Yahoo! News: Iraq

Iraq's president steps up row over PM's councils (AP)

Posted: 03 Dec 2008 03:50 AM CST

AP - Iraq's president is going to the country's federal court to try to stop Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki from establishing tribal councils a move that major political parties fear is aimed at bolstering the Shiite leader's stature ahead of elections next year.

Five Reasons for Hope in Iraq (Time.com)

Posted: 03 Dec 2008 03:20 AM CST

Time.com - TIME's World Editor revisits Baghdad and offers his own litmus test of post-Surge progress

Gates: Military looks to accelerate Iraq pullout (AP)

Posted: 03 Dec 2008 03:04 AM CST

AP - Defense Secretary Robert Gates signaled a willingness to forge ahead with two key priorities for the incoming Obama administration: accelerating the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and shutting down the Guantanamo Bay detention center.

U.S. forces in Iraq detain, kill Iran-backed suspects (Reuters)

Posted: 03 Dec 2008 02:15 AM CST

Reuters - U.S. forces in Iraq captured two suspected members of an Iranian-backed network and killed a third Wednesday, part of U.S. efforts to target a group it says has attacked Iraqi citizens and foreign troops.

Bomb strikes minibus in Baghdad, killing 1 (AP)

Posted: 03 Dec 2008 01:47 AM CST

AP - Iraqi police say at least one civilian has been killed and five others wounded when a bomb attached to a minibus exploded in eastern Baghdad.

Iraq turns to lie detectors to outsmart Al-Qaeda (AFP)

Posted: 03 Dec 2008 01:33 AM CST

AFP - Faced with infiltration of state organs by wily insurgents and Al-Qaeda jihadists, Iraq's government has turned to a detection method highly favoured by the United States -- polygraphs.

Gates softens opposition to 16-month Iraq timetable (AFP)

Posted: 02 Dec 2008 08:55 PM CST

AFP - US commanders are considering an accelerated drawdown of US forces from Iraq, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday, softening his opposition to president-elect Barack Obama's 16-month timetable.

US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,207 (AP)

Posted: 02 Dec 2008 07:00 PM CST

AP - As of Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2008, at least 4,207 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Report calls for shifting foreign focus from Iraq (AP)

Posted: 02 Dec 2008 05:22 PM CST

AP - President-elect Barack Obama should shift the main U.S. foreign policy focus in the Middle East from Iraq to curtailing Iran's nuclear program and promoting peace agreements between Israel and its Arab neighbors, analysts at two prominent Washington think tanks proposed Tuesday.

US soldiers re-enlisting because of poor economy (AP)

Posted: 02 Dec 2008 05:12 PM CST

AP - Sgt. Ryan Nyhus spent 14 months patrolling the deadly streets of Baghdad, where five members of his platoon were shot and one died. As bad as that was, he would rather go back there than take his chances in this brutal job market.

Military contractor in Iraq holds foreign workers in warehouses (McClatchy Newspapers)

Posted: 02 Dec 2008 05:12 PM CST

McClatchy Newspapers - BAGHDAD About 1,000 Asian men who were hired by a Kuwaiti subcontractor to the U.S. military have been confined for as long as three months in windowless warehouses near the Baghdad airport without money or a place to work.

Pentagon chief Gates backs Obama Iraq policy (Reuters)

Posted: 02 Dec 2008 04:28 PM CST

Reuters - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who will stay on under Barack Obama, said on Tuesday he supported the president-elect's Iraq policy but declined to back his proposed timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. forces.

Iraqi, Kuwaiti navies to police waterways together (AP)

Posted: 02 Dec 2008 04:07 PM CST

AP - The Iraqi and Kuwaiti navies have agreed to patrol their common waterways together to guard against terrorism and smuggling in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy said Tuesday.

US army deserter applies for asylum in Germany (AP)

Posted: 02 Dec 2008 01:23 PM CST

AP - A U.S. soldier who deserted after serving in Iraq declared Tuesday he has applied for asylum in Germany.

Iraqi coach looking to restore life to Halabja (AFP)

Posted: 02 Dec 2008 11:38 AM CST

AFP - Halabja will forever be remembered as the place where thousands died in 1988 when Saddam Hussein targeted the Kurdish city with a deadly poison gas attack at the height of the Iran-Iraq war.

US military wants more 'Sons of Iraq' as police (AP)

Posted: 02 Dec 2008 11:35 AM CST

AP - The U.S. military is urging Iraq's Shiite-led government to boost the number of Sunni volunteers many of them ex-insurgents into its security forces, a U.S. officer said Tuesday.

Iraq centre treats the invisible wounds of US soldiers (AFP)

Posted: 02 Dec 2008 11:34 AM CST

AFP - Traumatised by the battlefield or the anguish of divorce caused by long absence from home, many American troops in Iraq are increasingly shedding their macho image and visiting Combat Stress Clinics.