Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• U.S. 'nowhere near' decision to pull all troops out of Afghanistan
• US hopes India will persuade Karzai on troops
• Gunmen abduct Syria's leading human rights lawyer
• Qaeda kidnappers silence journalist survivors of Syria bombs
• Syria regime closes in on strategic rebel-held town
• Families of Spanish journalists abducted in Syria break their silence
• Syria Islamists seize Turkey border crossing
• Britain on trial at Europe rights court over Iraqi death
• Prominent Syrian activists kidnapped
• Exclusive: Despite warnings, Pentagon kept ties to controversial helicopter firms
• Kuwait emir opens Gulf summit by call to end Syria war
• Hagel tours low-profile US base in Qatar
• UN to airlift aid from Iraq to Syria  
• History Will Forget the Obamacare Website's Bungled Launch
• U.N. plans first aid airlift to Syria from Iraq as winter grips
• Attacks on Shiites kill 18 in Iraq
• Gunmen abduct prominent Syrian lawyer
• NY state contractors gather for annual conference
• Commentary: Snowden, Pope Francis Are Top Choices for Time's Person of the Year
• Suicide bomber kills 11 at Shi'ite funeral in Iraq
• 2 Spanish journalists kidnapped in Syria
• Good Reads: From Chicago as the future, to a pessimistic US, to Blackwater's origins
• Syrian army pounds rebels near Lebanon border
• Spanish journalist, photographer kidnapped in Syria
• Activists say 12 rebels killed in Syria infighting
• Spain daily says 2 journalists kidnapped in Syria

U.S. 'nowhere near' decision to pull all troops out of Afghanistan Posted: 10 Dec 2013 03:31 PM PST By Missy Ryan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration is 'nowhere near' deciding to pull out all troops from Afghanistan at the end of 2014, a top U.S. official said on Tuesday, despite mounting frustration President Hamid Karzai has not signed a security deal allowing the military to remain there after next year. "I have no doubt that the (bilateral security agreement with Afghanistan) ultimately will be concluded," Ambassador James Dobbins, U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, told the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. While Dobbins said that an ongoing delay to finalizing the deal - which U.S. officials had hoped Karzai would sign weeks ago - would impose "damages and costs" on Afghans, he said the Obama administration was not on the verge of abandoning its effort to extend its troop presence.

US hopes India will persuade Karzai on troops Posted: 10 Dec 2013 02:29 PM PST The United States expressed hope Tuesday that India would persuade Afghan President Hamid Karzai to sign a deal allowing US troops to stay, as lawmakers voiced outrage at the delay. Testifying before a Senate committee, a senior US official voiced confidence that Afghanistan would eventually complete an agreement for some 12,000 US troops to stay after 2014, despite Karzai's insistence that he will leave the decision to his successor. "His upcoming visit to India could, I think, be quite influential, because he highly respects and has good relations with the Indian government," said James Dobbins, the US special representative on Afghanistan and Pakistan. Karzai visits India later this week.

Gunmen abduct Syria's leading human rights lawyer Posted: 10 Dec 2013 02:07 PM PST NABEK, Syria (AP) — Masked gunmen abducted a leading Syrian human rights lawyer and three other prominent activists in a rebel-held Damascus suburb Tuesday in a new sign that al-Qaida linked militants who have joined the fight against President Bashar Assad are trying to silence rivals in the opposition movement.

Qaeda kidnappers silence journalist survivors of Syria bombs Posted: 10 Dec 2013 02:00 PM PST From Baba Amr to Aleppo, they braved countless army bombardments to tell the world about the suffering of Syrians, but two Spanish journalists have fallen prey to another danger: Al-Qaeda kidnappers. Reporter Javier Espinosa and photographer Ricardo Garcia Vilanova have been held since September 16 by the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), according to a statement released Tuesday by the Spanish journalists' families. "Embedded" with rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad, the journalists had been working in battered Deir Ezzor province in eastern Syria on their last trip. Espinosa has ventured into rebel areas of Syria a dozen times since the anti-Assad revolt broke out in 2011.

Syria regime closes in on strategic rebel-held town Posted: 10 Dec 2013 01:59 PM PST Syria's army on Tuesday trained its sights on the town of Yabrud, the last rebel stronghold in the strategic Qalamoun region near Lebanon's border, after a string of battlefield victories. The town is believed to be where a group of nuns from the historic Christian hamlet of Maalula have been transferred, reportedly in the hands of jihadist rebels from Al-Nusra Front. In Spain, meanwhile, El Mundo newspaper said Spanish journalists Javier Espinosa and Ricardo Garcia Vilanova have gone missing in northern Syria. The pair are believed to have been kidnapped in September by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, but El Mundo's director Pedro Ramirez said "we believe they are alive and we believe they are well".

Families of Spanish journalists abducted in Syria break their silence Posted: 10 Dec 2013 12:56 PM PST The two men join a growing list of journalists kidnapped or captured in Syria and whose plights are routinely kept from public view while negotiations are ongoing. Press advocacy groups say that at least 30 journalists are missing in Syria, mostly after entering rebel-held territory. Javier Espinosa, a correspondent for the Madrid newspaper El Mundo, and Ricardo García Vilanova, a freelance photographer working with Espinosa, were kidnapped on Sept. 16 at a checkpoint in Tal-Abyad, near the Turkish border. El Mundo and the relatives said the kidnappers belonged to the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS), a militant group linked to Al Qaeda and one of several jihadist groups operating in Syria.

Syria Islamists seize Turkey border crossing Posted: 10 Dec 2013 12:36 PM PST Syria's largest Islamist rebel force seized a crossing on the Turkish border Tuesday from other rebels, including brigades loyal to the Western-backed Free Syrian Army, a monitoring group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Islamic Front, a new grouping of the most powerful Islamist rebel groups battling to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, seized the Bab al-Hawa crossing in northwestern Syria. The capture came after the Islamic Front seized arms depots near the crossing belonging to the Free Syrian Army at the weekend, heightening tensions among the fractured Syrian opposition. Last week the Islamic Front rejected the authority of the FSA, which was the first major rebel force formed after the outbreak of Syria's civil war and was made up of army deserters and civilians.

Britain on trial at Europe rights court over Iraqi death Posted: 10 Dec 2013 11:46 AM PST Strasbourg (France) (AFP) - Europe's rights court on Wednesday will hear claims from the family of an Iraqi civilian who suffered an unexplained and violent death after being taken captive by British troops in 2003. The Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will consider whether Tarek Hassan was detained in an "arbitrary and unlawful" manner and whether Britain should have carried out an investigation into his death. In an application sent to the court, the family alleges that Hassan "was arrested and detained by British forces in Iraq and was subsequently found dead in unexplained circumstances". The family says Hassan was arrested in Um Qasr, a port city in the Basra region, in April 2003 by British troops who had started detaining high-ranking members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party in the region.

Prominent Syrian activists kidnapped Posted: 10 Dec 2013 11:43 AM PST Four prominent Syrian activists, including one whose work was recognised by the European parliament, were kidnapped Tuesday in a rebel-held area near Damascus by unknown individuals, an activist network said. "On the morning of December 10th, a group of unknown people broke into the headquarters of a group documenting abuses in Syria in the Douma area in besieged Eastern Ghouta," the Local Coordination Committees said. "The activists Razan Zeitouneh, Wael Hamada, Samira Khalil and Nazem al-Hamadi were all detained," the group added in a statement. Zeitouneh is a well-known Syrian activist who was among the 2011 winners of the European parliament's human rights prize.

Exclusive: Despite warnings, Pentagon kept ties to controversial helicopter firms Posted: 10 Dec 2013 11:37 AM PST By Warren Strobel and Brian Grow Washington (Reuters) - After almost four years of allegations that two related helicopter companies in Lithuania and Russia were doing substandard work and should be banned from new contracts, the Pentagon continued to give them business, according to interviews and documents seen by Reuters. As recently as last month, an Army planning document shows, the service was weighing contracting helicopter overhauls from the firms, which have been the subject of multiple internal warnings and two Defense Department Inspector General reports. A Pentagon spokeswoman said no work was under way on the project, which is under review. The Pentagon has been working with Lithuanian company Aviabaltika and a sister Russian firm, the St. Petersburg Aircraft Repair Company (SPARC), for more than a decade to buy spare parts and overhaul Russian Mi-17 helicopters.

Kuwait emir opens Gulf summit by call to end Syria war Posted: 10 Dec 2013 10:51 AM PST Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah opened an annual summit of wealthy Gulf states on Tuesday with a call for an end to the "human catastrophe" in Syria. Sheikh Sabah, who gave a share of the spotlight at the Gulf Cooperation Council summit to the head of Syria's main opposition bloc, also condemned the United Nations for failing to halt the 33-month conflict. "The human catastrophe is still ongoing in Syria which calls on us to double efforts and work with the international community, especially the UN Security Council which has remained unable to put an end to this human tragedy," said the emir.

Hagel tours low-profile US base in Qatar Posted: 10 Dec 2013 10:09 AM PST AL UDEID AIR BASE, Qatar (AP) — The U.S. air operations center in Qatar has long been a hub where combat sorties into Iraq and Afghanistan were tracked and international forces kept watch over hotspots in the Persian Gulf and western Mediterranean Sea. But for years it's kept a low profile in a region sometimes reluctant to advertise its significant U.S. military presence.

UN to airlift aid from Iraq to Syria   Posted: 10 Dec 2013 09:57 AM PST The United Nations said Tuesday it would for the first time begin airlifting aid items across the border from Iraq to Syria, after receiving the go-ahead from both governments. "Our colleagues on the Iraqi side, with the permission of the Syrian government and also the cooperation of the Iraqi government, (are preparing for the) airlifting of supplies for winter from Arbil in Iraqi Kurdistan to Qamishli and Hasakeh in north and northeast Syria," Amin Awad, who heads the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) Syria response, told reporters in Geneva. "That region of northeastern Syria has been very difficult to reach, very perilous to reach, since May," UNHCR spokesman Peter Kessler told AFP by telephone.

History Will Forget the Obamacare Website's Bungled Launch Posted: 10 Dec 2013 09:38 AM PST National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru says Obamacare—like George W. Bush's Iraq War—should persuade Americans that "the grand designs of governments, left or right, can go wrong in many more ways than they can go right, than anyone can foresee, and than even the 'best and the brightest' ... can fix." It's not an original thought, it's not exclusive to conservative commentators, and it's not exactly news to the White House. From The New Republic to the West Wing, progressives are worried that—as TNR's John Judis put it—a failed Obamacare will "reinforce for a generation the argument against any government initiatives." It's the rollout of Medicare Part D in 2006.

U.N. plans first aid airlift to Syria from Iraq as winter grips Posted: 10 Dec 2013 09:35 AM PST By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations' first relief airlift to Syria from Iraq will deliver food and winter supplies to the mostly Kurdish northeast over the next 10 days with the permission of both governments, U.N. aid agencies said on Tuesday. The airbridge, using Ilyushin-76 commercial cargo planes flying to Hassakeh from Arbil in northern Iraq, will begin on Thursday. Up to 12 flights are scheduled through Sunday, said Amin Awad, director of the U.N. refugee agency's Middle East and North Africa Bureau. Elisabeth Byrs, a spokeswoman for the U.N.'s World Food Programme (WFP), later said that it also planned 10 rotations over the next 10 days in an operation aimed at feeding more than 30,000 people for a month.

Attacks on Shiites kill 18 in Iraq Posted: 10 Dec 2013 09:33 AM PST Baquba (Iraq) (AFP) - A suicide bomber attacked a Shiite shrine in Iraq Tuesday, killing 11 people, including some mourning seven who were shot dead earlier in the day, police and a doctor said. The blast at the Abu Idris shrine in Baquba, northeast of Baghdad in the religiously and ethnically mixed province of Diyala, also wounded 19 people, the sources said. The victims of the bombing included people who were mourning the deaths of seven Shiite shepherds who were gunned down northeast of Baquba earlier on Tuesday. Members of Iraq's Shiite majority are frequently targeted by Sunni militants, who consider them to be apostates.

Gunmen abduct prominent Syrian lawyer Posted: 10 Dec 2013 08:43 AM PST BEIRUT (AP) — Gunmen in a rebel-held area near Damascus abducted a leading Syrian human rights lawyer on Tuesday, activists and opposition groups said, the latest in a wave of recent kidnappings targeting anti-government activists in rebel held areas.

NY state contractors gather for annual conference Posted: 10 Dec 2013 08:06 AM PST Hundreds of construction contractors will be gathering this week in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. for an annual three-day conference. The Associated General Contractors of New York State expects more than 900 ...

Commentary: Snowden, Pope Francis Are Top Choices for Time's Person of the Year Posted: 10 Dec 2013 07:58 AM PST Yahoo asked writers from Yahoo Contributor Network to weigh in with brief arguments. Edward Snowden As a veteran and long-time retiree in Los Angeles, my first reaction was to consider him a traitor. Snowden's actions intended to shine a glaring light on the increasingly oppressive secrecy our government has built over decades.

Suicide bomber kills 11 at Shi'ite funeral in Iraq Posted: 10 Dec 2013 06:56 AM PST A suicide bomber killed 11 people and wounded 20 at a Shi'ite Muslim funeral in a city northeast of Baghdad on Tuesday, police said, as Iraqi insurgents pursue a campaign of deadly attacks. The bombing took place in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) from of the capital at a funeral for a group of Shi'ite shepherds who had been killed by unidentified gunmen outside the city. No one immediately claimed responsibility, but suicide bombings have been a favored tactic of Sunni insurgents linked to al Qaeda and who are widely blamed for this year's surge in violence that has mostly targeted civilians. Baquba has been hit by some of the deadliest attacks, and earlier this month a suicide bomber blew himself up at a funeral in a nearby town.

2 Spanish journalists kidnapped in Syria Posted: 10 Dec 2013 06:47 AM PST BEIRUT (AP) — The families of two Spanish journalists abducted in Syria by an al-Qaida linked group nearly three months ago appealed publicly for their release Tuesday, after failing to make contact with the captors via intermediaries.

Good Reads: From Chicago as the future, to a pessimistic US, to Blackwater's origins Posted: 10 Dec 2013 06:44 AM PST Now elite Chicago's embrace of its working-class roots is strictly ironic. Frank sits at a trendy restaurant over "a winking parody of the Chicago-style hot dog: an assembly of sliced-up steak, 'hot dog bun puree,' 'housemade pickles,' a mustard-flavored wafer, and so on." His lament: "In Chicago's strangely tidy streets, the rest of the nation can get a glimpse of the future: a city that works – for a few." (Of course, The Economist would observe that we're only remembering it that way.) In the lead-off piece of a special report on American foreign policy, the magazine in effect tells America to quit moping and pull its socks up. The Economist is especially critical of the venture in Iraq led by George W. Bush.

Syrian army pounds rebels near Lebanon border Posted: 10 Dec 2013 05:45 AM PST BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian government troops pounded a rebel stronghold near the Lebanese border with airstrikes and artillery on Tuesday, activists said, hitting a town in the mountainous region where they believe opposition fighters are holding a group of nuns.

Spanish journalist, photographer kidnapped in Syria Posted: 10 Dec 2013 05:30 AM PST Fighters linked to al Qaeda abducted a Spanish journalist and a photographer in a rebel-held Syrian province in September, their families said on Tuesday. Journalist Javier Espinosa and photographer Ricardo Garcia-Vilanova were taken by rebel group the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on September 16 at a checkpoint in Raqqa province, which fell to militant Islamist brigades in March, the journalists' families said. Espinosa, who works for El Mundo newspaper, and freelance photographer Garcia-Vilanova were just a few kilometers from the border with Turkey and were trying to leave Syria at the time. They were traveling with members of the rebel Free Syrian Army, who were also taken by ISIL but released after 12 days.

Activists say 12 rebels killed in Syria infighting Posted: 10 Dec 2013 02:35 AM PST BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian activists say that fighters belonging to rival Islamic rebel groups are battling each other in the north and at least 12 have died.

Spain daily says 2 journalists kidnapped in Syria Posted: 10 Dec 2013 12:48 AM PST MADRID (AP) — Spanish newspaper El Mundo says one of its reporters and a freelance photographer are being held hostage in Syria by a group linked to al-Qaida.

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