Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• U.S. budget watchdog eyes steps to control military health costs
• Obama taps Kuwait ambassador for Yemen post
• And the Nomination Goes to...'The Square' for Best Documentary
• Al-Qaida asks Iraqis in embattled city for support
• Top Iraq lawmaker to visit Washington next week
• Reid says Gates denigrates others to make a buck
• Iraq’s Tribes Will Rise Again, Says U.S. General
• The Wire Oscars: The Best Movies We Sort Of (Not Really) Made Happen
• Bodies of 14 kidnapped Sunni tribesmen found in Iraq
• Iraq forces attack militants as 14 bodies found
• Syria allows aid into 2 contested areas
• Iraq: 14 men abducted by gunmen in uniform killed
• Lebanon May Become ‘Center’ of Arab World’s Sectarian Wars
• Hezbollah on trial for Hariri killing, but what was its motive?
• Nearly 1,100 killed in Syria rebel-jihadist battles
• UK's Cameron denies that army is no longer full U.S. partner
• British cuts limiting military partnership with US: Gates
• Michelle Obama, serene at 50
• Syrian government allows supplies in 2 rebel areas
• Radical cleric urges Islamists to end Syria infighting
• Syria horrors frame family's flight to exile
• Iran's Rouhani warns of domestic opposition to nuclear deal
• 11-term Rep. McKeon leaving, exodus continues
• More than 1,000 killed in Syria rebel infighting: monitor group
• From Falluja to Maghreb, a new, diffuse al Qaeda
• 11-term Calif. Rep. McKeon announces retirement
• German lawmaker says relations with US at new low
• Activists: 1,069 killed in Syrian rebel infighting
• Iraqis go about their lives at mercy of nameless bombers
• Proof of Life: America’s last POW
• Spying plunges U.S.-German ties lower than Iraq war: Merkel ally
• British military interrogator denies Iraq abuse at inquiry
• On Blaming Nazi Space Aliens
• Arms Crackdown Could Help Al Qaeda
• Executions by Syria rebels 'may amount to war crimes': UN

U.S. budget watchdog eyes steps to control military health costs Posted: 16 Jan 2014 04:35 PM PST By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The most effective way to control the rising expense of the military healthcare system is to boost cost-sharing among retirees, the Congressional Budget Office said on Thursday, endorsing an unpopular step Congress has repeatedly rejected. The non-partisan CBO said the Defense Department spent some $52 billion in 2012 for its TRICARE healthcare program, which covers about 1.8 million troops and their 2.6 million family members, plus 5.2 million military retirees and their families. That's nearly 10 percent of the Pentagon's $530 billion budget base budget for 2012 and about $5,400 per person. The budget office, in a 42-page report, said policymakers had considered several initiatives to control costs, including better management of chronic diseases, more effective administration of the healthcare system and increasing cost-sharing among military retirees.

Obama taps Kuwait ambassador for Yemen post Posted: 16 Jan 2014 02:47 PM PST President Barack Obama is looking to his ambassador to Kuwait to fill an open ambassadorship in Yemen. The White House says Obama is nominating Matthew Tueller for the post in Yemen's capital of Sanaa. ...

And the Nomination Goes to...'The Square' for Best Documentary Posted: 16 Jan 2014 02:34 PM PST Forgive us for a moment as we do a bit of rejoicing: The Square earned an Academy Award nomination for documentary feature on Thursday for its on-the-ground view of Egypt's revolution from the heart of it all, Tahrir Square. The film is the latest effort from director Jehane Noujaim, whose previous documentary, 2004's Control Room, revealed the inner workings of Al Jazeera in the early years of America's post-9/11 war with Iraq.

Al-Qaida asks Iraqis in embattled city for support Posted: 16 Jan 2014 02:31 PM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — Members of al-Qaida's branch in Iraq handed out pamphlets in Fallujah on Thursday, urging people to take up arms and back them in their weekslong fight against government troops for control of the city.

Top Iraq lawmaker to visit Washington next week Posted: 16 Jan 2014 02:23 PM PST By Missy Ryan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The speaker of Iraq's parliament, Usama al-Nujaifi, will visit Washington next week to meet with senior Obama administration officials as Iraq seeks to fend off a surge in violence. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Nujaifi, one of most senior politicians from Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority, would make the visit in response to an invitation made last fall by Vice President Joe Biden. Biden has played a leading role in U.S. dealings with Iraq as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has sought to reverse a surge in violence over the last year, and especially as the Iraqi leader hopes to rebuff a campaign by al Qaeda-linked militants to take over parts of western Iraq.

Reid says Gates denigrates others to make a buck Posted: 16 Jan 2014 01:32 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid bluntly accused former Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday of being "out to make a buck" with a memoir that attacks numerous other officials from President Barack Obama on down.

Iraq’s Tribes Will Rise Again, Says U.S. General Posted: 16 Jan 2014 12:53 PM PST Two weeks after militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), an al-Qaeda-linked insurgent organization, seized control of key areas in Iraq's Anbar Province, Sunni tribal sheikhs are trying to negotiate an end to the fighting and persuade ISIS to leave the city of Fallujah. The talks come as violence continues to rage in other parts of the country. On Wednesday, bombs ripped through markets in Baghdad and a funeral north of the city, killing 41 and wounding dozens more. The latest attacks add to the toll of a new, violent year: so far this month, 285 people have been killed in Iraq, according to an AP tally. But it is the fighting in Anbar that poses the greatest risk to security in the country. Last week, the specter of an all-out assault by Iraqi security forces on Fallujah – the site of two large battles between American troops and al Qaeda in 2004 – stoked fears that a bloody offensive could precipitate a wider sectarian civil war.

The Wire Oscars: The Best Movies We Sort Of (Not Really) Made Happen Posted: 16 Jan 2014 12:23 PM PST Not one member of The Wire staff was nominated for an Oscar despite our extensive backgrounds in movie production.

Bodies of 14 kidnapped Sunni tribesmen found in Iraq Posted: 16 Jan 2014 11:31 AM PST The bodies of 14 Sunni Muslim tribesmen were found in date palm groves north of Baghdad on Thursday, a day after they were kidnapped by uniformed men in security forces vehicles, Iraqi police and medics said. The motive for the killings was not immediately clear, but Sunni tribesmen opposed to al Qaeda have been targeted in a similar way in Tarmiya in the past. Such "Sahwa" militiamen helped U.S. troops turn the tide against al Qaeda from 2006 and are viewed as traitors by their hardline co-religionists. Also on Thursday, a suicide bomber killed three pro-government Sunni tribesmen at a checkpoint 25 km west of the rebel-held city of Falluja, police said.

Iraq forces attack militants as 14 bodies found Posted: 16 Jan 2014 11:07 AM PST Iraqi forces attacked a militant stronghold in crisis-hit Anbar province on Thursday, while authorities found 14 bullet-riddled bodies in scenes harkening back to the worst of the country's sectarian war. But with parliamentary elections looming in April, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has ruled out dialogue with fighters who control parts of Anbar provincial capital Ramadi and all of Fallujah, just a short car journey from Baghdad. They also aimed to recover the bodies of eight missing security personnel believed killed by militants. Clashes were reported just west of Fallujah overnight, while mortar fire inside the city killed two people.

Syria allows aid into 2 contested areas Posted: 16 Jan 2014 11:04 AM PST BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian government allowed supplies to enter two contested front-line areas near the capital, a relief official said Thursday. Activists said the death toll from two weeks of infighting in the north between rebel forces and an al-Qaida-linked group climbed to more than 1,000 people.

Iraq: 14 men abducted by gunmen in uniform killed Posted: 16 Jan 2014 10:51 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — Authorities in Iraq say police have found the corpses of 14 Sunni men abducted from a town near the capital, Baghdad, by gunmen in military uniforms.

Lebanon May Become ‘Center’ of Arab World’s Sectarian Wars Posted: 16 Jan 2014 10:14 AM PST A series of suicide bomb attacks over the past five months have turned this carefree capital by the sea into a safety conscious security zone, says Nada Nehme Khoury, 3M Lebanon's managing director. As if to underscore the threat, suspected car bomb attack in the northern Lebanese town of Hermel killed four on Thursday morning and fourteen rockets fired from Syria hit the outskirts of a Lebanese town on Tuesday.

Hezbollah on trial for Hariri killing, but what was its motive? Posted: 16 Jan 2014 09:43 AM PST But their investigation has glossed over a critical point: Hezbollah did not seem to have sufficient autonomy, or even motivation, to kill Rafik Hariri. The prosecutors says they are confident that the complex analysis of phone call data and geo-locations will carry sufficient weight with the tribunal to lead to a conviction of the four Hezbollah men. But it leaves open glaring questions: Why would Hezbollah have wanted to kill Mr. Hariri, a Saudi-backed billionaire businessman and former premier? "No one can fail to have been affected directly or indirectly by the attack in downtown Beirut that on Feb. 14, 2005 killed Mr Rafik Hariri," said Norman Farrell, the chief prosecutor, as proceedings began in the courthouse lying in a suburb of The Hague.

Nearly 1,100 killed in Syria rebel-jihadist battles Posted: 16 Jan 2014 09:33 AM PST Two weeks of battles between Syrian rebels and jihadists have killed at least 1,069 people, mostly fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Thursday. Among the dead, not all of whom were identified, were 608 Islamist and moderate rebels, 312 jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and 130 civilians, the Britain-based group said. The battles broke out when rebels launched an offensive mainly in northern Syria against their erstwhile jihadist allies, whose quest for hegemony and systematic abuses have raised the wrath of those fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad. Among the 130 civilians dead were 21 summarily executed by ISIL in a children's hospital in Aleppo that the jihadists had turned into a base, the Observatory said.

UK's Cameron denies that army is no longer full U.S. partner Posted: 16 Jan 2014 09:31 AM PST By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron said on Thursday former U.S. defense secretary Robert Gates was wrong to say that spending cuts meant Britain's armed forces were no longer able be a full military partner of the United States. His blunt response underlined how sensitive his government is to charges that Britain's close ties with the United States have been undermined by cuts to its military and parliament's refusal to okay British involvement in any air strikes on Syria. It also reflected his determination to carry out spending cuts aimed at reducing large public debts, which top generals and even senior lawmakers in his own Conservative party have suggested have been too deep. Britain is the world's fourth largest military spender after the United States, China and Russia but is cutting the army by 20,000 soldiers over this decade while its navy will lose 6,000 personnel and its air force 5,000.

British cuts limiting military partnership with US: Gates Posted: 16 Jan 2014 09:25 AM PST Britain's military cuts mean it will no longer be a full partner alongside United States forces, former US defence secretary Robert Gates said Thursday. Gates, who served under US presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, said Britain no longer had the complete spectrum of capabilities, meaning its relationship with the US military was shifting. Prime Minister David Cameron said Gates had "got it wrong" and said Britain remained a "first-class player" globally.

Michelle Obama, serene at 50 Posted: 16 Jan 2014 09:25 AM PST Michelle Obama turns 50 on Friday as one of America's most respected women. The former Michelle Robinson did not take to politics quickly in the shadow of her high-wattage husband and was even a liability early on in his 2008 campaign. With every passing year she seems more comfortable," said Robert Watson, a professor of American studies at Lynn University in Florida.

Syrian government allows supplies in 2 rebel areas Posted: 16 Jan 2014 09:05 AM PST BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian government allowed supplies to enter two besieged areas under opposition control near the capital, a relief official said Thursday, as activists say weeks of infighting between rebel forces and an al-Qaida group-linked group have killed more than 1,000 people.

Radical cleric urges Islamists to end Syria infighting Posted: 16 Jan 2014 09:05 AM PST Radical Islamist cleric Abu Qatada, who is on trial in Jordan for terrorism, called on Muslim extremist groups in Syria Thursday to end their infighting and unite ranks. "The fighting between Islamist factions should end," he told reporters during his trial in Amman. "Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), should dissolve his group and work under the Nusra Front," he said, referring to orders given by Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Syria horrors frame family's flight to exile Posted: 16 Jan 2014 09:00 AM PST Kilis (Turkey) (AFP) - The Al-Masri family, now reunited in exile this week by the horrors of Syria's war, have watched their country unravel with breathtaking brutality. Abu Ali fled with his wife and four children in March 2012 after receiving word that regime loyalists had stabbed to death dozens of women and children in his neighbourhood in the central city of Homs. The newest arrival is Abu Ammar, a rebel who fled the northern town of Al-Bab this week after his brigade was routed in a battle with jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The Al-Masris are among the estimated nine million people -- more than a third of Syria's population -- displaced by a war that has only grown more brutal and complicated, with internecine fighting having erupted in recent weeks among rebels seeking to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.

Iran's Rouhani warns of domestic opposition to nuclear deal Posted: 16 Jan 2014 08:47 AM PST Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned Thursday that he was facing domestic opposition to a landmark nuclear deal with major powers that is to go into effect next week. Rouhani, whose June election has led to a quickening rapprochement with the West after years of hostility, said there was organised opposition in Iran to his efforts to allay Western concerns about its nuclear programme in return for an easing of sanctions. During a visit to the UN General Assembly in New York in September, Rouhani held a historic telephone call with US President Barack Obama ending decades of estrangement between the two governments. On his return, he was greeted by cheering supporters of his efforts to end US and EU sanctions that have crippled Iran's economy but he was also met with shoe-throwing by hardline protesters.

11-term Rep. McKeon leaving, exodus continues Posted: 16 Jan 2014 08:46 AM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — Joining an exodus from Congress by both Democrats and Republicans, veteran Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon tearfully announced Thursday that he's retiring after 21 years, stepping down as House Armed Services Committee chairman.

More than 1,000 killed in Syria rebel infighting: monitor group Posted: 16 Jan 2014 08:40 AM PST More than 1,000 people have died in two weeks of fighting between al Qaeda-linked militants in Syria and rival rebels, a monitoring group said on Thursday, by far the bloodiest internecine violence since the revolt began. The uprising against President Bashar al-Assad has devolved into civil war after a crackdown on peaceful protests and now pits disparate rebel groups against the government and, increasingly, one another. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-opposition monitoring group, said 1,069 people had been killed in clashes and executions since fighting between the al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and rival rebel forces erupted at the start of this month. The count included 130 civilians, 21 of them executed by ISIL at the children's hospital that was the group's base in the northern city of Aleppo, the Observatory said.

From Falluja to Maghreb, a new, diffuse al Qaeda Posted: 16 Jan 2014 08:21 AM PST By Peter Apps LONDON, Jan 16 - More than two years after the death of Osama bin Laden, the turbulent aftermath of the "Arab Spring" has helped his group - or more accurately, its offshoots and successors - gain ground. Two weeks ago, fighters from al Qaeda affiliate the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) took over much of the central Iraqi city of Falluja, reversing their defeat at the hands of U.S. forces and local tribal allies almost a decade ago. Western officials fear associated groups will carve out havens in Libya, Syria, West Africa and perhaps Afghanistan once NATO troops withdraw. Groups such as ISIL, Somalia's al Shabaab or Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) have primarily local aims and are much less concerned with the Western "far enemy".

11-term Calif. Rep. McKeon announces retirement Posted: 16 Jan 2014 08:03 AM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — Joining an exodus from Congress by both Democrats and Republicans, veteran Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon tearfully announced Thursday that he's retiring after 21 years, stepping down as House Armed Services Committee chairman.

German lawmaker says relations with US at new low Posted: 16 Jan 2014 07:51 AM PST BERLIN (AP) — Relations between Germany and the U.S. are at their lowest point in more than a decade because of revelations about American spy programs that reportedly included Chancellor Angela Merkel among their targets, a senior German lawmaker said Thursday.

Activists: 1,069 killed in Syrian rebel infighting Posted: 16 Jan 2014 07:48 AM PST BEIRUT (AP) — Two weeks of fighting between an al-Qaida-linked group and other rebel forces in Syria has killed more than 1,000 people, an activist group said Thursday, as clashes raged between the rival factions in a northwestern town.

Iraqis go about their lives at mercy of nameless bombers Posted: 16 Jan 2014 06:59 AM PST The day after one of Iraq's bloodiest days for months, shoppers and drivers packed the streets of Baghdad on Thursday, grimly aware that death can strike anywhere, any time. "We are afraid even when we are in our houses, because we do not know the enemy," said Raed Mohammed, as he and his assistant put spare machine parts back on the shelves of his shop, which had been damaged by one of the blasts in the Karrada neighborhood. "We walk in the streets with death certificates in our pockets," Mohammed said. The problem is every one of us has a family, a wife and children to feed, so how would they live without us?" Despite the almost daily carnage, Baghdad's 7 million people have no choice but to go about their lives.

Proof of Life: America’s last POW Posted: 16 Jan 2014 05:14 AM PST Reports that the US military has obtained a recent video of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who went missing in Afghanistan, raise new hope and old questions.

Spying plunges U.S.-German ties lower than Iraq war: Merkel ally Posted: 16 Jan 2014 05:06 AM PST By Noah Barkin BERLIN (Reuters) - Relations between Germany and the United States are worse now than during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq a decade ago, a leading ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday, in a sign of mounting anger in Berlin over American spying tactics. Philipp Missfelder, foreign policy spokesman for Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) in parliament, said Berlin should bar U.S. access to a database of international financial transactions unless Washington promises to stop spying in Germany. "2003 is generally seen as a lowpoint in German-American relations," Missfelder said, referring to the clash over former U.S. President George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq. Indeed it's probably bigger because this issue is preoccupying people longer and more intensively than the invasion of Iraq." The comments, among the strongest from a senior German figure since leaks of a massive U.S. spying program first emerged last year, come a day before U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to unveil reforms of the NSA.

British military interrogator denies Iraq abuse at inquiry Posted: 16 Jan 2014 05:02 AM PST By Estelle Shirbon LONDON (Reuters) - A former British military intelligence officer denied at a public inquiry on Thursday that he had made death threats and fired shots while questioning Iraqi detainees in 2004. He described shouting and using a tent peg to bang on a table as part of a range of methods to disorient detainees and maintain the "shock of capture", but denied beating or physically threatening the Iraqis. The man, referred to only as "M004" because of his intelligence background, was giving evidence at the long-running Al-Sweady inquiry into events during and after a battle in southern Iraq on May 14, 2004. It is trying to get to the bottom of allegations by local Iraqis that British soldiers captured up to 20 men alive and later killed them at an army camp, and separately that they mistreated up to nine detainees.

On Blaming Nazi Space Aliens Posted: 16 Jan 2014 02:45 AM PST Did you know North Korea has schools that rival Eton? That Nazi space aliens are running D.C.? Propaganda peddled by Russian and Iranian state media is shocking—and absurd.

Arms Crackdown Could Help Al Qaeda Posted: 16 Jan 2014 02:45 AM PST Turkey's embattled government has been accused of suspected weapons shipments to Syria—but tighter border controls could end up harming moderate rebels and helping jihadists.

Executions by Syria rebels 'may amount to war crimes': UN Posted: 15 Jan 2014 04:00 PM PST Recent reported mass executions by Syrian rebel groups, especially by an Al-Qaeda-linked faction, "may amount to war crimes," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said Thursday. "While exact numbers are difficult to verify, reliable eyewitness testimony that we have gathered suggests that many civilians and fighters in the custody of extremist armed opposition groups have been executed since the beginning of this year," she said in a statement. Syria today is a battleground not only between the army loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and rebels seeking his ouster, but also between more moderate rebel groups under the Free Syria Army banner and the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group which is connected to Al-Qaeda. ISIL has seized control of Raqa, a city in Syria's north, according to a British-based monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

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