police told Reuters. The blasts follow a string of attacks in Iraq this month that have claimed more than 200 lives and left hundreds more wounded, raising concerns about the abilities of Iraqi security forces to keep the lid on violence in advance of the American withdrawal. The seemingly coordinated car bomb blasts and mortar attacks began around midmorning Wednesday, striking first near the Finance Ministry in northern Baghdad and then minutes...

BAGHDAD -- Unnerved by bombings that have killed hundreds this summer, many Iraqis are losing faith in their own security forces and fear the Americans are leaving too quickly. The misgivings about the U.S. pullback from the cities, and even about the Dec. 31, 2011 deadline for a full withdrawal, come at a time when a senior U.S. officer has suggested the Americans declare victory and leave even sooner. Iraqis, including military commanders, believe their security forces aren't ready to act alone.

Question for Americans: How can we as a nation even consider using our military for another "surge" in Afghanistan when the "surge" in Iraq has left little more imprint on the sands of Mesopotamia than the receding tide? This, to clarify, is not the antiwar Left writing. I am writing from a pro-military, anti-jihad point of view that has long seen futility in the U.S. nation-building strategy in Iraq, and now sees futility in the rerun in Afghanistan. Problem is, the same blind spot afflicts both strategies: the failure to understand that an infidel nation cannot fight for the soul...

<p>"WHERE are the Ameri cans?" Talk to Iraqis in Baghdad these days, and you'll likely hear the question.</p> <p>Of course, everyone knows where the Americans are physically. The 130,000 US troops cantoned in a diminishing number of barracks outside the cities make their presence felt on occasion. The thousands of civilian Americans who are helping build a new Iraq are also easy to spot.</p>

WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Often we don't learn at all. Sometimes, we simply become more effective at doing the wrong thing. In February 2009 a report issued by the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction titled "Hard Lessons: the Iraq Reconstruction Experience" described massive waste, fraud and a lack of accountability in the $50 billion relief and reconstruction project in Iraq, most of it done by private U.S. contractors. At that time, the report's senior author, Stuart Bowen, suggested that many of the same mistakes will likely occur again in Afghanistan because none of the substantive changes in oversight,...

Many connect US Defense Secretary’s sudden visit to Iraq with a new problem which has appeared in the US administration. The Pentagon has recently announced that the United States would accelerate the withdrawal of US troops from the war-torn nation, although the situation in Iraq is far from being stable. The US administration is particularly concerned about the Kurds’ claims for Iraqi oil wells. It is an open secret that Iraq’s Kurdish minority has been a staunch ally of the United States during the nation’s incursion in the country to overthrow Saddam Hussein’s regime. On the one hand, Gates had...

Saddam Hussein spent billions building dozens of vast, gaudy palaces all over Iraq, many of which are still occupied by US troops. But the Iraqi government is divided - as usual - on what to do with them once the soldiers have gone... [snip] ...‘For sale/rent: 80 presidential palaces, average unit living space half-a-million square feet. Attached gardens featuring disused swimming pools, personal zoos/nuclear bunkers etc. Rooms fitted with thrones and gold lavatories, en suite torture chamber optional. Some bomb damage. Suit megalomaniac or similar.’

The Iraqi government is offering Sunnis and Shiites the equivalent of nearly $2,000 to find spouses in the other sect, part of an attempt to heal the bloody sectarian divide that has shaken the country in recent years. Mixed marriages between the two major Muslim sects were unthinkable at the height of violence that has gripped Iraq since 2005 and exploded following the bombing of a major Shiite shrine in 2006. Many Sunni-Shiite couples had to separate, as insurgents and sectarian militias threatened their families with kidnapping and death. Mixed communities were ripped apart as thousands were forced from their...

Baghdad, Iraq, Jul 14, 2009 / 03:21 am (CNA).- More than 40 people were killed or injured in renewed attacks on Christians in Baghdad on Sunday.Shortly after 7:00 on Sunday evening, a car bomb exploded in front of the gates of St. Mary’s Chaldean Catholic Church in Baghdad. The explosion occurred just as churchgoers left Mass.Seven were killed and around 30 were injured, with 18 requiring hospital treatment, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) reports.Bombs reportedly went off at three other Baghdad churches around 4:30 pm, two of which were St. George’s Church in the Al-Ghadier section and St....

In a briefing organized in Congress in July of 2007, I submitted a plan to the U.S. House Caucus on Counter Terrorism called "Freedom lines" suggesting a second phase in the American military campaign in Iraq. This plan was suggested as of 2004. After having analyzed the long term goals of al Qaeda and the Iranian regime in Iraq and discussed them with CENTCOM officials and National Defense University professors, the proposed plan projected a rapid training and expansion of the Iraqi armed forces followed by a gradual redeployment of U.S. and Coalition forces out of the cities and urban...

Dozens killed in Iraqi bombings Aftermath of the bomb attacks in Sadr City, Baghdad More than 50 people have been killed in a series of bomb attacks in Iraq in the worst day of violence since US forces withdrew from urban areas on 30 June. The most lethal attack was in Talafar, near Mosul, where at least 34 people were killed and more than 60 injured in a double suicide bombing. In Baghdad, two attacks at markets left at least 16 dead. Several other people were killed in smaller attacks in the capital and in southern Kirkuk. The BBC's Gabriel...

Vice President Joseph Biden told ABC's George Stephanopoulos in an interview taped in Iraq on Saturday for "This Week" that the United States does not intend to slow its withdrawal plan in Iraq even if violence spikes after U.S. troops leave. Asked what happens "if the violence flares up again," the vice president replied, Well, that's going to be a tragic outcome for the Iraqi people. We made a commitment." Stephanopoulos then asked, "are we going to put our lives on the line again," if violence flares back up in Iraq, and Biden flatly said "no."

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq, June 30, 2009 – In accordance with Article 5 of the security agreement between the U.S. and Iraqi governments, Iraqi security forces now have full ownership of security in their cities, towns and villages. Army Capt. Rich Turvey, commander of 2nd Battalion, 20th Field Artillery Regiment, signs over Joint Security Station Salaam to Iraqi army 1st Lt. Jassim Abbas at a transfer ceremony near Numaniyah, Iraq, June 20, 2009. In accordance with the U.S.-Iraqi security agreement, Iraqi security forces took full ownership of security in their cities, towns and villages on June 30, 2009. U.S....

Iraqi policemen in Basra celebrated the withdrawal on Tuesday. A recent spate of high-profile bombings that has killed over 250 people has added to the uncertainty of the handover, but it did not dampen the national pride of the day. Photo: Haider al-Assadee/European Pressphoto AgencyIt should be a victory day for all; but not without cautious optimism, nervous trepidation, and healthy skepticism. Peter Feaver: Early reports that General Odierno felt the deadline should slip a bit gave way to more recent reports that he was comfortable meeting the deadline. This reassured me somewhat, until I re-read this assessment by Stephen...

Today is a milestone in Iraq. Under the terms of the Strategic Framework Agreement, U.S. troops will withdraw from Iraqi cities. In retrospect, however, June 30 will likely mark another milestone: the end of the surge and the relative peace it brought to Iraq. In the past week, bombings in Baghdad, Mosul and near Kirkuk have killed almost 200 people. The worst is yet to come. While the Strategic Framework Agreement was negotiated in the twilight of the Bush administration, President Barack Obama shaped the final deal. He campaigned on a time line to withdraw combat troops from Iraq, and...

As a senator, Joe Biden had pushed a plan to partition Iraq. Now the White House wants him to lead efforts toward political reconciliation in the war-torn country. Vice President Biden, who as a senator advocated a plan to partition Iraq, has been tapped to oversee political reconciliation among Iraqi factions, the White House announced Tuesday. As the U.S. military met its deadline to withdraw from Iraqi cities, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said President Obama asked his No. 2 to work with Gen. Ray Odierno, the top commander in Iraq, and Amb. Christopher Hill on mending fences in...

For once the loud explosions piercing the Baghdad night are the sounds of celebration rather than violence and bloodshed, as a new national holiday is announced to mark US troops leaving Iraq's towns and cities.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – U.S. troops pulled out of Baghdad on Monday, triggering jubilation among Iraqis hopeful that foreign military occupation is ending six years after the invasion to depose Saddam Hussein. Iraqi soldiers paraded through the streets in their American-made vehicles draped with Iraqi flags and flowers, chanting, dancing and calling the pullout a "victory." One drove a motorcycle with party streamers on it; another, a Humvee with a garland of plastic roses on the grill. U.S. combat troops must pull out of Iraq's urban centers by midnight on Tuesday under a bilateral security pact that also requires all troops...

Iraqi Member of Parliament Safiya Talib al-Suhail was keynote speaker at an Iraqi women's business seminar June 20 in Baghdad. Al-Suhail has a long history of promoting the rights and status of Iraqi women. USACE Photo by Rick Haverinen. BAGHDAD — Sustainment contracting was the focus of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Gulf Region Division (GRD)-sponsored women's business seminar here, June 20, as 35 Iraqi businesswomen attended this half-day event, part of a continuing series of meetings for the Women's Advocate Initiative. "Our goal is to encourage and support Iraqi businesswomen to be more involved in the execution and...

WASHINGTON, June 24, 2009 – Predicting an uptick in violence in Iraq as U.S. combat troops leave the cities by June 30, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said today that deployed troops have geared up for the heightened threat as they comply with the U.S.-Iraq status of forces agreement. “I think we have reason to believe -- and I think our forces have been alerted to the possibility -- that we will likely see an uptick in violence leading up to the June 30 deadline for U.S. combat forces to leave Iraqi cities and towns,” Morrell told Pentagon reporters. He...

Iraq's local government is to reopen the Babylon archeological site, which had been closed since the 2003 US-led invasion of the country. The city, located 85 kilometers south of Baghdad, was transformed into a military camp by American and Polish troops and a heliport was built on its ruins. The reopening will take place despite archaeologists expressing their concerns about further damages to what remains of one of the world's first great cities which is pending registration on UNESCO's list of protected World Heritage sites. Iraq's State Board of Antiquities and Heritage now says Babil's provincial government has illegal control...

Shells hit Baghdad’s protected Green Zone Back-to-back strikes are the first in more than three months BAGHDAD - Suspected militants shelled Baghdad's protected Green Zone on Saturday in the first such bombardment in more than three months. The back-to-back strikes reverberated across the Tigris River to a popular promenade, sending families packing up from fish restaurants and abruptly halting a party at a club. Violence across Iraq remains sharply down compared with past years, but attacks and bloodshed have edged up in recent weeks and brought worries that it could slow the return of nightlife and commerce to parts of...

Secure Enough to Sin, Baghdad Is Back to Old Ways By ROD NORDLAND April 18, 2009 BAGHDAD — Vice is making a comeback in this city once famous for 1,001 varieties of it. Gone, for the most part, are nighttime curfews, religious extremists and prowling kidnappers. So, inevitably, some people are turning to illicit pleasures, or at least slightly dubious ones. Nightclubs have reopened, and in many of them, prostitutes troll for clients. Liquor stores, once shut down by fundamentalist militiamen, have proliferated; on one block of busy Saddoun Street, there are more than 10 of them. Abu Nawas Park,...

Things are looking brighter in Iraq, according to a recently released poll of Iraqis conducted at the end of February. The poll was sponsored by ABC, the BBC and Japan’s NHK. Asked how well things were going for them in their life, 65 percent of Iraqi respondents said things were going well for them. This is compared to 55 percent of Iraqis responding in a similar manner in February 2008 and just 39 percent saying life was going well for them in August 2007. On a personal level, Iraqis seem optimistic about their futures. Fifty-six percent of Iraqis believe that...

The American soldier stepped out of the Baghdad nightclub. In one hand, he clutched his weapon. In the other, a green can of Tuborg beer. He took a sip and walked over to two comrades, dressed as he was in camouflage and combat gear. Inside the club Thursday night, U.S. soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division ogled young Iraqi women who appeared to be prostitutes gyrating to Arabic pop music. A singer crooned soulfully through scratchy speakers to the raucous, pulsating beat — an action that Islamic extremists have deemed punishable by beheading. Twenty minutes later, several drunk men coaxed...

Beirut (ENI) -- A group of Christians meeting in Lebanon have declared that people of their faith have belonged to Iraq since the nation's birth and that they are not just a minority but an essential part of Iraqi society and deeply rooted in its history and civilisation. "As authentic children of this land, they have the right to live freely in it and enjoy equal rights and responsibilities along with all other citizens," the 12 Iraqi church leaders said after their meeting on 10 and 11 February in Dar Sayedat Al Jabal, Fatka in Lebanon. "The solution to current...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA, Iraq, Feb. 10, 2009 – Historically in Iraqi culture, police and judges didn’t work with each other to solve cases. That is beginning to change as the nascent police investigative branch in Iraq’s Wasit province is working hand-in-hand with the province’s investigative judges. Art Oates, a law enforcement professional from Houston, teaches soldiers how to enter data into handheld identity detection equipment. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Joe Thompson  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “Our relationship with the Iraqi police is good,” said the chief judge in Hayy, Iraq, whose name is...

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq, Feb. 2, 2009 – As the Iraqi security forces continue to improve their ability to protect Iraq’s people, a strong judicial branch that can help bring criminals to justice becomes increasingly important. “I think the [Iraqi legal system] is improving,” Army Capt. Ronald Alcala, Multinational Division Center’s rule of law chief, said. Coalition forces have had a huge impact by helping to professionalize the Iraqi forces and providing training on crime-scene management and investigative procedures, he added. The Iraqi legal system places more of an emphasis on testimonial evidence, usually from two or more witnesses, and less...

BAGHDAD: Through the televised parliamentary brawling, shouting and points of order, the battle lines are becoming clear in the Iraqi political debate over a security agreement that would govern the last three years of the American military presence in Iraq. But the pact that is nominally at the center of the wrangling appears not to be the main problem. The quarreling is really about what the country will look like when the American troops eventually depart, and whether the security agreement will give too much control to the Shiite-led Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.When cornered on the stairways and...

NAJAF, Iraq - The city's first airport is weeks away from opening, but already a bigger one is talked about. Land prices are soaring. Merchants say they don't remember business ever being so good. Four years ago, Najaf was an urban battlefield, with American troops fighting Shiite militiamen loyal to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Today, the Shiite holy city is a hot spot of a different kind, thanks to improved security, a free-for-all market economy - and a direct pipeline to the Shiite-led government.

Link only - Pack your bags for Baghdad? Iraq looks to tourism

AMMAN -- It was an usually quiet day in Iraq on Friday in terms of violence, but the debate over a long-term security and military pact that the Iraqi government is secretly negotiating with the United States continued to raise a political storm among leaders eager to regain sovereignty over their country. Iraqi lawmakers said they were increasingly concerned that an Iraqi-U.S. pact, which would determine the role of U.S. troops in Iraq after the U.N. mandate's term expires at the end of the year, would pass without their endorsement amid indications that the two sides were rushing to forge...

It was meant to be the rising tide that would lift the Iraqi economy out of years of war and sanctions, to finance reconstruction and guarantee cheap global supplies. Yet, five years on, big oil is only just starting to move cautiously into Iraq and, despite record prices, experts caution against another false dawn of optimism. Four oil giants - Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP - are to announce next week no-bid contracts to start servicing the creaking Iraqi oil infrastructure, crippled for decades by lack of investment and often targeted by insurgents. The deals came as the Oil...

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki (center) talks with lawmakers about the security situation in the southern city of Basra during a meeting yesterday in Baghdad. BAGHDAD — Iraq's prime minister got a show of support from political leaders of both Muslim sects at a meeting yesterday as he moved to isolate anti-U.S. Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his followers. Sadrist lawmakers warned that the government's effort against them could backfire even as fighting between Shi'ite militants and U.S.-Iraq forces eased after days of fierce clashes in Baghdad's Sadr City district. The fighting has taken its toll on all sides....

First Lt. Greg Highstrom (left), from Cedarburg, Wisc., a platoon leader, and Spc. Nick Waterman, from Princeton, Idaho, an artilleryman, both with Battery B, 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, speak with students of the Manahel primary school in Kutimiyah, March 30. The school is temporarily using a nearby home to hold classes because al-Qaida insurgents destroyed the school building. Photo by Sgt. Luis Delgadillo. FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — Many schools in the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division's area of operation have been rebuilt through the efforts of coalition forces.There were...

About three days ago, when the clash between the Iraqi Army and the Madhi army was in its fourth day, I asked a senior officer returned from Iraq after his presentation whether Maliki would go all the way against Sadr. He said he didn't know, but added that militias were a problem that had to be eventually addressed. Another questioner asked about the quality of the Iraqi Armed forces, and on this point the answer was more definite. The quality was uneven. Many parts of it were rudimentary; some parts of it were extraordinarily good.But the subject of the talk...

Five years after the initial invasion of Iraq, Americans wonder where we are. Iraq is like no other conflict in American history. It is arguably no longer a war, but a low-level insurgency. We are not fighting a country, but a transnational conspiracy that operates more like an international fast-food franchise than a military force. In this conflict, there will be no "D" Day or signing of a peace treaty. What is victory? It is easy to take for granted the fact that there has not been another attack on American soil since 9/11 – how do you show progress...

Bush: Progress in Iraq is real By JAMES HANNAH, Associated Press Writer DAYTON, Ohio - President Bush on Thursday promoted his war policies, a possible focal point in the presidential campaign as the November election approaches in politically pivotal Ohio. The troop surge in Iraq has resulted in significant security gains for the country, he said at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The number of sectarian attacks in the volatile Anbar province have plummeted since the surge, he said. "The progress in Iraq is real, it's substantive," he said. Recent news...

"No one can spend some 10 days visiting the battlefields in Iraq without seeing major progress in every area. ... If the U.S. provides sustained support to the Iraqi government — in security, governance and development — there is now a very real chance that Iraq will emerge as a secure and stable state."—Anthony Cordesman, "The Situation in Iraq: A Briefing From the Battlefield," Feb. 13, 2008This from a man who was a severe critic of the postwar occupation of Iraq and who, as author Peter Wehner points out, is no wide-eyed optimist. In fact, in May 2006, Cordesman wrote...

Greetings Jim, Today is the one year anniversary of the launch of operation 'Rule of Law' or the ‘Surge’ as we know it. Iraqis are celebrating all over Iraq and especially in Baghdad for this occasion. Military parades were held in Baghdad with a commemorative laying of flower wreaths at the tomb of the unknown soldier. What a difference a year makes! This was possible thanks to all of the effort and sacrifices of our men and women and the efforts and sacrifices of the Iraqis, who trust our military and their military more than their own government (this a...

BAGHDAD — The Iraqi River Patrol Police station is training their trainers to maintain and troubleshoot their river craft while underway with a 10-day basic engineering course taught by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Joseph Aldana, Naval Special Warfare Unit 3, Bahrain. Students are participating in the Basic Engineering course offered as a way to assist the river police in troubleshooting malfunctions of boat equipment and help them understand how the river craft operate. The topics taught within the Basic Engineering course are Internal Combustion; Basic Electricity; Marine Battery/Electricity; Backing Gaskets and Seals; Troubleshooting and Planned Maintenance System checks....

Virtually everywhere you look these days in Iraq, the signs are of a country slowly hauling its way back from the precipice of self-destruction. It is not only the successful return of Basra, the last of the four Iraqi provinces under British control, to the local authorities that gives cause for optimism, although that event could have a profound effect in helping Iraq return to something approaching normality. By far the most impressive part of the hand-over ceremony, which, fittingly, took place in the disused departure lounge of the former Saddam Hussein international airport, was the appeal made by the...

The Iraqis are at present conducting an experiment with no equivalent anywhere else in the world. Despite a confrontation between terrorists from all over the world and the forces of the state, a democratic experiment is being built and developed. But we are bound by a principle of unanimity. We must all be in agreement - we different Iraqi political families - before moving forward. This does not facilitate decisionmaking. It is less easy than in democracies that function according to a simple majority, or a two-thirds majority, for fundamental decisions. Of course our European friends and Arab brothers are...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14, 2007 – “Getting the next part right” in Iraq is critical to America, and forthcoming steps there must capitalize on opportunities created by the troop surge, project U.S. might and show long-term commitment, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said here today. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, left, and Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, conduct a press briefing at the Pentagon, Sept. 14, 2007. Defense Dept. photo by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jerry Morrison  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. During a briefing at the Pentagon with Marine Gen. Peter...

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. plans for handling Iraq after the 2003 invasion were "fatally flawed," a retired British general said, adding that the U.S. administration had refused to listen to British concerns about postwar planning. Major General Tim Cross said he had talked to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld before the invasion about the need to have international support and enough troops on the ground to reconstruct Iraq. "He didn't want to hear that message. The U.S. had already convinced themselves that Iraq would emerge reasonably quickly as a stable democracy," Cross told the Sunday Mirror. "Anybody who tried to...