Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• US air strikes on Syria not 'devastating': Kerry
• US options to curb Russia on Ukraine: Boots on the ground in Poland?
• Judge criticizes State Department over Blackwater shooting case
• Carter, Dole spouses join military families effort
• Iraq clashes prevent voting in parts of province
• Suicide bomber kills 4 at Iraqi police station
• Rosalynn Carter, Elizabeth Dole to White House
• Colbert says Jeb Bush White House hope 'over.' Joke or true?
• Drought could push millions more Syrians into hunger: U.N.
• A war photographer's last testament
• Iran Guards say seize foreign agents at border en route to attacks
• Iraq attacks kill 19 as soldiers ambush militants
• Iraq: No vote in parts of Anbar due to clashes
• Fort Hood Shootings Could Stymie Veteran Hiring
• Press Gets It Wrong Again on Mass Shooting
• Today in History
• Father on trial, daughter denies wanting Iraqi-American mother dead
• Rico Roman's Road To Gold

US air strikes on Syria not 'devastating': Kerry Posted: 08 Apr 2014 04:17 PM PDT Threatened military strikes against Syria would not have affected the course of the country's civil war, US Secretary of State John Kerry told lawmakers on Tuesday. Speaking before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Kerry said US military action -- ultimately abandoned by President Barack Obama at the 11th hour last year -- would not have had a "devastating impact" on the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. Obama scrapped plans to launch strikes against Syria after Syria's key ally Russia helped broker a deal to dismantle Damascus's chemical weapons arsenal. At the time, Kerry had argued for military strikes over a limited period against Syria.

US options to curb Russia on Ukraine: Boots on the ground in Poland? Posted: 08 Apr 2014 03:11 PM PDT It nicely captures the frustrations of many Obama administration critics who are increasingly demanding that the White House "do something" about Russia troop buildup on the Ukrainian border if it wishes to maintain any credibility on the world stage. That was the subject of a hearing Tuesday on Russian military developments, which Putin is using as a tool to "reestablish a Russian sphere of influence in Europe," warned House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard "Buck" McKeon (R) of California. A number of right-leaning analysts have suggested that "the best way to invite Russia into Ukraine" is to fail to act, as Dov Zakheim, a senior fellow at CNA Analysis, put it during a Heritage Foundation discussion last week as he called for the US to move "land forces – not just air forces" to the region. The US Navy is now sending an additional ship to the region, which should arrive within the week, said Vice Adm. Frank Pandolfe, director for strategic plans and policy on the Joint Staff.

Judge criticizes State Department over Blackwater shooting case Posted: 08 Apr 2014 02:18 PM PDT By Aruna Viswanatha WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal judge on Tuesday harshly criticized the U.S. State Department over its handling of a 2007 shooting in Baghdad involving Blackwater Worldwide security guards and asked the agency's watchdog to investigate problems that helped delay a related criminal case. "If the Department of State and Diplomatic Security Service had tried deliberately to sabotage this prosecution, they could hardly have done a better job," U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, who is overseeing the criminal case against the former guards, said in an opinion dated March 26 but made public on Tuesday. He asked the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, which is prosecuting the case, to ask the inspector general of the State Department to fully investigate the problems.

Carter, Dole spouses join military families effort Posted: 08 Apr 2014 01:30 PM PDT Michelle Obama and Jill Biden are getting a dose of high-profile support for their nationwide effort to help military families. Former first lady Rosalynn Carter and former Sen. Elizabeth Dole are joining ...

Iraq clashes prevent voting in parts of province Posted: 08 Apr 2014 12:12 PM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's electoral commission said on Tuesday that there will be no balloting in parts of the Sunni-dominated Anbar province engulfed in clashes between security forces and al-Qaida-inspired militants.

Suicide bomber kills 4 at Iraqi police station Posted: 08 Apr 2014 12:00 PM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials say a suicide car bomb attack on a police station has killed four policemen and wounded seven.

Rosalynn Carter, Elizabeth Dole to White House Posted: 08 Apr 2014 11:26 AM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Michelle Obama and Jill Biden are getting some high-profile support for their initiative to help military families.

Colbert says Jeb Bush White House hope 'over.' Joke or true? Posted: 08 Apr 2014 09:49 AM PDT On "The Colbert Report" Monday night, comic Stephen Colbert pronounced Jeb Bush's prospects for winning the White House to be zero, ended, kaput. Over the weekend the former Florida governor talked about illegal immigration during an appearance at his father's presidential library and said that those who sneak into the US for work do so as an "act of love" to support their families. Mr. Colbert played the Bush clip, then sat in silence for a beat. Republican primary voters know that illegal immigration is driven by something other than affection, Colbert added.

Drought could push millions more Syrians into hunger: U.N. Posted: 08 Apr 2014 08:59 AM PDT By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - A looming drought in Syria could push millions more people into hunger and exacerbate a refugee crisis caused by years of civil war, the United Nations said on Tuesday. Syria's breadbasket northwestern region has received less than half of the average rainfall since September and, if it stays dry up to wheat harvest time in mid-May, the country - already reliant on aid for millions of people - will need to import even more food. "A drought could put the lives of millions more people at risk," Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for the U.N. aid agency World Food Programme (WFP), told a news briefing. Based on rainfall data and satellite images, and with the smallest area planted with wheat in 15 years, output of the cereal is likely to be a record low of between 1.7 million and 2 million tonnes, as much as 29 percent less than last year and about half of pre-conflict levels, the WFP said.

A war photographer's last testament Posted: 08 Apr 2014 07:50 AM PDT A new book features the photos and writings of a Getty Images photographer who lost his life covering the war in Libya in 2011.

Iran Guards say seize foreign agents at border en route to attacks Posted: 08 Apr 2014 07:11 AM PDT Iran's Revolutionary Guards have arrested a number of foreign agents as they crossed the border from Iraq to carry out bombings and assassinations, a statement on the website of the Islamic Republic's elite ideological force said. Sepah News said the alleged suspects were picked up late last month in a sting operation as they entered Khuzestan, an oil-rich province with a significant Arab minority and historically a hotbed of revolt against the Tehran government. Khuzestan is rich in minerals and is home to an impoverished Arab minority of about two million. In recent years, Iranian dissidents say, there have been frequent arrests, torture and even execution of Arab activists in Khuzestan on espionage charges.

Iraq attacks kill 19 as soldiers ambush militants Posted: 08 Apr 2014 11:42 AM PDT Attacks in Iraq left 19 people dead Tuesday while security forces said they killed 25 militants near Baghdad amid worries insurgents are encroaching on the capital weeks ahead of elections. The latest violence is part of a protracted surge in nationwide bloodshed that has left more than 2,400 people dead since the start of the year and sparked fears Iraq is slipping back into the all-out sectarian fighting that plagued it in 2006 and 2007. The unrest has been driven principally by anger in the Sunni Arab community over alleged mistreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led government and security forces, as well as spillover from the civil war in neighbouring Syria. In Tuesday's bloodiest incident, soldiers killed 25 militants in an ambush southwest of Baghdad, the capital's security spokesman Brigadier General Saad Maan said.

Iraq: No vote in parts of Anbar due to clashes Posted: 08 Apr 2014 04:10 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's electoral commission said on Tuesday that there will be no balloting in parts of the Sunni-dominated Anbar province engulfed in clashes between security forces and al-Qaida-inspired militants.

Fort Hood Shootings Could Stymie Veteran Hiring Posted: 08 Apr 2014 03:15 AM PDT In late 2012, Harry A. Croft, a psychiatrist and former Army doctor who specializes in veterans' post-traumatic syndrome disorders, was approached by a human resources specialist for a Fortune 500 company. At the time, many post-Sept. 11 era military veterans were struggling to find work, and one of the reasons was employers' fears of hiring anyone with PTSD.

Press Gets It Wrong Again on Mass Shooting Posted: 08 Apr 2014 12:00 AM PDT I wrote columns attempting to draw attention to the mental health system in America that so wrongheadedly fails to treat the dangerous mentally ill. Now, at last, the mental health angle on mass shootings has become conventional wisdom — just in time, perhaps, to be wrong again. "Fort Hood shooter had mental problems" headlined USA Today. "Fort Hood shooter was Iraq vet being treated for mental health issues," announced CNN.

Today in History Posted: 07 Apr 2014 09:01 PM PDT Today is Tuesday, April 8, the 98th day of 2014. There are 267 days left in the year.

Father on trial, daughter denies wanting Iraqi-American mother dead Posted: 07 Apr 2014 06:59 PM PDT By Marty Graham SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - The daughter of an Iraqi-American man accused of killing his wife in California in what was first investigated as a hate crime denied under cross-examination by a defense lawyer on Monday that she ever said she wanted her mother dead. Fatima Alhimidi acknowledged telling an uncle's then-girlfriend that she hated her mother because the two had fought over her romance with a local Chaldean Christian boy, a relationship that would be taboo in many Muslim families. I don't think so." The questions appeared to be part of a defense strategy to suggest that the father, 49-year-old Kassim Alhimidi, may not have been the only person with a possible motive for killing the stay-at-home mother of five in her San Diego-area home. When it was his turn to question Alhimidi, San Diego County Deputy District Attorney Kurt Mechals asked her directly if she had anything to do with the crime.

Rico Roman's Road To Gold Posted: 07 Apr 2014 12:59 PM PDT Today's Healthy Hollywood feature: In the lead up to the 2014 Paralympic Games, Access Hollywood Live featured the moving story of Rico Roman, who lost his leg as a result of a war injury while serving in Iraq. He went on to have an inspiring comeback as a Paralympic athlete, eventually making the U.S. Paralympic Sled Hockey team and struck gold in Sochi when the team beat Russia in the finals. Healthy Hollywood recently caught up with Roman to get his thoughts on being an Olympic champ. "It was a great feeling," said Roman.

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