Iraq – News Stories About Iraq - Page 72

Dec 14, 2007 5:08 AM CST

Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Go!

Military's 'Will and Grace' generation more tolerant of gays

(Newser) - The US military, whose resources are stretched overseas, has become far more tolerant of gays. One Army sergeant turned over a video of a passionate kiss with his boyfriend to superior officers and was merely told to go back to work, according to a "60 Minutes" investigation to be...

Iraqis United in Mass Wedding

Dec 13, 2007 12:53 PM CST

Iraqis United in Mass Wedding

Dozens of couples marry across sectarian divides

(Newser) - A Baghdad media magnate, determined to overcome the sectarian conflict tearing apart Iraq, organized a mass wedding for dozens of mixed Baghdad couples, reports the Christian Science Monitor. The newspaper owner scoured the city for 70 couples from different ethnicities or sects, and treated them to a wedding and party...

Army Deploys Anthropologists on Front Lines

Dec 13, 2007 11:53 AM CST

Army Deploys Anthropologists on Front Lines

Uncle Sam enlists social scientists; colleagues object

(Newser) - The US military has been employing anthropologists in Iraq and Afghanistan to help troops work more effectively with locals. The results have been so promising they've just launched a $40 million program to embed social scientists with all 26 combat brigades. But the response back home has been ugly, with...

Iraqis Vow to Take Charge Despite Bombings

Dec 13, 2007 6:05 AM CST

Iraqis Vow to Take Charge Despite Bombings

Authorities lock down Amara with vehicle ban

(Newser) - Iraqi officials confirmed yesterday that they will take over security from exiting British troops in Basra, despite the triple car bomb explosions that claimed as many as 41 lives yesterday in nearby Amara. Local authorities had only recently taken over control of the city from the British military, and multiple...

Car Bombs Kill at Least 40 in Amara, Iraq

Dec 12, 2007 6:12 AM CST

Car Bombs Kill at Least 40 in Amara, Iraq

Shiite provincial capital site of factional violence

(Newser) - A series of near-simultaneous car bombs killed at least 40 and injured dozens this morning in Amara, a Shiite-dominated city in southeastern Iraq, CNN reports. The British military handed the area to Iraqi forces in August, 2006; it has been the scene of increasingly violent confrontations between Shiite factions.

Iraq Disarms Female Cops

Dec 11, 2007 12:15 PM CST

Iraq Disarms Female Cops

Rising conservatism undoes US push for more women in law enforcement

(Newser) - The female officers the US worked so hard to bring into the Iraqi police force are being undercut by the Interior Ministry, the Los Angeles Times reports. Policewomen have been ordered to turn in their guns or go without pay, a move a US liaison says will undermine pat-down searches...

Iraq Splinters
as Surge
Quells Violence

Dec 10, 2007 2:21 PM CST

Iraq Splinters as Surge Quells Violence

Government holds no sway over 'highly decentralized situation'

(Newser) - The US troop surge has stemmed the bloodshed of Iraq's civil war but has failed in its other key objective of rebuilding the fragmented country into a cohesive nation. Ten months into the surge, Iraq has further splintered into sectarian strongholds run by warlords and militias, while the government's bickering...

UN Stepping Up Work in Iraq

Dec 10, 2007 5:18 AM CST

UN Stepping Up Work in Iraq

Four years after bombing killed 22, UN re-engaged

(Newser) - The United Nations is stepping up its work in Iraq in a bid to land a final peace—four years after a terrorist bomb in the UN compound in Baghdad killed 22 officials. "Three years of horror have led nowhere. It only produced tit-for-tat destruction and the displacement of...

British PM Gives Troops Surprise Visit

Dec 9, 2007 3:35 PM CST

British PM Gives Troops Surprise Visit

Vows Basra pullout in 2 weeks; mum on link to kidnappings

(Newser) - UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown surprised his troops with a visit in Iraq today and declared that Britain will cede control of Basra within two weeks, the Times of London reports. He told 300 soldiers that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki had advised the quick pull-out "so Iraq can...

Key Iraqi Police Chief Killed

Dec 9, 2007 2:17 PM CST

Key Iraqi Police Chief Killed

American ally assassinated in precise string of roadside bombs

(Newser) - Qais al-Mamouri, a major US ally respected for his non-sectarian work as police chief in violent Babil province, was killed today by a roadside bomb, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Five successive explosions ripped through al-Mamouri’s US-issued SUV, killing him and two others. Less than an hour earlier a...

Transient Iraqi Band Hits Turkey

Dec 7, 2007 6:23 PM CST

Transient Iraqi Band Hits Turkey

Musicians forced to flee mirror plight of many Iraqis

(Newser) - Four young Iraqis formed Acrassicauda—Baghdad’s only heavy-metal band—in 2001, and since the 2003 invasion have struggled to keep their music (and themselves) alive to prove culture could still exist in their homeland. But playing a Western style of music made them a target, and like many Iraqis,...

Female Suicide Bomber Strikes in Central Iraq

Dec 7, 2007 10:39 AM CST

Female Suicide Bomber Strikes in Central Iraq

16 die in second attack by a woman in 2 weeks; another blast kills 10

(Newser) - A woman detonated a bomb today in the offices of a group fighting Al-Qaeda in central Iraq, killing 16 and injuring 27. The suicide bombing, at the Muqdadiyah office of an anti-al-Qaeda group, was the second by a woman in 2 weeks, AFP reports. Elsewhere in restive Diyala province, a...

Iraqi Officers
Going AWOL
in America

Dec 6, 2007 8:46 PM CST

Iraqi Officers Going AWOL in America

About a dozen have skipped out while here for military training

(Newser) - Nearly a dozen Iraqi military and law-enforcement officials have fled specialized training programs in the US, the Washington Times reports. The men are either seeking asylum in this country or are still missing—leading a high-ranking congressman to warn of the national-security implications. An Army spokesman says none of the...

Drop in Iraq Violence Gives Petraeus Breathing Room

Dec 6, 2007 2:00 PM CST

Drop in Iraq Violence Gives Petraeus Breathing Room

But general won't yet talk of a turning point

(Newser) - US Gen. David Petraeus said today that declining violence in Iraq has given him greater flexibility with troop deployment, the AP reports. But while Petraeus remains quietly optimistic about American prospects in Iraq, he played down any talk of a turning point. "There's nobody in uniform who is doing...

Gates Nixes Marine Shift to
Afghanistan

Dec 6, 2007 5:48 AM CST

Gates Nixes Marine Shift to Afghanistan

Defense secretary says troops needed in still-volatile Iraq

(Newser) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates has rejected a proposal to shift Marine Corps soldiers from Iraq to Afghanistan, saying the situation is still too volatile in Iraq, reports the New York Times. The top general of the Marines met with Gates in Washington last week and presented a formal proposal to...

Bombings Mark Gates' Iraq Visit

Dec 5, 2007 3:47 PM CST

Bombings Mark Gates' Iraq Visit

Blasts kill 23 as Gates says secure Iraq is 'within reach'

(Newser) - In an unannounced visit to Iraq today, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he believed stability there is a reachable goal, even as car bombs claimed 23 lives in Baghdad and elsewhere, Reuters reports. "More than ever, I believe that the goal of a secure, stable, and democratic Iraq...

Bush Blasts Lawmakers for Neglecting Bills

Dec 3, 2007 5:49 PM CST

Bush Blasts Lawmakers for Neglecting Bills

Prez demands funding for Iraq; Reid slams ultimatum

(Newser) - Lawmakers returned from Thanksgiving break today to face a scolding from President Bush over a number of unfinished bills, the Washington Post reports. Chiefly, Bush blasted them for stalling on Iraq funding—he wants $50 billion—as he cited “surge” success and warned of defense department layoffs if Congress...

Cholera Outbreak Grips Baghdad

Dec 2, 2007 7:40 PM CST

Cholera Outbreak Grips Baghdad

Officials fear an epidemic when rains hit war-ravaged sewers

(Newser) - Cholera cases have spiked in Baghdad since mid-November and will likely soar when rainy season comes, the Guardian reports. Officials fear that the downpours will spread dirty water from war-ravaged sewers and infect more Iraqis, particularly children; about 4,500 cases have already been tallied this year. “We have...

Iraq Vet Faces Life Over Suicide Try

Dec 2, 2007 4:15 PM CST

Iraq Vet Faces Life Over Suicide Try

Shrinks say she's mentally ill, but Army calls it 'psychobabble'

(Newser) - First Lt. Elizabeth Whiteside faces possible life in prison. Her crime? Attempting suicide in Iraq. At a military hearing this week, her diagnosed mental illness was spurned by superiors as an "excuse” and labeled “psychobabble." Suicide tries remain illegal in a military culture that scorns mental disorder,...

Turkey Claims Strike
on Iraqi Kurds

Dec 1, 2007 3:56 PM CST

Turkey Claims Strike on Iraqi Kurds

Rebels deny report, and Washington claims ignorance

(Newser) - Turkey launched an “intense intervention” in Northern Iraq today, inflicting losses on PKK fighters—at least according to Ankara. A PKK official denies the strike, and Washington claims ignorance, Reuters reports. But Turkey says that its artillery, helicopters, and special forces struck a Kurdish base with 50-60 militants. "...