Iraq

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Bin Laden: 'Blood for Blood'
Bin Laden: 'Blood for Blood'
Dec 30, 2007 5:54 AM CST

Bin Laden: 'Blood for Blood'

Terror chief threatens Israel & Sunnis backing Iraqi government

(Newser) - Al-Qaeda terror chief Osama bin Laden denounced Sunnis supporting the US-backed Iraq government as “evil traitors,” and vowed to spread the group’s holy war to Israel, promising "blood for blood, destruction for destruction" in an online audiotape issued yesterday, AP reports. The message didn’t mention...

Al-Qaeda In Iraq Down 75%, Baghdad Says

But Petraeus calls the group country's 'biggest threat'

(Newser) - Al-Qaeda in Iraq is down 75%, one Baghdad official said today—but US Gen. David Petraeus maintained that al-Qaeda is still “the most significant challenge" facing the country. Maj. Gen. Abdul Kareem Khalaf attributed the alleged al-Qaeda cut to beefed Iraq security, armed Sunni fighters, and the recent US...

Bin Laden to Issue Message on 'Foiling Plots' in Iraq

May also rip 'Infidel' Arabic news channel Al Jareeza

(Newser) - A new message on "foiling plots" in Iraq from Osama bin Laden is about to be released on an Islamic web site, Reuters reports. The 56-minute recording will address the hardline jihadist group Islamic State of Iraq, according to the site announcing the message. It may also blast the...

Iraq Moves Toward Amnesty
Iraq Moves Toward Amnesty
Dec 27, 2007 10:52 AM CST

Iraq Moves Toward Amnesty

Pending law would allow release thousands of detainees

(Newser) - The Iraqi cabinet has framed an amnesty law that would release tens of thousands of suspected insurgents being held without charges. The amnesty, the result of months of negotiation, now goes to the parliament, which will begin debating it Sunday, the BBC reports. The number of prisoners held, estimated at...

Protect or Prevent? Iraq Tanks Raise Heavy Issues

New armored vehicles will save soldiers, but may endanger strategy

(Newser) - A new heavily armored vehicle will better protect US soldiers in Iraq from roadside bombs, but possibly at the risk of jeopardizing the overall counter-insurgency strategy, the Los Angeles Times reports. The new equipment has ignited debate over whether it is better to protect soldiers from attack, or stop the...

Suicide Attacks in Iraq Kill 34
Suicide Attacks in Iraq Kill 34
UPDATED
Dec 25, 2007 2:08 PM CST

Suicide Attacks in Iraq Kill 34

Blasts in two cities underscore threat posed by insurgents

(Newser) - Two suicide attacks in big cities north of Baghdad today killed at least 34 and injured up to 100, underscoring the dangers still posed by insurgents, the Washington Post reports. A bomber killed 12 at a funeral in Baqubah, following an earlier car bomb explosion in Baiji that killed at...

Suicide Bomber Kills 22 in Northern Iraq

Attack targeted Awakening, Sunni tribal militias allied with US

(Newser) - At least 20 people have died and scores more are injured in northern Iraq after a suicide attacker detonated a car bomb while inside the vehicle. Police stopped the driver in the city of Baiji, about 150 miles north of Baghdad, the BBC reports. The bomb struck people lining up...

US Ignored Warnings on Security Firms

Stream of Iraqi reports went unheeded over two years

(Newser) - The Bush administration ignored repeated warnings about using private security contractors such as Blackwater in Iraq, the Washington Post reports. Despite the warnings from legal experts and military officials over the past two years, the US did not acknowledge the need for oversight—and, in fact, expanded the presence of...

Army Rescinds Leave for Ill Newborn's Dad

First-time dad ordered back while son fights for life in ICU

(Newser) - The US Army has canceled the leave extension of an Indiana soldier whose newborn son is in critical condition and ordered him to return to duty on the next possible flight. The Chicago Tribune reports on the case of Chris Williams, a veteran of two tours in Iraq, who asked...

Turks Launch Second Straight Air Strike in Northern Iraq

Bombs fall on Kurdistan but no casualties

(Newser) - A fleet of Turkish warplanes bombarded northern Iraq for a second straight day today in its ongoing campaign against Kurdish separatists. The air strike lasted for an hour but resulted in no casualties because the area's villages had already been evacuated, reports the Washington Post. Once again the US sympathized...

Soldier Saves Disabled Iraqi Youngster

Unlikely journey takes orphan from Baghdad to Wisconsin

(Newser) - Ala Eddeen was destined for a miserable, perhaps short life. Born with cerebral palsy, the 9-year-old orphan was on his way to an institution where at best "he would stare at a blank wall for the rest of his life," says Scott Southworth, a US military officer who...

Iraq Seeks to Break Up Sunni Fighter Units

Shiite-led gov't fears US-backed militias will become rival force

(Newser) - Iraq's Shiite-dominated government is demanding that Sunni militias who are helping fight Islamic extremists eventually disband, fearing they will otherwise turn into their own military force. The militias, called Awakening Councils, or Concerned Local Citizens, comprise more than 70,000 Iraqis, including former insurgents, and are funded by the United...

Gates Predicts Steady Iraq Withdrawals

If security gains hold, defense chief predicts 100K troops by Jan '09

(Newser) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates said today the US is on track to have 100,000 troops, or 10 brigades, in Iraq by the end of the Bush administration, the Chicago Tribune reports. Recent security gains in Iraq have allowed Gen. David Petraeus to begin to enact his plan of removing...

Army Lapses Led to Suicide of Mentally Ill Soldier

Rate at all-time high in Iraq, Afghanistan

(Newser) - Depressed and constantly reprimanded by his superiors, Pfc. Jason Scheuerman shot himself in his Iraq barracks in 2005—raising serious questions about how the military handles mental illness, the AP reports. Scheuerman's was one of a record 152 Army suicides in Afghanistan and Iraq, but his parents had to fight...

Bush: I Didn't Know About CIA Tapes
Bush: I Didn't Know About
CIA Tapes
Dec 20, 2007 11:07 AM CST

Bush: I Didn't Know About CIA Tapes

Reserves judgment; knocks spending, Putin, in year-end presser

(Newser) - President Bush said today he didn’t know about the destroyed CIA interrogation tapes until CIA chief Michael Hayden briefed him earlier this month, and he intends to reserve judgment while they’re investigated. "Let's wait and see what the facts are," he said. In his year-end press...

Blackwater Guard Kills NY Times Dog
Blackwater Guard Kills
NY Times Dog
Dec 19, 2007 4:35 AM CST

Blackwater Guard Kills NY Times Dog

Pooch attacked bomb-sniffing K-9, says security firm

(Newser) - Another fatal shooting by a Blackwater guard in Baghdad is under investigation by the US embassy. The victim this time is a dog kept by the staff of the New York Times, reports Reuters. The guard shot the dog, Hentish, last week before a visit by a diplomat to the...

Bush Wins War Budget Battle
Bush Wins War Budget Battle
Dec 19, 2007 3:39 AM CST

Bush Wins War Budget Battle

Senate approves $70 billion in war funds

(Newser) - The White House last night won a major victory in the Senate—securing $70 billion in funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, free of the restrictions linked to troop withdrawals Democrats had insisted on for weeks. In a budget deal that ended months of wrangling, the Senate passed...

eBay Halts Sale of Iraqi Treasure
eBay Halts Sale of Iraqi Treasure
Dec 18, 2007 4:24 PM CST

eBay Halts Sale of Iraqi Treasure

Smuggled 4,000-year-old tablet was taken down minutes before auction closed

(Newser) - eBay called off the auction of a 4,000-year-old clay tablet last week just minutes before it closed because an expert suspected the artifact had been smuggled out of Iraq, the Guardian reports. A German archaeologist alerted authorities after spotting the tablet, a business-card-size object covered in distinctive cuneiform script,...

Turkish Troops Cross Into Iraq
Turkish Troops Cross Into Iraq
Dec 18, 2007 6:14 AM CST

Turkish Troops Cross Into Iraq

Ground operations follow air raids on Kurdish rebels

(Newser) - Turkey sent hundreds of troops across the Iraqi border today to battle Kurdish separatists, the first large-scale ground incursion since tensions rose in the fall, Reuters reports. About 300 lightly armed troops arrived in a semi-autonomous mountainous region, Iraqi officials said. Ankara had no immediate comment on the operation, which...

Rice Pops Up in Iraq to Plead for Peace

Calls for reconciliation on surprise visit

(Newser) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Iraq for a surprise visit today to plead for increased efforts at reconciliation, Reuters reports. She flew into the ethnically mixed northern city of Kirkuk—which some expect to be the next flashpoint for violence. The city's Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen are deeply...

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