Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• Top Asian News at 11:30 p.m. GMT
• Quotes from Afghanistan candidate in AP interview
• Top Asian News at 11:00 p.m. GMT
• Vote deal will work, Afghan candidate tells AP
• U.S. Veterans agency struggles with claims problems: watchdog
• US teams complete assessment of Iraqi forces
• Initial review of Iraq forces done; no decisions
• For Now, Kerry's Afghan Election Deal Makes Him the Hero
• How Many Haters Does It Take to Ruin a Cheney Family Gathering?
• In rush to cut benefits backlog, VA made errors
• Here's How Advocates Are Stepping Up to Care for Vets Where the VA Has Failed
• Oil prices tick higher
• Japan, US admirals say naval cooperation deepening
• Fighting rages over Iraqi town north of Baghdad
• Ex-Minnesota governor says TV career halted by sniper's claims
• Bodies found north of Baghdad as Sunni insurgents turn on each other
• UN authorizes cross-border aid to Syrians
• Afghan candidate tells AP vote deal will work
• A peaceful path to a Kurdish homeland
• U.N. Security Council authorizes cross-border aid access in Syria
• Facing deadline, US and Iran press nuclear talks
• Correction: Iraq to Fort Campbell story
• Kurds go to Syria from Turkey to fight Islamists
• Poll: US global image survives spying concerns
• Rick Perry and Rand Paul Slug it Out in Prep for 2016
• Sunni jihadi group expels rivals from Syrian city
• UN Security Council authorizes Syria aid convoys
• Heavy fighting rages over town north of Baghdad
• Perry-Paul launch foreign policy war of words
• Al Qaeda's North African wing rejects Iraq-Syria caliphate
• Iranian dissident freed on health grounds
• Rand Paul vs. Rick Perry: Who's winning?
• Militants press Iraq assault as political deadlock set to drag on
• Kurds Inch Closer to Independence Amid Iraqi Political Crisis
• Latin Patriarch Of Jerusalem To Honor Roots Of Peace
• UN set to authorize cross-border aid to Syrians
• New Real Warriors Campaign Profile: Marine 1st Sgt. Simon Sandoval Shares Story of Strength
• Syrian refugees, sectarian tensions endanger Lebanon: U.N.
• Five Best Monday Columns
• Death toll in Baghdad brothel raid rises to 31: police

Top Asian News at 11:30 p.m. GMT Posted: 14 Jul 2014 04:33 PM PDT KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Declaring his nation "is not Iraq," one of two contestants in Afghanistan's deadlocked presidential election told The Associated Press on Monday that both he and his rival are committed to lead their war-ravaged nation inclusively in cooperation with international partners. Former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai credited a U.S.-brokered deal for a full ballot audit with pulling his country back from the brink, putting the rule of law and government legitimacy back on track.

Quotes from Afghanistan candidate in AP interview Posted: 14 Jul 2014 04:19 PM PDT KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — As the two candidates in Afghanistan's deadlocked presidential election prepared to meet face to face Tuesday, one of them, former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, spoke with The Associated Press in his first interview since a U.S.-brokered deal for a full ballot audit pulled the country back from the brink. Ahmadzai, who will meet with his rival, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, said the deal has laid the foundation for a national unity government.

Top Asian News at 11:00 p.m. GMT Posted: 14 Jul 2014 04:03 PM PDT KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Declaring his nation "is not Iraq," one of two contestants in Afghanistan's deadlocked presidential election told The Associated Press on Monday that both he and his rival are committed to lead their war-ravaged nation inclusively in cooperation with international partners. Former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai credited a U.S.-brokered deal for a full ballot audit with pulling his country back from the brink, putting the rule of law and government legitimacy back on track.

Vote deal will work, Afghan candidate tells AP Posted: 14 Jul 2014 03:49 PM PDT Declaring his nation "is not Iraq," one of two contestants in Afghanistan's deadlocked presidential election told The Associated Press on Monday that both he and his rival are committed to lead their war-ravaged nation inclusively in cooperation with international partners.

U.S. Veterans agency struggles with claims problems: watchdog Posted: 14 Jul 2014 03:41 PM PDT By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Still reeling from the scandal over healthcare delays, the Department of Veterans Affairs also is struggling to reduce a backlog of disability claims, the agency's inspector general said on Monday. In written testimony to be delivered to the House Veterans Affairs Committee, VA Assistant Inspector General Linda Halliday detailed numerous problems with the Veterans Benefits Administration's handling of claims, ranging from mail bins full of untouched documents and correspondence and payment of millions of dollars in unsupported claims. Halliday said that her office found serious problems with the accuracy of the VA's claims reporting. At the same time, VA's backlog of claims appeals cases has grown at an "alarming rate", she said, to 267,944 on June 30, up 18 percent from 2011.

US teams complete assessment of Iraqi forces Posted: 14 Jul 2014 03:33 PM PDT US military teams have completed an assessment of Iraqi security forces, the Pentagon said Monday, amid reports the American officers came away with bleak conclusions. The teams were deployed to Baghdad this month after Sunni militants swiftly advanced across the country in a string of disastrous battlefield defeats for Shiite-led government forces. "The assessments from the teams in Iraq have reached the Pentagon," spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters. According to The New York Times, the assessment warned that any American troops serving as advisers would face safety risks given infiltration of the Iraqi army by Sunni extremists and Iran-backed Shiite troops or militia.

Initial review of Iraq forces done; no decisions Posted: 14 Jul 2014 03:22 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Pentagon leaders are now reviewing the military's initial assessment of Iraq's security forces and it may be some time before decisions are made about what additional assistance the U.S. should provide as the Baghdad government battles Sunni insurgents.

For Now, Kerry's Afghan Election Deal Makes Him the Hero Posted: 14 Jul 2014 03:19 PM PDT After U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry brokered a deal in the Afghan presidential election recount Saturday, he suddenly found himself on the elusive receiving end of some praise. Secretary of State John Kerry may finally have accomplished a major diplomatic breakthrough: saving the Afghanistan project from the jaws of defeat.  It took 20 hours of talks over the course of two days, but the crisis between the two presidential candidates was defused. The opposing sides agreed to a deal that will have United Nations inspectors as well as observers from the parties oversee the count of the eight million ballots cast in the June 14 runoff. Current Afghan President Hamid Karzai will postpone his successor's August 2 inauguration and continue on as president until the new government is formed.

How Many Haters Does It Take to Ruin a Cheney Family Gathering? Posted: 14 Jul 2014 03:14 PM PDT At this point in his life, Dick Cheney is probably used to protesters leaping out of crowds to call him a war criminal. During the Dick, Lynne, and Liz Cheney Politico Playbook lunch in Washington's Mayflower renaissance Hotel, a protester stood up and called Dick a war criminal, then another, and another and another.  "You destroyed Iraq, Dick Cheney, and you're destroying this country!"  When a heckler called Dick a war criminal, Lynne remarked, "I wondered why the line was so long." The many haters (or, to be more precise, people who disagree with the Cheneys about climate change, women's reproductive rights, same-sex marriage and, above all, foreign policy) didn't phase the Cheneys, or ruin their on-stage family bonding.

In rush to cut benefits backlog, VA made errors Posted: 14 Jul 2014 03:06 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — In a rush to cut a huge backlog of claims for disability benefits, the Department of Veterans Affairs is making payments to tens of thousands of veterans without adequate medical evidence that they deserve the benefits, the department's inspector general's office said Monday.

Here's How Advocates Are Stepping Up to Care for Vets Where the VA Has Failed Posted: 14 Jul 2014 02:13 PM PDT It was early in the morning when Marine Corps veteran Rob Goins pulled in to the American Legion crisis center in Phoenix recently. The 50-year-old Arizona resident hurt his back years ago while in the Corps, but when he tried to get treatment at a Veterans Affairs hospital it denied him, saying his noncombat injury didn't rate as a health care priority. At 7:30 a.m., Goins settled in at the crisis center waiting room, resigned to a long, difficult day, and possibly one that would get him no closer to the help he needed. By 7:40 a.m. Goins was sitting in front of a benefits administrator, who opened his case file and enrolled him in the VA health benefits program.

Oil prices tick higher Posted: 14 Jul 2014 01:50 PM PDT Global oil prices rose Monday as turmoil in Libya clouded expectations of a return of the country's crude supplies to the market. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for August finished the session at $100.91 a barrel, a slight gain of eight cents from Friday's close. Brent North Sea for delivery in August rose 32 cents to settle at $106.98 a barrel in London trade. Commerzbank analysts, in a research note, highlighted renewed protests in Libya and the closure of the oil terminal at Brega.

Japan, US admirals say naval cooperation deepening Posted: 14 Jul 2014 01:45 PM PDT PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) — U.S-Japan naval cooperation is deepening, top U.S. and Japanese admirals said Monday as they met on the sidelines of the world's largest maritime exercises.

Fighting rages over Iraqi town north of Baghdad Posted: 14 Jul 2014 01:43 PM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Government forces and allied Sunni tribal fighters battled to dislodge militants from a small town along the Tigris River on Monday, while authorities discovered 12 bloated bodies with gunshots to the head near another village north of the capital, officials said.

Ex-Minnesota governor says TV career halted by sniper's claims Posted: 14 Jul 2014 01:23 PM PDT By David Bailey ST. PAUL Minn. (Reuters) - Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura told a court on Monday his annual income dropped sharply after his reputation was damaged by what he called a fictitious passage in a book by a former Navy SEAL who said the two had gotten in a bar fight. Seeking unspecified damages for defamation, Ventura testified on Friday that he has not been in a fight since he left the Navy decades before the alleged encounter described by former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle in "American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History," published in early 2012.

Bodies found north of Baghdad as Sunni insurgents turn on each other Posted: 14 Jul 2014 01:10 PM PDT By Isra' al-Rubei'i and Maggie Fick BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Residents of a town north of Baghdad found 12 corpses with execution-style bullet wounds on Monday following fighting between rival Sunni insurgents that could eventually unravel a coalition which has seized much of northern and western Iraq. The incident points to an intensification of infighting between the Islamic State and other Sunni groups, such as supporters of former dictator Saddam Hussein, which rallied behind the al Qaeda offshoot last month because of shared hatred for the Shi'ite-led Iraqi government. Police in Muqdadiya, a town 80 km (50 miles) northeast of the capital, said residents from the nearby town of Saadiya found the 12 corpses on Monday after fighting overnight between Islamic State fighters and the Naqshbandi Army, a group led by Saddam allies. Since the Islamic State swept through Iraqi cities and proclaimed its leader caliph of all Muslims last month, there have been increasing signs of conflict with other Sunni groups which do not necessarily share its rejection of Iraq's borders or its severe interpretation of Islam.

UN authorizes cross-border aid to Syrians Posted: 14 Jul 2014 01:00 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution Monday authorizing cross-border delivery of humanitarian aid to Syrians in rebel-held areas in desperate need of food and medicine, without government approval.

Afghan candidate tells AP vote deal will work Posted: 14 Jul 2014 12:41 PM PDT KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — One of two contestants in Afghanistan's deadlocked presidential election told The Associated Press on Monday that a U.S.-brokered deal for a full ballot audit pulled the country back from the brink and put government legitimacy back on track.

A peaceful path to a Kurdish homeland Posted: 14 Jul 2014 12:21 PM PDT Now that question must once again be asked as the 5 million ethnic Kurds in largely Arab Iraq move closer to a vote on independence. A peaceful secession of Iraqi Kurdistan would be in marked contrast to the extreme violence employed by the jihadist group Islamic State (previously known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), which proclaimed a Muslim caliphate last month. The Kurds have been a patient people in their long desire for independence. Their caution has been necessary because the entire population of some 25 million Kurds is spread across four countries – Iraq, Syria, Iran, and Turkey – where they are minorities.

U.N. Security Council authorizes cross-border aid access in Syria Posted: 14 Jul 2014 12:08 PM PDT By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council on Monday authorized humanitarian access without Syrian government consent into rebel-held areas at four border crossings from Turkey, Iraq and Jordan, even though Syria has warned it deems such deliveries incursions into its territory. "The consent of the Syrian authorities will no longer be necessary," Luxembourg's U.N. Ambassador Sylvie Lucas told the 15-member Security Council after the vote on the resolution, which was drafted by Luxembourg, Australia and Jordan. The unanimously adopted resolution established for 180 days a monitoring mechanism for loading aid convoys in neighboring countries, which will notify Syria of the "humanitarian nature of these relief consignments." The United Nations has said that about 10.8 million people in Syria need help, of which 4.7 million are in hard-to-reach areas. At least 150,000 people have died in Syria's civil war, which is now in its fourth year.

Facing deadline, US and Iran press nuclear talks Posted: 14 Jul 2014 12:00 PM PDT VIENNA (AP) — The top U.S. and Iranian diplomats searched Monday for a breakthrough in nuclear talks, their efforts complicated by crises across the Middle East and beyond that have Washington and Tehran aligned in some places but often opposed.

Correction: Iraq to Fort Campbell story Posted: 14 Jul 2014 11:37 AM PDT FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) — In a story June 5 about an Iraqi-born man who worked as an interpreter for American forces in Iraq and later became an officer in the U.S. military, The Associated Press misidentified the location of the Abdulla Mizead's first interaction with U.S. soliders as Najaf. The correct location is Baghdad.

Kurds go to Syria from Turkey to fight Islamists Posted: 14 Jul 2014 11:34 AM PDT By Tom Perry and Seyhmus Cakan BEIRUT Lebanon/DIYARBAKIR Turkey (Reuters) - A new offensive by al Qaeda offshoot the Islamic State on Kurdish-held areas of northern Syria has triggered a regional call for arms from the Kurds, and Turkish Kurds are coming to their aid. The war in Syria has already drawn in an array of regional players and the regional Kurdish involvement complicates an increasingly fragmented scene across Syria and Iraq, where the Islamic state took control of large areas last month. The predominantly Kurdish city is known as Kobani to the Kurds who have controlled it since 2012, part of an expansion of their influence following the collapse of central government control that has allowed for closer ties with Kurds across the border.

Poll: US global image survives spying concerns Posted: 14 Jul 2014 11:30 AM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Widespread global opposition to U.S. electronic surveillance since the revelations by onetime National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden has not badly tarnished the overall image of the United States, and it remains far more popular around the world than rising power China, according to a poll released Monday.

Rick Perry and Rand Paul Slug it Out in Prep for 2016 Posted: 14 Jul 2014 11:30 AM PDT Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul battled back and forth in the nation's op-ed pages over the weekend in an argument about American military involvement overseas. The two likely candidates for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016 have spilled a lot of ink trying to claim the foreign policy mantle of Ronald Reagan, but in the process have forgotten the rule Reagan said he tried to live by: "You should speak no ill of a fellow Republican."  Paul got the ball rolling with an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal last month in which he argued against the U.S. military re-engaging in Iraq. For some reason it took him the best part of a month, but Perry responded to Paul's op-ed in a Friday article in the Washington Post that accused his fellow Republican of isolationism and compared him to those who, in the Reagan years, "promoted accommodation and timidity in the face of Soviet advancement."

Sunni jihadi group expels rivals from Syrian city Posted: 14 Jul 2014 10:58 AM PDT BEIRUT (AP) — A Sunni extremist group in Syria took over opposition-held areas of a provincial capital near the border with Iraq on Monday after expelling rival fighters from an al-Qaida-linked group, activists said.

UN Security Council authorizes Syria aid convoys Posted: 14 Jul 2014 10:56 AM PDT The UN Security Council adopted a resolution Monday authorizing humanitarian convoys to Syria without the consent of the Damascus regime, to help more than one million civilians in rebel-held areas. The council -- including Russia and China, who have vetoed four Western-backed draft resolutions on Syria since the start of the conflict in 2011 -- unanimously approved the measure. The resolution will allow immediate aid deliveries to 1.3 million civilians in rebel-held areas, British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant told the council. "It marks a major step forward in the international community's effort to respond to the suffering in Syria," he said.

Heavy fighting rages over town north of Baghdad Posted: 14 Jul 2014 10:50 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Government forces and allied Sunni tribal fighters battled to dislodge militants from a small town north of Baghdad on Monday, while two car bombs in the capital killed at least seven people, officials said.

Perry-Paul launch foreign policy war of words Posted: 14 Jul 2014 10:40 AM PDT Two leading Republicans have begun an unusually personal war of words over foreign policy, highlighting a broader divide within the GOP over international affairs in one of the first public clashes of the Republican Party's presidential primary process.

Al Qaeda's North African wing rejects Iraq-Syria caliphate Posted: 14 Jul 2014 10:14 AM PDT Al Qaeda's North African wing has rejected the mediaeval-style caliphate declared by a militant Islamist group in Iraq and Syria, and confirmed its allegiance to al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, according a statement posted on social media. The group calling itself the Islamic State announced last month it was creating a caliphate on lands it has captured in Syria's civil war and during a rapid advance through swathes of Iraq. In a direct challenge to al Qaeda, its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi assumed the title of caliph and issued a message seeking to assert authority over Muslims everywhere and rally them for jihad, or holy war.

Iranian dissident freed on health grounds Posted: 14 Jul 2014 10:12 AM PDT Iranian dissident Mehdi Khazali, who was serving a six-year prison sentence for acts against national security and spreading propaganda against the regime, has been freed on health grounds. "A representative of the prosecutor and a doctor went to my client's bedside and have judged that the continuation of imprisonment would be dangerous for his health," said lawyer Mostafa Tork-Hamedani. A doctor by profession and a veteran of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, Khazali is the son of Ayatollah Abolghassem Khazali, an important religious figure known for taking ultra-conservative positions. Ayatollah Khazali has disowned the views of his son, including his criticism of Iran's human rights situation.

Rand Paul vs. Rick Perry: Who's winning? Posted: 14 Jul 2014 10:05 AM PDT It was a dark cloud on the horizon on Friday, when Governor Perry of Texas published an op-ed in The Washington Post that attacked Senator Paul as a foreign policy isolationist. Paul is reluctant to devote more US troops and weapons to Iraq, and Perry used that position to portray the Kentucky lawmaker as the reverse of Ronald Reagan, as someone who wants to hunker down at home rather than lead the world. He made fun of Perry's (snappy) new glasses and complained that the Texan had "fictionalized" Paul's approach to foreign policy. There aren't good options in Iraq, as anyone who's looked hard at the situation knows, Paul wrote.

Militants press Iraq assault as political deadlock set to drag on Posted: 14 Jul 2014 09:47 AM PDT Police and tribesmen battled an assault on Monday that could bring militants a step closer to Baghdad, as Iraq's flagging government formation process seemed set to drag on. World powers and Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, have piled pressure on MPs to put aside their differences, with the country facing a major jihadist-led onslaught that has overrun territory in the north and west, but progress has so far been noticeably lacking. Fighters from the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group on Monday attacked the final area still outside their control in the town of Dhuluiyah, just 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of Baghdad, after first attacking a day earlier. Violence also struck other areas, with two car bombs in Baghdad and shootings in the northern province of Kirkuk killing at least nine people, two of them police, officials said.

Kurds Inch Closer to Independence Amid Iraqi Political Crisis Posted: 14 Jul 2014 09:01 AM PDT As Iraq fractures into pieces, the long-simmering movement for Kurdish independence is showing its strength. The Kurds, who control an oil-rich swath of northeastern Iraq, have been seizing more territory as the central government in Iraq fails to stem the recent march by ISIS across Iraq's terrain.  Last month, as Iraqi troops deserted their posts in the city of Kirkuk, the Kurds seized control of the prized city and have held it and its oil refineries. As Zack Beauchamp noted, "the crisis has been, in a strange way, a boon to the Kurds — provided that they can remain out of the fighting." What makes the Kurdish expansion particularly captivating is its popularity among ethnic minorities in Iraq, which have long been isolated by the divisive Shiite-led government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and are finding the Kurds to be tolerant of minorities.

Latin Patriarch Of Jerusalem To Honor Roots Of Peace Posted: 14 Jul 2014 09:00 AM PDT SAN RAFAEL, Calif., July 14, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- His Beatitude Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, one of the top leaders in the Catholic Church worldwide, is in the San Francisco Bay Area today to honor Roots of Peace, a Northern California non-profit for its work removing landmines and returning the land to agriculture in war-torn countries. "Roots of Peace is a shining example of the power of a non-profit to help change nations quietly and peacefully through agricultural education. They have gained interfaith respect from different religious leaders around the world for leading the effort to help families in war ravaged lands not just survive but thrive on former minefields, providing desperately needed food security for themselves and food for export to support their families," said Fouad Twal. Roots of Peace has been a standing member of the International Campaign To Ban Landmines and its U.S. affiliate the USCBL since 1999, and champion of the Ottawa Treaty, which calls for a worldwide treaty totally prohibiting anti-personnel mines.

UN set to authorize cross-border aid to Syrians Posted: 14 Jul 2014 08:43 AM PDT UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council is set to vote on a resolution that would authorize cross-border delivery of humanitarian aid to Syrians in rebel-held areas in desperate need of food and medicine, without government approval.

New Real Warriors Campaign Profile: Marine 1st Sgt. Simon Sandoval Shares Story of Strength Posted: 14 Jul 2014 08:23 AM PDT WASHINGTON, July 14, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Experiencing psychological stress as a result of life transitions, deployment or other long-term separations can be common in military life. This stress can impact a service member's personal relationships, physical fitness routines and overall psychological health. The newest Real Warriors Campaign profile, 1st Sgt. Simon Sandoval (http://realwarriors.net/multimedia/profiles/sandoval.php), knows firsthand that it is difficult to cope with these stressors alone. Sandoval learned about the importance of asking for help while leading an Operational Stress Control and Readiness (OSCAR) training session for other Marines.

Syrian refugees, sectarian tensions endanger Lebanon: U.N. Posted: 14 Jul 2014 08:05 AM PDT By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - Lebanon is at risk of crumbling as a state under the burden of 1.1 million Syrian refugees and foreign donors must make good on pledges of support to help it survive the crisis, the top U.N. official in the small coastal country warned on Monday. Political and religious leaders in Lebanon, both Sunni and Shi'ite Muslim, so far have kept a lid on growing tensions but donor nations have not honored aid commitments, said Ross Mountain, the U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator. "It is what the former president (Michel Suleiman) described as an existential crisis for Lebanon. It's about the security of the country, the stability of the country and I would suggest what happens in Lebanon will affect the region." Over 1.12 million refugees from Syria's civil war next door have registered in Lebanon, accounting for one-quarter of its population and exacerbating a severe water shortage, Mountain said.

Five Best Monday Columns Posted: 14 Jul 2014 07:40 AM PDT The spat between two potential front runners for the Republican presidential nomination continued on Monday, with Rand Paul responding to Rick Perry's criticism in a Washington Post op-ed on Saturday. "There are obviously many important events going on in the world right now, but with 60,000 foreign children streaming across the Texas border, I am surprised Governor Perry has apparently still found time to mischaracterize and attack my foreign policy." The divide between Perry and Paul represents a larger clash over foreign policy in the Republican Party, that pits a growing libertarian wing against Bush-era neo-conservatism. "I ask Governor Perry: How many Americans should send their sons or daughters to die for a foreign country — a nation the Iraqis won't defend for themselves? How many Texan mothers and fathers will Governor Perry ask to send their children to fight in Iraq?"

Death toll in Baghdad brothel raid rises to 31: police Posted: 14 Jul 2014 06:58 AM PDT The death toll from a raid on a Baghdad compound used for prostitution rose to 31 Monday, as pictures obtained by AFP offered clues to the circumstances of the carnage. "The total number of dead now stands at 31, two of them men," interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan told AFP. Gunmen stormed two buildings in Baghdad's residential district of Zayouna, known in the area for housing rented flats where a notorious pimp kept a "stable" of up to 60 women. Photographs taken soon after the killings on Saturday evening showed a man, identified by police sources as the pimp, lying dead in a pool of blood alongside one of his presumed henchmen.

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