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Most Iraqis, be they civilians, military personnel, or government officials, do not trust Americans. At a base level, that makes all kinds of sense. After all, the US did launch what amounted to a unilateral invasion of the country just a little over a decade ago, and when it was all said and done, a dictator was deposed but it's not entirely clear that Iraqis are better off for it. ISIS controls key cities including the Mosul, the country's second largest, and security is a daily concern for the populace. The Americans are still seen - rightly - as occupiers,...

The Russian Government had a spy inside the US military command who passed information to Saddam Hussein on America’s war plan in the opening days of the invasion of Iraq, the Pentagon announced yesterday. The explosive revelation was based on Iraqi documents captured since the fall of the dictator and were set last night to trigger a major diplomatic incident between Washington and Moscow. The Russian spy, who was not named, passed detailed information on US troop movements through the Russian Ambassador in Baghdad, who sent the information to Saddam’s personal secretary. The first document is a handwritten account of...

HER dusty file was one of hundreds of thousands of documents stacked in a house in a wealthy neighbourhood of Baghdad. Asma Rasheed married a pilot, lived comfortably in the presidential compound of Saddam Hussein and directed a microbiology programme that was not supposed to exist. Rasheed’s light blue folder has emerged from a huge archive seized by forces loyal to Ahmed Chalabi, the leader of the Iraqi National Congress, which opposed Saddam. The archive — a dark who’s who of Iraq — reveals the tiniest details of blandishments and humiliations by a paranoid regime that shared the Nazis’ obsession...

Russian special forces troops moved many of Saddam Hussein's weapons and related goods out of Iraq and into Syria in the weeks before the March 2003 U.S. military operation, The Washington Times has learned. John A. Shaw, the deputy undersecretary of defense for international technology security, said in an interview that he believes the Russian troops, working with Iraqi intelligence, "almost certainly" removed the high-explosive material that went missing from the Al-Qaqaa facility, south of Baghdad. "The Russians brought in, just before the war got started, a whole series of military units," Mr. Shaw said. "Their main job was to...

UPDATE U.S. Hits Republican Guard Near Euphrates By Geoffrey Mohan Times Staff Writer 8:49 AM PST, March 31, 2003 ALBU AZIZ, Iraq -- In its first offensive move since arriving in central Iraq last week, the second brigade of the U.S. Army's third infantry division swept into this village on the west bank of the Euphrates River today, killing about 26 soldiers, most of them from the Republican Guard. Led by the infantry and tank elements of the 4th Battalion, 64th Armored Regiment, the column encountered small-arms fire, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades from Iraqi forces in this town across the...

Iraq Thanks Russia for Moral Support BAGHDAD, March 26. Iraq expresses its enormous gratitude to Russia for its attempts to help the Iraqi people at a difficult time, the Iraqi government has announced. 'Our Russian friends are trying to end this senseless war by raising the matter at the UN Security Council,' said Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed al-Sahhaf. The Iraqi authorities have once again repeated that Russia has never supplied Iraq with high-precision military equipment. 'This is a lie invented by the US in order to blacken the reputations of Iraq and Russia,' said the minister.

Russia Blasts U.S., British Air Strikes on Iraq Tue Jul 16, 3:27 AM ET MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has condemned British and U.S. air strikes on Iraq, accusing them of complicating peace efforts in the Middle East and the Gulf, amid mounting speculation over U.S. plans to oust Saddam Hussein ( news - web sites). The U.S. armed forces bombed what they said were military targets in Iraq's southern "no-fly" zone on Saturday and Sunday, striking a mobile radar unit and air defense facilities. Iraqi spokesmen said one person had been killed and six were wounded when allied planes...