Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• Hagel will not discuss 'critical' Syria memo
• Defense asks for new judge in Iraq war crime case
• Kerry says reported U.S. slur of Israel's Netanyahu 'damaging'
• Dempsey: US considering empowering Sunni tribes
• Why Islamic State threat is 'unprecedented,' but doesn't change much for US
• Emerging threats, Senate shift could change U.S. budget debate: Boeing
• U.S. military says advisers needed in embattled Iraq province
• Ukraine can cleanse its past, heal its future
• US attacks on IS group may help Assad: Pentagon chief
• North Carolina man pleads guilty to trying to help Islamic State
• FSA has 400 fighters in Kobane, more to come: commander
• Small Iraqi peshmerga force enters Syrian town
• Anti-Muslim bullying on rise after Canada attacks
• Top US general favors military advisers in western Iraq
• US to check troops for chemical exposure in Iraq
• Peshmerga at Turkish border to reinforce besieged Kobane
• Poll: Economy, other issues overshadow abortion
• US general: US considering empowering Sunni tribes
• ISLAMIC STATE ROUNDUP
• Situation in Syria is 'appalling,' getting worse: U.N.
• Hagel blasts US Syria strategy in memo: official
• Norway to send training troops to Iraq
• Fearing uprising, Iraq militants hunt ex-police
• Islamic State fighters kill 220 Iraqis from tribe that opposed them
• Syrian air strikes kill over 200 civilians in 10 days: monitor
• Islamic State claims to have seized gas field from Syrian army
• Iraqi Kurdish forces enter Syria to fight Islamic State
• WORLD Channel Programming Celebrates Native American Heritage Month in November
• Trade, defense buoy U.S. economy, but some weakness creeps in
• Lebanese army detains 50 in north after weekend clashes
• Average retail gas prices drop to $2.81 in Texas
• Quad Amputee Hero to be Honored at Veterans Day Film Screening at Majestic Theatre
• Group says militants killed 600 Iraqi prisoners
• Facing its own Islamic State-inspired militants, Iran wields a smaller stick
• Hundreds of Iraqi tribesmen opposed to Islamic State found in mass graves
• U.S. focuses on Islamic State targets near Kobani, Syria: U.S. Central Command
• UN chief criticizes female genital mutilation
• Iraqi Kurdish leader says prepared to send more forces to Kobani if asked
• Australia outlaws travel to terror hotspots
• U.S. says working with Iraqi Kurdistan to stop Islamic State oil smuggling

Hagel will not discuss 'critical' Syria memo Posted: 30 Oct 2014 04:23 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel stressed the need for honesty in internal government discussions on Thursday as he declined comment on a two-page internal memo he wrote on Syria policy, described as critical by people familiar with its contents. The memo from Hagel to White House National Security Adviser Susan Rice was first reported by the New York Times, which said he warned President Barack Obama's Syria policy was in jeopardy due to its failure to clarify its intentions toward Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. ...

Defense asks for new judge in Iraq war crime case Posted: 30 Oct 2014 04:03 PM PDT CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) — Defense lawyers called a military judge biased and unfair on Thursday and asked him to remove himself from the case of a Marine being retried on a murder charge in a major Iraq war crime case.

Kerry says reported U.S. slur of Israel's Netanyahu 'damaging' Posted: 30 Oct 2014 03:09 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The description of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a "chickenshit" by an anonymous U.S. official as quoted in a U.S. magazine this week was disgraceful and damaging, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday. Netanyahu on Wednesday condemned the comment from an unnamed official in The Atlantic, which added to tensions between his government and the Obama administration, particularly over settlement building in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem. ...

Dempsey: US considering empowering Sunni tribes Posted: 30 Oct 2014 02:56 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon is considering ways to bring the Sunni Arab tribes of Iraq's Anbar province more fully into the battle against the Islamic State group, the top U.S. military officer said Thursday.

Why Islamic State threat is 'unprecedented,' but doesn't change much for US Posted: 30 Oct 2014 02:48 PM PDT The Islamic State is a unique phenomenon that "is unprecedented in the modern age," according to a new report, but a co-author suggests that – for now – the threat to the United States remains limited and the potential for solving the crisis is frustratingly familiar.

Emerging threats, Senate shift could change U.S. budget debate: Boeing Posted: 30 Oct 2014 02:33 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Emerging threats such as Islamic State extremism and a possible switch to Republican control of the U.S. Senate could accelerate debate about the need to halt or ease mandatory cuts in the U.S. defense budget, a top Boeing Co executive said on Thursday. Boeing was still urging U.S. lawmakers to reverse the cuts, which are due to resume in 2016, while at the same time working to reduce its own costs and prepare for further cuts, Chris Chadwick, chief executive of Boeing Defense Space and Security division, told Reuters in an interview. ...

U.S. military says advisers needed in embattled Iraq province Posted: 30 Oct 2014 02:13 PM PDT By Phil Stewart and David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States needs to expand a limited advise-and-assist mission in Iraq into embattled Anbar province, where some Iraqi forces are isolated and in defensive positions against Islamic State, the top U.S. military officer said on Thursday. But General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Iraq's government must be ready to arm Sunni tribes as a precondition for getting outside advisers into the western Iraqi province. ...

Ukraine can cleanse its past, heal its future Posted: 30 Oct 2014 01:52 PM PDT In the past half century, as dozens of nations have overcome tyranny or conflict, many have tried to figure out how much to punish their past tormentors – or to forgive them, depending on their crimes, personal contrition, or civic usefulness.

US attacks on IS group may help Assad: Pentagon chief Posted: 30 Oct 2014 01:36 PM PDT Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel acknowledged Thursday that US-led air strikes against the Islamic State group, one of the Syrian regime's main adversaries, could help President Bashar al-Assad. "As we and the coalition go after ISIL (IS) to help the Iraqis secure their government, but also the Middle East, yes, Assad derives some benefit of that, of course," Hagel said. President Barack Obama's strategy to defeat the Islamic State group has been heavily criticized at home and abroad for potentially empowering the Assad regime, as American and allied warplanes are bombing one of Assad's primary enemies while avoiding any confrontation with the Damascus regime.

North Carolina man pleads guilty to trying to help Islamic State Posted: 30 Oct 2014 01:35 PM PDT By Colleen Jenkins WINSTON-SALEM N.C. (Reuters) - A North Carolina man accused of seeking to join Islamic State insurgents fighting in Syria pleaded guilty on Thursday to attempting to provide material support to the group. Donald Ray Morgan, 44, admitted that he tried between January and August to aid the efforts of the militants, according to U.S. prosecutors in Greensboro, North Carolina. Western countries say many of their citizens have traveled to Syria to fight on behalf of Islamic State, which has captured sections of Iraq and Syria. ...

FSA has 400 fighters in Kobane, more to come: commander Posted: 30 Oct 2014 01:27 PM PDT Istanbul (AFP) - The Free Syrian Army (FSA) already has 400 fighters in Kobane and more are on the way, the commander of a unit there said in a rare public appearance Thursday.

Small Iraqi peshmerga force enters Syrian town Posted: 30 Oct 2014 12:56 PM PDT SURUC, Turkey (AP) — A vanguard force of Iraqi peshmerga troops entered the embattled Syrian border town of Kobani from Turkey on Thursday, part of a larger group of 150 fighters that the Kurds hope will turn back an offensive by militants of the Islamic State group.

Anti-Muslim bullying on rise after Canada attacks Posted: 30 Oct 2014 12:43 PM PDT By Richard Valdmanis OTTAWA (Reuters) - Reports of anti-Muslim harassment in Canada have risen, Muslim organizations say, after attacks last week in which two soldiers were killed by people authorities say were inspired by the militant group Islamic State. The National Council of Canadian Muslims said it has seen a tenfold increase in reports of harassment, including racial slurs on public buses, notes left on car windshields and bullying at schools. ...

Top US general favors military advisers in western Iraq Posted: 30 Oct 2014 12:39 PM PDT The US military's top officer on Thursday called for deploying American advisers to Iraq's Anbar province to counter Islamic State jihadists, but said the Baghdad government must first arm local Sunni tribes. General Martin Dempsey's comments marked the first time the American military openly endorsed sending advisers to the restive western province, where Iraqi government troops have suffered a string of setbacks at the hands of the IS group. "By the way, we have positive indications that they (Iraqi government) are. The US military has sent about 600 advisers to Baghdad and Arbil in the north to assist Iraqi and Kurdish forces and coordinate US-led air raids against IS.

US to check troops for chemical exposure in Iraq Posted: 30 Oct 2014 12:32 PM PDT The US military will launch new medical examinations for troops and veterans exposed to chemical weapons in Iraq, and review claims they were ordered to stay silent about such contact, officials said Thursday. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has asked the US Army and Navy secretaries to ensure troops affected by chemical munitions "are receiving the care and the support they require," spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said. As a result, army and navy leaders plan to offer fresh medical examinations and to monitor the health of soldiers exposed to chemical agents in Iraq, defense officials said, confirming a New York Times report.

Peshmerga at Turkish border to reinforce besieged Kobane Posted: 30 Oct 2014 12:27 PM PDT Heavily armed Iraqi peshmerga forces reached the Turkish border Thursday and a first small party entered the town of Kobane as they prepared to join fellow Kurds battling jihadists. The 10 fighters briefly entered Kobane to coordinate with Kurdish militia who have been holding off an assault by jihadists of the Islamic State (IS) group for six weeks, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Turkey's Firat news agency said they returned to the town of Suruc on the Turkish side of the border after talks on the logistics of the peshmerga and the weapons crossing the frontier. A peshmerga convoy reached Suruc Thursday after travelling through southeastern Turkey along roads clogged with flag-waving Kurds, an AFP photographer said.

Poll: Economy, other issues overshadow abortion Posted: 30 Oct 2014 12:22 PM PDT DENVER (AP) — A new Associated Press-GfK Poll shows that candidates will have a hard time rallying voters around social issues on Election Day.

US general: US considering empowering Sunni tribes Posted: 30 Oct 2014 12:19 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The top U.S. military officer says the Pentagon is beginning to consider ways to bring the Sunni Arab tribes of Iraq's Anbar province more fully into the battle against the Islamic State group.

ISLAMIC STATE ROUNDUP Posted: 30 Oct 2014 12:05 PM PDT Graphic round up the events in Syria and Iraq.;

Situation in Syria is 'appalling,' getting worse: U.N. Posted: 30 Oct 2014 11:39 AM PDT UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The humanitarian crisis in Syria is getting worse as all parties to the war, including forces aligned with the government and Islamic State militants, show "callous disregard" for millions of suffering civilians, the United Nations said on Thursday. The comments from Kyung-wha Kang, U.N. assistant secretary-general and deputy emergency relief coordinator, came during a monthly briefing for the Security Council on compliance with U.N. demands for greater aid access across Syria, now in its fourth year of civil war. ...

Hagel blasts US Syria strategy in memo: official Posted: 30 Oct 2014 11:37 AM PDT Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel has castigated the US strategy in Syria in a memo to the White House, saying Washington must explain its intentions toward President Bashar al-Assad's regime. The memo was sent last week to President Barack Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, a defense official said Thursday, confirming a New York Times report. Hagel warned that the Syria policy was "in danger of unraveling" due to confusion over the US stance toward Assad, the paper wrote. The Obama administration has focused on defeating the Islamic State group in Iraq first, and described US-led air strikes in Syria as a way of disrupting the jihadists' supply lines.

Norway to send training troops to Iraq Posted: 30 Oct 2014 11:15 AM PDT HELSINKI (AP) — Norway's prime minister says her country will send 120 soldiers this year to join the international campaign against Islamic State militants in Iraq and help train local troops there. Another 75 Norwegian soldiers will go to Afghanistan next year.

Fearing uprising, Iraq militants hunt ex-police Posted: 30 Oct 2014 10:45 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — The Islamic State group wanted to send a warning against anyone who might plot against its rule.

Islamic State fighters kill 220 Iraqis from tribe that opposed them Posted: 30 Oct 2014 10:27 AM PDT By Raheem Salman BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islamic State militants executed at least 220 Iraqis in retaliation against a tribe's opposition to their takeover of territory west of Baghdad, security sources and witnesses said. Two mass graves were discovered on Thursday containing some of the 300 members of the Sunni Muslim Albu Nimr tribe that Islamic State had seized this week. The captives, men aged between 18 and 55, had been shot at close range, witnesses said. ...

Syrian air strikes kill over 200 civilians in 10 days: monitor Posted: 30 Oct 2014 10:27 AM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Bombing runs by the Syrian air force over the past 10 days have killed at least 221 civilians, a third of them children, a group monitoring Syria's civil war said on Thursday. The intensifying offensive by President Bashar al-Assad's forces has heightened concerns among his opponents that he may be taking advantage of U.S.-led air raids on Islamic State insurgents to regain territory elsewhere in the country. Since Oct. ...

Islamic State claims to have seized gas field from Syrian army Posted: 30 Oct 2014 10:25 AM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State fighters in Syria claimed on Thursday to have taken control of a gas field in the central province of Homs after battles with government forces. A series of photos posted on social media by Islamic State purported to show the Sha'ar gas field, the bodies of Syrian soldiers and seized weaponry, according to the SITE jihadist website monitoring service. The report said Islamic State seized five tanks, two infantry combat vehicles, machineguns and ammunition. Reuters could not independently confirm the events. ...

Iraqi Kurdish forces enter Syria to fight Islamic State Posted: 30 Oct 2014 10:16 AM PDT By Humeyra Pamuk and Omer Berberoglu SURUC Turkey (Reuters) - A first group of Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters entered the besieged Syrian town of Kobani on Thursday to help push back Islamic State militants who have defied U.S. air strikes and threatened to massacre its Kurdish defenders. Kobani, on the border with Turkey, has been encircled by the Sunni Muslim insurgents for more than 40 days. Weeks of U.S.-led air strikes have failed to break their stranglehold, and Kurds are hoping the arrival of the peshmerga will turn the tide. ...

WORLD Channel Programming Celebrates Native American Heritage Month in November Posted: 30 Oct 2014 10:00 AM PDT BOSTON, Oct. 30, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In honor of Native American Heritage Month this November, WORLD Channel will premiere six new films as it presents a rich collection of documentaries spotlighting the achievements, stories, and lives of Native Americans (check local listings)."We're pleased to offer programming that honors the rich and vibrant history and culture of Native Americans in November," says Chris Hastings, executive producer, WORLD Channel. ...

Trade, defense buoy U.S. economy, but some weakness creeps in Posted: 30 Oct 2014 09:59 AM PDT By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A smaller trade deficit and surge in defense spending buoyed U.S. economic growth in the third quarter, but domestic demand slipped, hinting at some loss of momentum. Gross domestic product grew at a 3.5 percent annual pace, the Commerce Department said on Thursday. However, the pace of growth in business investment, housing and consumer spending slowed from the second quarter. ...

Lebanese army detains 50 in north after weekend clashes Posted: 30 Oct 2014 09:40 AM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese troops detained 50 people in raids on towns and Syrian refugee camps in the north of the country, the army said on Thursday, part of a security crackdown after battles with Islamist gunmen over the weekend. The army has mounted several raids since Islamist militants clashed with soldiers in and around the northern city of Tripoli from Friday to Sunday, some of the worst fighting to spill over to Lebanon from the Syrian civil war. Soldiers moved on the towns of al-Minya, Mashta Hassan, Mashta Hammoud and refugee camps in the town of Behneen on Wednesday. ...

Average retail gas prices drop to $2.81 in Texas Posted: 30 Oct 2014 09:23 AM PDT Retail gasoline prices across Texas continue to fall, with the latest unleaded price at the pump settling at $2.81. AAA Texas on Thursday reported that this week's average price represents a drop of 8 ...

Quad Amputee Hero to be Honored at Veterans Day Film Screening at Majestic Theatre Posted: 30 Oct 2014 09:00 AM PDT DALLAS, Oct. 30, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Dallas non-profit Fotolanthropy announces a benefit & screening at the Majestic Theatre to honor quadruple amputee and American hero, SSG Travis Mills, DFW Veterans, and gold star families at the final red-carpet screening of award-winning documentary Travis: A Soldier's Story. Veterans Day Promo:http://vimeo.com/93517069 Official Trailer:http://vimeo.com/107721019What: Veterans Day red carpet benefit & screening of Travis: A Soldier's Story. ...

Group says militants killed 600 Iraqi prisoners Posted: 30 Oct 2014 07:38 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Militants from the Islamic State carried out a mass killing of hundreds of Iraqi prison inmates when they seized the country's second-largest city of Mosul in June, an international rights group said on Thursday.

Facing its own Islamic State-inspired militants, Iran wields a smaller stick Posted: 30 Oct 2014 06:58 AM PDT Here in Iran's lawless southeast, the authorities in Tehran who have sent military advisers and hardware to help fight the so-called Islamic State in far-off Syria and Iraq are engaged in their own battle with Sunni militants.

Hundreds of Iraqi tribesmen opposed to Islamic State found in mass graves Posted: 30 Oct 2014 06:01 AM PDT BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The bodies of 150 members of an Iraqi Sunni tribe which fought Islamic State have been found in a mass grave, security officials said on Thursday. Islamic State militants took the men from their villages to the city of Ramadi and killed them on Wednesday night and buried them, an official in a police operations center and another security official told Reuters. In a separate case, witnesses said they found 70 corpses from the same Albu Nimr tribe near the town of Hit in the Sunni heartland Anbar province. Security officials there were not immediately available for comment. ...

U.S. focuses on Islamic State targets near Kobani, Syria: U.S. Central Command Posted: 30 Oct 2014 06:00 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. forces staged 10 air strikes on Islamic State targets near the Syrian city of Kobani since Wednesday, U.S. Central Command said. The raids in the Kobani area were among 12 in Syria by U.S. fighters and bombers. The Kobani strikes hit two small Islamic State units and destroyed seven fighting positions and five buildings, Central Command said. Strikes also damaged an Islamic State headquarters building near Dayr Az Zawr and a security building near Ar Raqqah. U.S. ...

UN chief criticizes female genital mutilation Posted: 30 Oct 2014 04:31 AM PDT NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is lauding the British newspaper The Guardian for its work to raise awareness about female genital mutilation.

Iraqi Kurdish leader says prepared to send more forces to Kobani if asked Posted: 30 Oct 2014 03:42 AM PDT ARBIL Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi Kurdistan is prepared to deploy more forces to the Syrian border town of Kobani if asked, the region's President Masoud Barzani said in a statement on Thursday. The first 10 Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters entered Kobani through the border crossing with Turkey on Thursday, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (Reporting by Isabel Coles; Editing by Alison Williams)

Australia outlaws travel to terror hotspots Posted: 29 Oct 2014 10:46 PM PDT Australia on Thursday passed a law criminalising travel to terror hotspots, a tough counter-terrorism measure aimed at stopping jihadists from going to Iraq and Syria to fight. The Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Foreign Fighters) includes measures that make it an offence to enter a "declared area" where a terrorist organisation is engaging in hostile activity, without a valid reason. "The foreign fighters bill that has passed the parliament today will mean, first of all, that it is easier to secure convictions against Australians who have been fighting with terrorist groups overseas," Prime Minister Tony Abbott told parliament. "It will mean that it is easier to monitor potential terrorists here, and it will also mean... that it is easier to prosecute the preachers of hate who create the potential terrorists." Abbott said about 100 Australians were supporting jihadists who had travelled to the Middle East to fight with recruitment and funding from home.

U.S. says working with Iraqi Kurdistan to stop Islamic State oil smuggling Posted: 29 Oct 2014 10:41 PM PDT By Florence Tan SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The United States is working closely with the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government to clamp down on oil smuggling in a bid to cut off a key source of funding for Islamic State, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday. Islamic State militants have seized oilfields and refineries in north Iraq and have been exporting oil through smuggling networks to help finance their campaign, along with ransom, extortion and other criminal activities. ...

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