News

US opens new Iraq embassy, moves to normalise ties
By Missy Ryan and Peter Graff
Reuters
Mon Jan 5, 2009
BAGHDAD, Jan 5 (Reuters) - The United States opened its new embassy building in Baghdad on Monday, a step meant to symbolise its transition from occupying power to an ally of a sovereign Iraqi government...

Iraq Parliament Allows British Troops to Stay
By Ernesto Londoño
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, December 23, 2008; 2:33 PM
BAGHDAD, Dec. 23 -- Iraq's parliament signed off Tuesday night on a security agreement that would allow thousands of British troops and a few hundred soldiers from a handful of other countries to stay in Iraq until next summer...

35 Iraq Officials Held in Raids on Key Ministry
NY TIMES ONLINE
By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON and TARIQ MAHER
Published: December 17, 2008
BAGHDAD — Up to 35 officials in the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior ranking as high as general have been arrested over the past three days with some of them accused of quietly working to reconstitute Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party, according to senior security officials in Baghdad...

Official History Spotlights Iraq Rebuilding Blunders
NY TIMES ONLINE
By JAMES GLANZ and T. CHRISTIAN MILLER
Published: December 13, 2008
BAGHDAD — An unpublished 513-page federal history of the American-led reconstruction of Iraq depicts an effort crippled before the invasion by Pentagon planners who were hostile to the idea of rebuilding a foreign country, and then molded into a $100 billion failure by bureaucratic turf wars, spiraling violence and ignorance of the basic elements of Iraqi society and infrastructure...

Campaigns Get Under Way for Provincial Elections in Iraq
NY TIMES ONLINE
By ALISSA J. RUBIN
Published: December 9, 2008
BAGHDAD — With provincial elections scheduled for Jan. 31, Iraqi politicians began campaigning on Tuesday, taking advantage of voters’ free time as Iraqis celebrated the three-day Muslim holiday of Id al-Adha...

US Troops in Iraq to Get New Rules of Engagement
By VOA News
05 December 2008
The top U.S. military commander in Iraq says American troops will have to make changes to how they carry out their mission now that the two countries have a new security pact. In a statement released Friday, General Ray Odierno says the U.S. will issue new rules of engagement for combat troops stationed in Iraq...

U.S.-Iraqi accord shows Muqtada Sadr's diminished clout
LA Times Online
Tina Susman
December 2, 2008
Reporting from Baghdad -- A lasting image from the parliamentary debate here on the U.S.-Iraqi security plan is of a lawmaker loyal to Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr sweeping his arm across a table in a rage, hurling books, papers and a vase of flowers onto the floor of the chamber...

As Turmoil Ebbs, Iraqi Women Seek Freedom of Road Again
By Mary Beth Sheridan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 2, 2008; Page A01
BAGHDAD -- The black-masked militias have vanished from most Baghdad streets, and the car bombings are down to one or two a day. So one recent afternoon, Hadeel Ahmed, a ponytailed college student in jeans, did something few Iraqi women have dared in recent years.

She drove a car...

U.S. Security Agreements and Iraq
Greg Bruno, Staff Writer
Council on Foreign Relations
Tuesday, November 18, 2008; 9:17 AM
As the United States prepared for a presidential transition, the Bush administration was negotiating long-term agreements with Iraq's government that could shape legal, economic, cultural, and security relations between the two countries well into President-elect Barack Obama's first term. U.S. and multinational forces have been in Iraq since 2003 under a UN Security Council mandate renewed annually. But because Iraq's government has requested that the Security Council not renew the mandate upon its expiration at the end of 2008, U.S. officials have had to accelerate negotiations on a detailed legal framework for the U.S. presence in Iraq. One of two major agreements, a security pact long stalled on the issue of legal immunity for U.S. troops and dates for a full withdrawal, cleared a major hurdle in mid-November 2008 when the Iraqi cabinet overwhelmingly approved (NYT) a draft of the agreement. But implementation is dependent on approval by Iraq's parliament, where opposition among some Sunni and Shiite lawmakers remains...

Pact, Approved in Iraq, Sets Time for U.S. Pullout
NY Times Online
By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON and STEPHEN FARRELL
Published: November 16, 2008
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s cabinet on Sunday overwhelmingly approved a proposed security agreement that calls for a full withdrawal of American forces from the country by the end of 2011. The cabinet’s decision brings a final date for the departure of American troops a significant step closer after more than five and a half years of war...

Conversations: What's Next For Iraq?
NPR -All Things Considered
November 14, 2008
A draft agreement calling for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq by the end of 2011 is more realistic and feasible than President-elect Obama's 16-month withdrawal plan, a former Iraqi representative to the United States says. Rend Al-Rahim, now executive director of the Iraq Foundation, tells NPR's Robert Siegel that Iraqi officials would be happy with the plan specified by the draft status of forces agreement and that the 18-month difference between the agreement and Obama's plan is significant to Iraqi politicians...

Iraqi Refugees Find Michigan Is No Land Of Plenty
Morning Edition, November 11, 2008
NPR Online
by Jamie Tarabay
Michigan has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, so the last thing the state needs is more people coming in without jobs — and that includes refugees from Iraq. The economy is so bleak that the State Department no longer wants to allow Iraqis to settle in Michigan unless they have immediate relatives already living there. At the Catholic Archdiocese refugee center in Detroit, Raed Jabro is talking with caseworker Rhonda Perkins about a possible job lead. Jabro, a 49-year-old engineer with neat hair and trim spectacles, has been in Detroit since August. He is hoping for something in his field, but the market doesn't look good...

Iraq confident Obama won't withdraw troops too quickly
By Missy Ryan
Reuters
November 5, 2008
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Iraqi government is confident that president-elect Barack Obama will not jeopardise Iraq's improving security by hastily withdrawing U.S. troops, Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said on Wednesday. Obama has "reassured us that he would not take any drastic or dramatic decisions," Zebari told BBC television...

Iraq earmarks $15 billion for reconstruction
By BUSHRA JUHI
The Associated Press
Sunday, November 2, 2008; 2:04 AM
BAGHDAD -- Iraq has earmarked some $15 billion _ nearly 25 percent of its 2009 draft budget _ to help rebuild the country's crumbling infrastructure, energy and oil facilities, the finance minister said Saturday. But Bayan Jabr stressed those funds fall far short of the hundreds of billions of dollars Iraq needs to put its shattered economy back on its feet and appealed to foreign investors to help bridge the gap...

Iraqis Insist on Changes to Long-Delayed Security Pact With U.S.
NY Times Online
By SAM DAGHER
Published: October 29, 2008
BAGHDAD — The Iraqi government demanded changes on Wednesday to the long-delayed security pact with the United States. The amendments would ban American troops from using Iraqi territory to carry out attacks on other countries, further limit when the troops would have immunity from Iraqi laws and allow inspections of American arms shipments...

A New Breed Grabs Reins in Anbar
By Sudarsan Raghavan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, October 21, 2008; Page A01
RAMADI, Iraq -- As the day crossed into dusk, Jassim Muhammed al-Sweidawi sat on brown floor cushions, chain-smoking, calmly watching the tribesmen argue over blood money. A man from the Dulaimi tribe had killed a man from the Jenabi tribe. The elders of both tribes could have sought justice in a provincial court. They could have conferred with traditional sheiks versed in centuries-old ways of resolving disputes. But they didn't. They came to Sweidawi, a sunburned, American-backed chieftain who in less than two years had become the most powerful man in this patch of eastern Ramadi...

Gates, Rice Brief Lawmakers On Draft Accord With Iraq
By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 17, 2008; Page A21
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice briefed senior lawmakers yesterday on a draft agreement that covers U.S. forces in Iraq, as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki prepared to submit the document to its first political test in Baghdad...

Key Iraq al-Qaeda leader 'killed'
BBC News Online
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
The US military says al-Qaeda in Iraq's secnd-in-command has been killed during an operation in the northern city of Mosul. The military has identified the militant leader as a Moroccan known as Abu Qaswarah or Abu Sara...

Lacking an Accord On Troops, U.S. and Iraq Seek a Plan B
By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 14, 2008; Page A01
With time running out for the conclusion of an agreement governing American forces in Iraq, nervous negotiators have begun examining alternatives that would allow U.S. troops to stay beyond the Dec. 31 deadline, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials...

Arab League Ambassador Arrives in Baghdad
By Mary Beth Sheridan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 7, 2008; Page A15
BAGHDAD, Oct. 6 -- The Arab League dispatched an ambassador to Baghdad on Monday, the latest sign of progress in the Iraqi and U.S. effort to ease this country's diplomatic isolation. Hani Khalaf arrived a day after the first visit by an Egyptian foreign minister in 18 years. The previous envoy of the 22-member Arab League quit in January 2007, criticizing Arab countries for not doing more to ease Iraqis' suffering...

Iraq, US Near Deal on Status of US Troops
By VOA News
07 October 2008
Iraq's foreign minister says his country is "very close" to finalizing a deal with the United States that would allow American troops to remain in the country beyond 2008...

Iraq wants Egypt’s oil expertise
The Times
October 6, 2008
AFP - Iraq said that it has called on Egypt to collaborate in rebuilding the country’s oil industry after Cairo announced it was ready to re-establish a diplomatic mission in Baghdad...

US kills 'senior Baghdad bomber'
BBC Online
October 4, 2008
A man believed to be the planner of a series of deadly al-Qaeda attacks in Iraq has been killed, the US says. Mahir al-Zubaydi, also known as Abu Assad or Abu Rami, was said to head the group behind bombings which killed at least 16 people in Baghdad this week...

Iraq election law marks progress, opens political season
By Tom A. Peter | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
September 26, 2008
Baghdad - Now that Iraq's parliament passed a provincial elections law Wednesday, overcoming months of political gridlock, many politicians and Iraqis are looking ahead to what the elections early next year will mean for Iraq...

Iraq Passes Provincial Elections Law
NY Times
By ERICA GOODE
Published: September 24, 2008
BAGHDAD — After months of bitter negotiation, Iraq’s Parliament passed a law on Wednesday clearing the way for provincial elections crucial in helping to heal the country’s deep political and religious fissures. The law means that elections will be held in most parts of the country by the end of January...

End of General David Petraeus command in Iraq
The Austrialan
September 17, 2008
BAGHDAD: David Petraeus, the US general who presided over Iraq's pullback from the brink of all-out civil war, yesterday relinquished his command to General Ray Odierno amid a cascade of official thank-yous. In an elaborate ceremony in a marble-lined rotunda of a former Saddam Hussein palace on the outskirts of the capital, General Petraeus handed over to General Odierno responsibility for leading US and coalition forces at a stage in the still-unpopular war that appears farmore hopeful than when General Petraeus assumed command 20 months ago...

Sunni Proponent of Reconciliation Is Killed
NY Times
By SAM DAGHER
Published: September 14, 2008
BAGHDAD — A Sunni Arab leader of a citizen patrol group in Baghdad who had been a proponent of reconciliation in his neighborhood was assassinated over the weekend...

Iraq Rejects No-Bid Contracts
By Ernesto Londoño
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, September 12, 2008; Page A10
BAGHDAD, Sept. 11 -- The Iraqi government has decided to scrap plans to award no-bid short-term advisory and technical support contracts to a handful of Western oil companies, Iraqi officials said this week. The companies -- including Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, France's Total and British Petroleum -- are expected to submit bids in coming weeks for deals...

Petraeus: Iraq Is 'Central Front' for Extremists
Washington Post
By Ernesto Londoño and Amit R. Paley
Septermber 9, 2008
BAGHDAD, Sept. 9 -- Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the departing commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, said that the country remains "the central front" for al-Qaeda and other extremist groups but acknowledged that violence is rising in Afghanistan and Pakistan -- battlegrounds he will soon oversee as the next head of the U.S. military's Central Command...

Iraq Paramilitary Group Targeted, Despite Success
NPR
by Lourdes Garcia-Navarro
September 4, 2008
Morning Edition, September 4, 2008 - Violence has fallen dramatically across Iraq, due in part to the contributions of the Sunni paramilitary groups that are supported and funded by the U.S. military...

U.S., Iraqi Negotiators Agree on 2011 Withdrawal
Washington Post
By Karen DeYoung and Sudarsan Raghavan
Friday, August 22, 2008; Page A01
BAGHDAD, Aug. 21 -- U.S. and Iraqi negotiators have agreed to the withdrawal of all U.S. combat forces from the country by the end of 2011, and Iraqi officials said they are "very close" to resolving the remaining issues blocking a final accord that governs the future American military presence...

U.S.-Iraq Accord on Troops Will Go to Iraq Parliament
Bloomberg.com
By Camilla Hall and Viola Gienger
Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. and Iraqi negotiators produced a draft agreement on how long U.S. troops will stay in Iraq and the scope of their mission after 2008, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said, adding that a process leading to parliamentary consideration will begin tomorrow...

Resilient Sunni Stronghold Tests the Iraqi Army's Best
By Sudarsan Raghavan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, August 18, 2008; Page A01
SOUTH BUHRIZ, Iraq -- Two Iraqi soldiers stumbled out of the thick, black smoke, their faces bathed in blood that glistened in the sun. They clutched their heads, mumbling "Hamdullah" -- "Thanks to God." They had survived the explosion. A third Iraqi soldier was being carried on an olive-green stretcher. He was unconscious, curled like a baby...

King of Jordan in Iraq for Talks
NY Times Online
By STEPHEN FARRELL
Published: August 11, 2008
BAGHDAD — King Abdullah II of Jordan flew to Baghdad on Monday, becoming the first Arab leader to visit Iraq since Saddam Hussein fell five years ago...

Iraq reaches agreement with IOC
LA Times
Aug. 11, 2008
IThe International Olympic Committee and the Iraqi government on Monday reached agreement on how the country will elect future members to the Iraqi Olympic organizing committee. The accord settled a disagreement that prevented some Iraqi athletes from competing at the Beijing Games...

Mehdi Army to stop carrying weapons
ABC News
Aug. 7, 2008 10:01am
Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr says his Mehdi Army militia will no longer carry weapons, but has stopped short of declaring an end to violence. His spokesman says future decisions about the Mehdi Army's strategy will depend on the long term status of United States troops in Iraq and resistance will continue if a timetable for American withdrawal is not set...

US Death Toll in Iraq at Lowest Point
By AP/KIM GAMEL
Time Online
August 1, 2008
(BAGHDAD) — The monthly U.S. toll in Iraq fell to its lowest point since the war began, with 11 American deaths as July drew to a close Thursday after the departure of the last surge brigade...

2 Iraqi Athletes Set for Beijing After IOC Lifts Ban
By Amit R. Paley
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, July 30, 2008; Page A10
BAGHDAD, July 29 -- Two Iraqi athletes will be allowed to participate in the Beijing Olympics after a last-minute pledge by the Iraqi government Tuesday not to interfere politically in the country's Olympic movement. The agreement reversed a decision last week by the International Olympic Committee to ban Iraq from competing because of allegations that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had compromised the independence of the national Olympic committee. The government dissolved the panel in May and replaced it with a new group headed by a cabinet minister...

Veto a setback for Iraqi elections
By Ned Parker and Saif Hameed
Chicago Tribune Newspapers
July 24, 2008
BAGHDAD — Iraq's presidency council vetoed a newly approved provincial election law, casting doubt on the possibility that local elections will be held this year. U.S. officials have said the vote is key for the stabilization of Iraq...

As violence recedes in Iraq, rebuilding gets tough
By SEBASTIAN ABBOT
The Associated Press
Saturday, July 12, 2008
BAGHDAD -- Violence in Iraq is at its lowest level in four years, but ask Capt. Mike Forbes, and he will tell you his job as a troop commander in Baghdad has gotten harder, not easier.He spends less time worrying about roadside bombs and battling armed extremists than on his previous two tours to Iraq, and he and his soldiers are happy about that.But now they are digging into less violent, albeit more complex problems that still hamper Baghdad's western Mansour district: Working closely with local Iraqi officials to fix sewer systems and electricity and keeping corruption down in hopes of making the calm last...

Maliki Suggests U.S. Troop Timetable
By Sudarsan Raghavan and Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, July 8, 2008; Page A01
BAGHDAD -- Iraq's foreign minister said Wednesday that concessions by both sides had advanced the prospects for a new security agreement needed for U.S. forces to remain in the country beyond the end of the year...

Iraq official cites progress on U.S. security pact
Los Angeles Times Online
By Doug Smith and Raheem Salman
July 3, 2008
BAGHDAD -- Iraq's foreign minister said Wednesday that concessions by both sides had advanced the prospects for a new security agreement needed for U.S. forces to remain in the country beyond the end of the year...

Senate approves bill that includes funding for Iraq and Afghanistan
International Herald Tribune
By David M. Herszenhorn
Published: June 27, 2008
WASHINGTON: The U.S. Senate on Thursday night gave final approval to a major spending bill that provides $162 billion to finance operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through the end of the Bush administration and roughly $95 billion for domestic programs, including a new education benefit for veterans and a temporary extension of unemployment benefits. The measure now goes to the White House, where President George W. Bush has said that he will sign it...

Iraq army tightens grip on southern city
By Aref Mohammed
Reuters Online
Mon Jun 16, 2008
AMARA, Iraq, June 16 (Reuters) - Iraq's security forces tightened their grip on the southern city of Amara on Monday and appealed to Shi'ite militias to hand over heavy weapons before a government deadline for launching a crackdown...

Iraq hopes Arabs would follow suit of UAE
Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite Network
Friday, June 06, 2008
As Iraq has highly welcomed the announcement of UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Ben Zayed Al Nahyan about reopening UAE Embassy in Baghdad, Iraqi officials hoped the Emirati move would boost diplomatic presence in the country mainly after Iraqi government succeeded in ascertaining security in the capital and provinces. In addition to UAE Stand, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hosheyar Zebari conveyed the willingness of Jordan to name a new Ambassador to Baghdad while French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner expressed France plans to open a French consulate in Kurdistan...

World Leaders Say Iraq Making Progress
DPA News Agency (jp)
May 30, 2008
Iraq was given a boost of confidence for its efforts to promote security for its citizens by almost 100 countries and organizations attending a one-day international conference in Stockholm Thursday. The joint declaration expressed further commitment to Iraq and recognized "strong progress" in terms of establishing rule of law and promoting economic development, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said at the end of the meeting that took place on Thursday, May 29...

Report: Iraq soccer suspension lifted
United International Press
May 29, 2008
NEW YORK, May 29 (UPI) -- The suspension of Iraq's soccer association has been lifted, possibly allowing for its inclusion in the 2010 World Cup. Before the action by FIFA, the sport's governing body, team officials were concerned that a ban was imminent, The New York Times reported Thursday...

Militant cleric urges protests on US-Iraq deal
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
Associated Press
May 27, 2008
BAGHDAD (AP) — Militant Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called Tuesday for followers to hold weekly protests against a U.S.-Iraqi security deal under negotiation that could lead to a long-term American troop presence...

Iraq attempts to reverse Fifa ban
BBC Sports News
Monday, 26 May 2008
The Iraqi government has moved to reverse Fifa's decision on Monday to suspend the country from international football for one year. The ban came after Iraq disbanded its Olympic Committee and national sport federations on 20 May, in breach of Fifa and Olympic regulations...

Deal Reached to End Fighting in Sadr City
By Sholnn Freeman and Ernesto Londoño
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, May 11, 2008; Page A21
BAGHDAD, May 10 -- A top aide to Moqtada al-Sadr said Saturday that the influential Shiite cleric had reached an agreement with lawmakers aligned with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to end fighting in the Sadr City district of the capital. The aide, Salah al-Obaidi, said Sadr agreed to take his Mahdi Army militia off the streets as early as Sunday in exchange for restrictions on raids and arrests. The agreement also includes provisions to reopen roads into Sadr City and expand government humanitarian assistance, he said...

Iraq al-Qaeda chief not captured
BBC World News
Friday, 9 May 2008
The United States military in Iraq says a man detained in the northern city of Mosul is not in fact the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq.An earlier statement from the Iraqi defence ministry said that al-Masri had been captured...

Iraqi President’s Wife Not Hurt by a Roadside Bomb
NY Times Online
By ALISSA J. RUBIN
Published: May 5, 2008
BAGHDAD — Four marines were killed in Anbar Province by a roadside bomb, and in Baghdad, the Iraqi president’s wife narrowly escaped an attack on her motorcade, officials said Sunday...

In Sadr City, Basic Services Are Faltering
NY Times Online
By MICHAEL R. GORDON
Published: April 22, 2008
BAGHDAD — Even as American and Iraqi troops are fighting to establish control of the Sadr City section of this capital, the Iraqi government’s program to restore basic services like electricity, sewage and trash collection is lagging, jeopardizing the effort to win over the area’s wary residents...

Al Qaeda planning Baghdad attacks, says U.S.
CNN News Online
April 18, 2008
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Al Qaeda in Iraq is planning suicide attacks against Iraqis in Baghdad "in the near future," the U.S. military warned Friday. Information collected by coalition forces indicated that "numerous terrorists" had entered the Baghdad area to carry out attacks using vehicle-borne, improvised-explosive devices or suicide vests, according to a written statement from Multi-National Corps - Iraq. No details were provided...

Two Journalists Are Released in Iraq
By ERICA GOODE and QAIS MIZHER
NY Times Online
Published: April 15, 2008
BAGHDAD — Two journalists, one the victim of a kidnapping, the other held in jail by American forces, won their liberty on Monday. Richard Butler, a British photographer working for CBS who was kidnapped two months ago, was freed when Iraqi soldiers burst into a house in central Basra on Monday morning and found him bound and with a bag tied over his head...

U.S., Iraq Negotiating Security Agreements
By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 11, 2008; Page A04
The Bush administration is negotiating two accords with the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to replace the U.N. mandate for a multinational military presence there that expires at the end of this year...

Petraeus, Crocker Testify Before the House
By Peter Baker and Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, April 9, 2008; 9:36 AM
Army Gen. David H. Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker returned to Congress this morning to urge House lawmakers to support a pause in troop withdrawals from Iraq, a day after pleading with skeptical senators that such a halt is necessary to consolidate security gains after five years of war...

Petraeus Says Iraq Too `Fragile' for Removing Troops (Update1)
By Nicholas Johnston and Ken Fireman
Bloomberg Online News
April 8 (Bloomberg) -- Army General David Petraeus told lawmakers today that progress in Iraq is too ``fragile and reversible'' to allow U.S. troop levels to fall below about 140,000 earlier than September. Petraeus, testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington, recommended a 45-day evaluation after the final brigade from last year's ``surge'' of troop reinforcements into Iraq is withdrawn in July. Only after that period can consideration of further withdrawals begin, he said...

Basra Assault Exposed U.S., Iraqi Limits
By Sudarsan Raghavan and Ernesto Londoño
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, April 4, 2008; Page A01
BAGHDAD, April 3 -- When Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki launched an offensive in Basra last week, he consulted only his inner circle of advisers. There were no debates in parliament or among his political allies. Senior American officials were notified only a few days before the operation began...

Iraqi city appears relatively calm
CNN Online
Wed April 2, 2008
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Security forces in the southern Iraqi city of Basra hunted militants Wednesday in a stronghold of a powerful Shiite militia. But the violence that paralyzed the oil-rich city last week has died down, with one politician describing the city as "relatively calm and stable...

Iraq PM gives militants ultimatum
BBC Online
Wednesday, 26 March 2008
Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has given Shia militants in the southern city of Basra 72 hours to lay down their arms or face "severe penalties". Mr Maliki issued the threat on the second day of a government offensive, that has left at least 46 people dead...

Iraq war disappearing in US media
AFP
Tuesday, 25 March 2008
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US death toll in Iraq had just passed 4,000, but on Monday the most viewed story on Yahoo News was "Oil fluctuates as dollar, stocks rise." And the most emailed story was: "1986 message in bottle drifts 1,735 miles." Five years after the US-led invasion of Iraq began, Americans' interest in the war, and press coverage of it, is flagging...

Cheney vows to finish job in Iraq
BBC News Online
Tuesday, 18 March 2008, 16:29 GMT
The US will complete its mission in Iraq to ensure the country does not become a base for attacks on Americans, Vice-President Dick Cheney has said. Mr Cheney is on a visit to Iraq and the Middle East coinciding with the fifth anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq, launched on 20 March, 2003...

Female suicide bomber kills 40 in Iraq, official says
By Mohammed Tawfeeq
CNN News Online
Mon March 17, 2008
KARBALA, Iraq (CNN) -- A female suicide bomber apparently targeting Shiite worshippers killed at least 40 people and wounded at least 65 in Karbala on Monday, according to an Interior Ministry official...

Pope: Enough With Slaughters in Iraq
By NICOLE WINFIELD
The Associated Press
Sunday, March 16, 2008; 9:20 PM
VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI issued one of his strongest appeals for peace in Iraq on Sunday, days after the body of the kidnapped Chaldean Catholic archbishop was found near the northern city of Mosul. The pope also denounced the five-year-long war, saying it had provoked the complete breakup of Iraqi civilian life...

Kidnapped Iraqi archbishop dead
BBC News Online
Thursday, 13 March 2008
n archbishop seized by gunmen last month in Iraq has been found dead. The body of Paulos Faraj Rahho, the Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Mosul, was found in a shallow grave close to the city...

Officials Lean Toward Keeping Next Iraq Assessment Secret
By Walter Pincus and Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, March 7, 2008; Page A07
A new National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq is scheduled to be completed this month, according to U.S. intelligence officials. But leaders of the intelligence community have not decided whether to make its key judgments public, a step that caused an uproar when key judgments in an NIE about Iran were released in November...

Iraq in Talks With American and European Companies to Develop 5 New Oil Fields
By SOLOMON MOORE
Published: March 6, 2008
NY Times Online
BAGHDAD — The Iraqi government is negotiating with American and European oil companies to manage the development of five new fields in northern and southern Iraq, an Oil Ministry official said Wednesday...

Turkey Resists Gates’s Call to End Its Iraq Offensive
By MARK MAZZETTI
Published: February 29, 2008
NY Times Online
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish leaders on Thursday resisted calls by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates for a swift end to Turkey’s offensive against Kurdish guerrillas, offering no timetable for withdrawing their troops from northern Iraq...

Iraqis Pass 3 Key Bills, Pleasing All Parties
By Sudarsan Raghavan and Zaid Sabah
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, February 14, 2008; Page A18
BAGHDAD, Feb. 13 -- The Iraqi parliament on Wednesday passed three key measures that for months had been the subject of bickering that threatened to undermine the country's political process. The legislation cleared the way for provincial elections, approved the 2008 budget and granted a limited amnesty that will affect thousands of detainees. The proposals were bundled together and passed in a single vote...

Kurds hoist reworked Iraqi flag
BBC Online
Sunday, 10 February 2008
The new Iraqi flag, purged of references to former leader Saddam Hussein, has been flown in the Kurdish region of Iraq for the first time. Iraqi Kurds victimised under the former regime sought the changes, which were approved last month and are seen as a symbolic break with the past...

Sunnis Say Law Opening Jobs to Ex-Baathists Would Do More Harm Than Good
NY Times Online
By ALISSA J. RUBIN
Published: February 3, 2008
BAGHDAD — Top Sunni politicians say they are trying to stop final approval of legislation that they now believe would hurt Sunnis’ chances of holding government jobs, rather than helping them get more posts in the Shiite-led government...

Bush Touts Iraq Progress, Economic Plan
By Michael Abramowitz and Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, January 29, 2008; Page A01
President Bush told the American people last night that his strategy to stabilize Iraq is achieving results "few of us could have imagined just one year ago," even as he sought to reassure the public that his new stimulus plan will stave off a recession that threatens to hobble the nation's economy during the final year of his presidency...

Mosul Bombings Prompt Promise of New Offensive
By STEPHEN FARRELL and MICHAEL R. GORDON
Published: January 26, 2008
NY Times Online
BAGHDAD — Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki announced Friday that he was sending more forces to Mosul for what he vowed would be a “decisive” struggle to rid the city of insurgents.Mr. Maliki’s remarks, which came in the wake of successive bombings in Mosul, a northern city of 1.7 million, appeared intended to reassure Iraqis that the government was able to protect them against a resilient insurgent threat...

Iraqi Flag Changes, but Not Sectarian Distrust
By Joshua Partlow
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, January 23, 2008; Page A10
BAGHDAD, Jan. 22 -- Legislators were outraged, insults were hurled. Opponents dragged out old ethnic divisions and warned of a dark collusion. "It was an organized conspiracy to change the flag," said Khalaf al-Alayan, a Sunni member of parliament. Nothing goes unchallenged in Iraq's parliament, and the legislation adopted Tuesday to create a new, temporary Iraqi flag proved no exception. If anything, the contentious process reflected the larger sectarian differences that consistently tug at this country...

Despite Deadly Clashes in Iraq, Shiite Pilgrims Spared
By ALISSA J. RUBIN
Published: January 19, 2008
NY Times Online
BAGHDAD — Government troops in southern Iraq fought with a millennial religious militia group on Friday in clashes that left more than 40 people dead, but the troops successfully protected millions of pilgrims on the first day of Ashura, the largest religious holiday for Iraq’s Shiite majority and one frequently marred by violence...

A Cautious Comeback on Campus
By Joshua Partlow
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, January 15, 2008; Page A08
BAGHDAD, Jan. 14 -- During his eight-year endeavor to complete his undergraduate degree, Haider Swadi Kareem has witnessed more than he'd care to remember at Baghdad University. From the vantage point of a plastic table in the student cafeteria, Kareem watched the point-blank slaying of a 22-year-old U.S. soldier, shot in the back of the head after buying a 7-Up. That was in the summer of 2003. In the same cafeteria, Kareem later saw fliers scattered on the concrete floor demanding that all students abandon the university, by the order of al-Qaeda in Iraq...

Funding a football league in Falluja
By Olivia MacLeod
BBC News
Friday, 4 January 2008
The Iraqi victory in football's Asian Cup in July 2007 prompted joy across the country - and sparked an idea in a football fan far away in the United States. Boston travel agent Roxana von Kraus decided to print 100 posters of the winning team to send to her son, a US marine on his third tour of duty in Iraq...

46,000 Iraqis Have Left Syria
By Amit R. Paley
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, January 5, 2008; Page A11
BAGHDAD, Jan. 4 -- Nearly 50,000 Iraqi refugees returned home from Syria in the final 3 1/2 months of 2007, the latest sign of diminishing violence in this war-pocked country, according to new data from relief workers...