Iraq

Stories 1741 - 1760 | << Prev   Next >>

Iraqis Go on Alert as Mammoth Badgers Stalk City

Locals blame British troops for badger invasion

(Newser) - Badgers have invaded Basra, Iraq, spurring fears of a man-eating monster on the loose in the port city. Despite Iraqi scientists' assurances that the creatures are not dangerous to humans, locals demonize the oversized carnivores and blame British troops for for unleashing them. The badgers "don't stalk humans and...

Bush Satisfied With Iraq Progress
Bush Satisfied With Iraq Progress

Bush Satisfied With Iraq Progress

Acknowledging 'war fatigue,' president warns against hasty withdrawal

(Newser) - President Bush used today's interim report on the Iraq war to renew his call for Congress to withhold judgment on the troop surge until a September update, saying the military will "be in a better position to adjust" in 2 months. The report notes positive movement in eight out...

White House Iraq Report: Mixed Progress

Cites gains on military benchmarks, lack of progress on political goals

(Newser) - The White House's interim report on its progress in Iraq, to be released today, will cite "satisfactory" work on eight of 18  benchmarks set by Congress, insufficient improvement on eight more, and mixed results on the final two. Most of the positive movement  has been on the military front,...

Senate Nixes Limits on Iraq Deployments

Webb's proposal tests congress's support for pullout plans

(Newser) - The Senate failed to push through an amendment to a military appropriations bill that would have drastically cut troop deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, effectively slicing the number of troops on the ground. The measure, cosponsored by Virginia Democrat Jim Webb and increasingly fractious Republican Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, fell...

Hagel, Snowe Jump Ship
Hagel, Snowe Jump Ship

Hagel, Snowe Jump Ship

Number of GOP defectors backing withdrawal plan climbs to 3

(Newser) - Two more Republican senators crossed party lines today to back legislation that calls for the US to start pulling out of Iraq within 4 months and withdraw by April. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Maine's Olympia Snowe of Maine signed on on as co-sponsors of the measure, along with Oregon's...

Iraq Gov't Fails Progress Report
Iraq Gov't Fails Progress Report

Iraq Gov't Fails Progress Report

US-backed regime lags on all economic and political targets

(Newser) - The Iraqi government has failed to meet any of the benchmarks for reforms mandated when Congress funded the troop surge, according to a progress report due out this week. An unnamed official tells the AP that the disappointing outcome will accelerate the administration's decision-making process on Iraq, but another anonymous...

Envoy Warns of Pullout Horrors
Envoy Warns of Pullout Horrors

Envoy Warns of Pullout Horrors

Crocker promises honest assessment of war progress but says effects of withdrawal "way, way worse" than anything we've seen

(Newser) - US ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker tells the Times that a post-withdrawal scenario in Iraq "exceeds his imagination" —and then goes on to imagine a nearly unmitigated catastrophe. Crocker predicts sectarian murders “by the thousands," a resurgence of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, and the “complete...

Soldier Sues Over Fifth Deployment
Soldier Sues Over Fifth Deployment

Soldier Sues Over Fifth Deployment

Reservist takes Army to court over tour he says could cost him home, job

(Newser) - A 26-year-old sergeant is suing the army to prevent his fifth deployment to Iraq, claiming that the Army follows inconsistent policies in mobilizing reserves. The military wants reservist Erik Botta return to Iraq next week, the Miami Herald reports, but Botta is suing to stop the order he says will...

Bomb Kills at Least 105 in Iraq
Bomb Kills at Least 105 in Iraq

Bomb Kills at Least 105 in Iraq

Blast at outdoor market in village 100 miles north of Baghdad wounds 250

(Newser) - A truck carrying 2 tons of explosives detonated in a northern Iraqi outdoor market today, killing at least 105 and wounding another 250, CNN reports. The blast also leveled many surrounding buildings, trapping dead and wounded under rubble. The truck was disguised as a military vehicle; the village, Amerli, is...

Unexpected Allies Emerge in Diyala
Unexpected Allies Emerge in Diyala

Unexpected Allies Emerge in Diyala

Local Sunnis in restive province lend a hand in rooting out insurgents

(Newser) - Unexpected cooperation from frustrated residents has led US troops in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, into an unlikely arrangement. Local Sunnis' default reaction to the Americans has long been uncooperative at best, but a group called Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia has so escalated violence that residents are seeking help from...

GOP Loyalist Dissents on War
GOP Loyalist Dissents on War

GOP Loyalist Dissents on War

Bring troops home, says six-term New Mexico senator

(Newser) - Another key Republican has broken with President Bush over the war in Iraq, Politico reports. The war is a "failed strategy" and it's time to "move our troops out of combat operations," New Mexico Senator Pete Domenici said yesterday. Domenici, who serves on the Senate Defense Appropriations...

Construction Woes Threaten Workers at Iraq Embassy

Mistakes add up, causing officials to question their safety

(Newser) - Foul-ups and delays in the construction of the US embassy in Baghdad are not only an ongoing embarrassment—now they have workers there worried about their own safety. The Journal intercepted a stern cable the embassy sent to the State Department a month ago highlighting several serious hazards in the...

Key Iraqi Oil Bill Stalls
Key Iraqi Oil
Bill Stalls

Key Iraqi Oil Bill Stalls

Sunni, Shia and Kurds still at odds; White House benchmark not being met

(Newser) - Bitter infighting among Iraq's ethnic and religious groups is holding up crucial legislation on Iraqi oil regulation and distribution, the AP reports. Despite heavy pressure from Washington to pass the bill, debate scheduled to start yesterday was delayed. Sunnis object to the bill because they fear most oil wealth will...

US Soldiers Become Citizens
US Soldiers Become Citizens

US Soldiers Become Citizens

325 new Americans served red-white-and-blue cake in Iraq

(Newser) - Some 325 servicemen were sworn in as US citizens in Independence Day ceremonies yesterday in Iraq—half of them at a former Saddam Hussein palace, the Los Angeles Times reports. Gen. David Petraeus thanked the new citizens serving in Iraq for enduring sacrifice “to preserve the freedom of a...

Bomb Plots Hatched in Brit Hospitals

Extremist cell of immigrant doctors linked to UK terror

(Newser) - A secret Al-Qaeda cell of foreign doctors working under cover of British hospitals is being investigated as the key source of the string of car bombing attempts that rocked Britain over the weekend, the Independent reports. Five of of eight people who have been arrested are believed to be doctors,...

Young Officers Challenge Brass on Iraq

Critiques of failure reveal rift between generals, troops

(Newser) - A growing number of young military officers are offering critiques of what went wrong in Iraq, revealing a generational divide between officers on the ground and the generals who deploy them, the Wall Street Journal reports. In an scathing essay in Armed Forces Journal,  Lt. Col. Paul Yingling charged...

Exit Blair
Exit Blair

Exit Blair

PM takes final questions; queen asks Brown to form government

(Newser) - Tony Blair handed his resignation to the queen at 1:15 this afternoon, ending a decade as prime minister of the United Kingdom marked by unprecedented prosperity but marred by a deeply unpopular war in Iraq. In a choreographed ritual, Elizabeth II asked Chancellor Gordon Brown, who has been waiting...

Iraqi Minister Hunted for Murder
Iraqi Minister Hunted for Murder

Iraqi Minister Hunted for Murder

Accused of killing politician's sons in assassination attack

(Newser) - Police raided the Baghdad home of Iraq's Sunni culture minister yesterday seeking to arrest him for the murder of the sons of a prominent politician during a 2005 assassination attempt, CNN reports. Assad al-Hashimi, who was not in his house, said he was being unfairly targeted. He was implicated by...

Top Republican Calls for New Iraq Plan

Lugar urges Bush to pursue economic and diplomatic strategy

(Newser) - An influential Republican senator abandoned his support for President Bush's Iraq war strategy last night with a call to cut back the US military's role in the region and focus more on diplomatic and economic options. Richard Lugar, the senior minority member of the Foreign Relations Committee, has a reputation...

Brown Vows to Lead New Era
Brown Vows to Lead New Era

Brown Vows to Lead New Era

Blair successor as Labour chief pledges to 'learn lessons' of Iraq

(Newser) - Vowing to "heed and lead the call of change," Gordon Brown yesterday took the reins of Britain's ruling Labour Party before stepping into his new role as prime minister Wednesday. Brown is expected to loosen the close ties to Bush foreign policy that marked the Blair era and...

Stories 1741 - 1760 | << Prev   Next >>
Most Read on Newser