Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• Obama on IS in Syria: 'We don't have a strategy yet'
• Syrian charged in plot against troops is now in US
• Obama tamps down prospect of strikes in Syria
• THE ISLAMIC STATE HAS FAMILIAR FACES IN ITS RANKS
• Obama says 'no strategy yet' as IS executes Syrian troops
• Disputed Kurdish oil tanker mysteriously goes dark off Texas coast
• Museum to display 6,500-year-old human skeleton
• 'The audacity of taupe': Obama suit creates sartorial stir
• Obama says does not yet have broad strategy for Islamic State
• Pentagon's relatively small Iraq costs may jump with escalation: analysts
• Jihadists kill dozens of captured Syrian soldiers
• Obama on ISIL: ‘We don’t have a strategy yet’
• U.S. seeks coalition against Islamic State, but military partners no sure bet
• Saudi crown prince to discuss jihadist threat on French trip
• UN: Islamic State group threatens Syria aid access
• Iraqi forces retake villages on way to besieged town
• Syrian accused of making detonators in Iraq charged in Arizona
• Foley, other hostages held by Islamic State were waterboarded: report
• Iraqi Kurdish student uses holiday to fight jihadists
• Obama touts revised economic growth numbers
• Obama Says 'We Don't Have A Strategy Yet' in Syria
• President Obama Says 'We Don't Have a Strategy Yet' to Fight ISIS
• A real peace for Israel, Gaza
• Turkey's Erdogan sworn in as president, consolidates power
• U.S. warplanes bomb targets in northern Iraq
• Islamic State Waterboarded James Foley and Other Captives
• US warplanes bomb targets in northern Iraq
• Gun tourism grows in popularity in recent years
• Video shows Islamic State executes scores of Syrian soldiers
• Obama to deliver statement at 1600 EDT: White House
• Obama to speak ahead of national security meeting
• IS executes scores of Syrian troops in new atrocity
• Egypt militants post beheading video
• For a war correspondent's mother, James Foley killing hits close to home
• Africa's militants may be inspired by Islamic State gains, officials told
• What's in a name?: West Palm Beach Condo Drops 'ISIS' Name Due to, You Know
• Five Best Thursday Columns
• Aid to Sunni Arabs in Kurdistan comes with a side of suspicion
• Jihadists burn three Iraq oil wells as Kurds launch attack
• 'Jihad recruiters' arrested in Netherlands, Germany

Obama on IS in Syria: 'We don't have a strategy yet' Posted: 28 Aug 2014 04:55 PM PDT President Barack Obama admitted Thursday he did not yet have a strategy to combat the Islamic State in Syria, quelling speculation he would imminently unleash the US military against the group in the civil-war-torn country. The president stressed though that he was developing a broad and comprehensive plan which would involve military, diplomatic and regional efforts designed to defeat IS for good, in both Syria and Iraq, not just in the short term. Obama also said that Washington did not need to choose to side with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to combat the Islamic State, which exploited a power vacuum in the middle of Syria's vicious turmoil and last week brutally executed US journalist James Foley.

Syrian charged in plot against troops is now in US Posted: 28 Aug 2014 04:39 PM PDT PHOENIX (AP) — A Syrian man has been extradited to Arizona to face charges that he supplied components of improvised explosive devices to a jihadist group in Iraq that mounted attacks against the U.S. military.

Obama tamps down prospect of strikes in Syria Posted: 28 Aug 2014 04:35 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama tamped down the prospect of imminent U.S. military action in Syria on Thursday, saying "we don't have a strategy yet" for degrading the violent militant group seeking to establish a caliphate in the Middle East.

THE ISLAMIC STATE HAS FAMILIAR FACES IN ITS RANKS Posted: 28 Aug 2014 04:01 PM PDT WASHINGTON -- Since that day last spring when an ominous parade of vehicles flying black-and-white flags advanced toward Mosul, many of us, myself certainly included, have wondered exactly who these barbarous men are. Almost immediately, we were treated to photos of their beheadings, of mass executions, and just about every savagery we thought we had left behind. Oh, we knew who the "terrorists" themselves were -- and by that I mean the kind of young, eternally disaffected, violent kids from Raffa, Tripoli or Cairo who man the machine guns and grin idiotically at death. ...

Obama says 'no strategy yet' as IS executes Syrian troops Posted: 28 Aug 2014 03:44 PM PDT US President Barack Obama admitted Thursday that he still did not have a strategy to fight Islamic State jihadists in Syria, as the militants boasted they had executed scores of Syrian troops -- the latest in a string of atrocities that have shocked the world. Dampening hopes of imminent air strikes in Syria, Obama said he was still developing a comprehensive plan to defeat for good IS, which has also overrun large swathes of Iraq. The civil war in Syria has killed some 191,000 people since it erupted in March 2011 with President Bashar al-Assad's bloody effort to put down an uprising. The chaotic situation on the ground was underlined by the seizing by rival Islamist rebels, led by Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front, of 43 UN peacekeepers on the Golan Heights -- part of a mission that has monitored an armistice between Syrian and Israeli troops on the strategic plateau for decades.

Disputed Kurdish oil tanker mysteriously goes dark off Texas coast Posted: 28 Aug 2014 03:40 PM PDT By Terry Wade and Anna Louie Sussman HOUSTON (Reuters) - A tanker near Texas loaded with $100 million of disputed Iraqi Kurdish crude has disappeared from satellite tracking, the latest development in a high stakes game of cat-and-mouse between Baghdad and the Kurds. The AIS ship tracking system used by the U.S. Coast Guard and Reuters on Thursday showed no known position for the United Kalavrvta, which was carrying 1 million barrels of crude and 95 percent full when it went dark. Several other tankers carrying disputed crude from Iran or Iraqi Kurdistan have unloaded cargoes after switching off their transponders, which makes their movements hard to track.

Museum to display 6,500-year-old human skeleton Posted: 28 Aug 2014 03:38 PM PDT PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The public will soon get to see an ancient human skeleton recently rediscovered in a Philadelphia museum's storage room.

'The audacity of taupe': Obama suit creates sartorial stir Posted: 28 Aug 2014 03:25 PM PDT The subjects were serious enough at President Barack Obama's impromptu press conference Thursday, but many viewers and the collective press corps seized on something more immediately visible: his tan suit. The president's decision to address the media in a breezy, light-colored summer suit swiftly took center stage for many even as he addressed Russian responsibility for rebel actions in Ukraine and ongoing US air strikes against Islamists in Iraq. "Yes we tan!" became the mocking rally cry on social media as Obama gave a statement and then took questions from what some have deemed a horrified press corps. Back in 2012 Obama told Vanity Fair that "I wear only gray or blue suits." By breaking that promise Thursday -- even with what many acknowledge was a sharp-looking, seasonal get-up -- Obama inadvertently gave birth to #suitgate.

Obama says does not yet have broad strategy for Islamic State Posted: 28 Aug 2014 03:22 PM PDT President Barack Obama said on Thursday he has asked officials to prepare a range of U.S. military options for confronting Islamic State militants in Syria but said his strategy is still being developed. At a news conference, Obama cautioned against speculation that he was on the brink of a decision to expand air strikes against Islamic State beyond targets already being hit in Iraq by U.S.

Pentagon's relatively small Iraq costs may jump with escalation: analysts Posted: 28 Aug 2014 03:00 PM PDT The prospect of seeking more money for the Pentagon just months ahead of congressional elections could raise scrutiny on Capitol Hill of the Obama administration's decision on whether to step up U.S. The Pentagon has not yet stated publicly how much it has spent so far in the fight against Islamic State, which spilled out of Syria this year and overran the Iraqi military before U.S. In addition, more than 800 troops have been sent to Iraq to evaluate the situation.Todd Harrison, a defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments think tank, said the cost of the operation so far was probably in the range of $100 million. "To put this in context, DoD (the Defense Department) was already planning to spend more than $800 million in Iraq in 2014 for security cooperation and other activities not related to the current situation," he said.

Jihadists kill dozens of captured Syrian soldiers Posted: 28 Aug 2014 02:53 PM PDT BEIRUT (AP) — The Islamic State group killed more than 160 Syrian government troops seized in recent fighting, posting pictures Thursday of terrified young conscripts stripped down to their underwear before meeting their deaths in the arid Syrian countryside.

Obama on ISIL: ‘We don’t have a strategy yet’ Posted: 28 Aug 2014 02:43 PM PDT Declaring "we don't have a strategy yet," President Obama poured cold water Thursday on talk that he was poised to order imminent U.S. military strikes on ISIL fighters in Syria.

U.S. seeks coalition against Islamic State, but military partners no sure bet Posted: 28 Aug 2014 02:42 PM PDT By Lesley Wroughton and Missy Ryan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is intensifying its push to build an international campaign against Islamic State jihadist fighters in Iraq and Syria, including recruiting partners for potential joint military action, Obama administration officials said on Wednesday. Britain and Australia are potential candidates, U.S. Germany said it was in talks with the United States and other international partners about possible military action against Islamic State but made clear it would not participate.

Saudi crown prince to discuss jihadist threat on French trip Posted: 28 Aug 2014 02:36 PM PDT Saudi Arabia's crown prince will next week visit France and hold talks with French leaders that will touch on the threat posed by Islamic State militants, presidency sources in Paris said Thursday. Salman bin Abdul Aziz, who is also deputy prime minister and defence minister of Saudi Arabia, will meet President Francois Hollande on Monday and will be treated to an official dinner at the Elysee presidential palace. The two are likely to touch on a $3-billion (2.3-billion-euro) package of French military equipment and arms for Lebanon's army that Riyadh has agreed to finance, as Beirut faces the threat of jihadists on its border with Syria.

UN: Islamic State group threatens Syria aid access Posted: 28 Aug 2014 02:33 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Islamic State group is taking violence against civilians in Syria "to a new level," threatening the cross-border humanitarian aid operations recently approved by the Security Council, a top U.N. aid official said Thursday.

Iraqi forces retake villages on way to besieged town Posted: 28 Aug 2014 02:28 PM PDT Iraqi security forces backed by volunteer militiamen on Thursday retook several villages located on the way to the town of Amerli, which jihadists have besieged for months, officers said. Army Staff Lieutenant General Abdulamir al-Zaidi told AFP that villages north of Al-Adhaim were retaken as part of a major operation aimed at advancing toward Amerli. In addition to the Iraqi forces advancing toward Amerli from the south, a civilian volunteer commander said that thousands of Shiite militiamen from groups including Asaib Ahl al-Haq and the Badr Organisation were gathering in the Tuz Khurmatu area, north of Amerli, in preparation for a battle to break the siege.

Syrian accused of making detonators in Iraq charged in Arizona Posted: 28 Aug 2014 02:26 PM PDT A Syrian man accused of supplying electronic parts for roadside bombs used in attacks on U.S. Ahmad Ibrahim Al-Ahmad, 36, was arrested in Turkey in 2011 on terrorism-related charges under an Interpol warrant and detained there until his extradition on Wednesday to the United States, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement. A superseding federal indictment returned earlier this month charged Al-Ahmad with various conspiracy offenses as well as possession of a destructive device and providing material support to terrorists.

Foley, other hostages held by Islamic State were waterboarded: report Posted: 28 Aug 2014 02:24 PM PDT At least four hostages held in Syria by Islamic State militants, including U.S. The Islamic State captors appeared to model the technique on that of the CIA, which waterboarded three terrorism suspects captured after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on Washington and New York, the Post said.

Iraqi Kurdish student uses holiday to fight jihadists Posted: 28 Aug 2014 02:18 PM PDT Briyar Kamal, a 24-year-old Kurdish student, achieved good marks at university, but instead of relaxing during his summer holiday he is fighting jihadists who have overrun swathes of Iraq. Only when the situation improves will I return to class," says Kamal, who is deployed with Kurdish peshmerga forces fighting to retake the town of Jalawla from the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group. "I can study any time, but by fighting (IS) I am helping secure freedom and security" for Iraq's Kurds. "The day has come for us to obtain our rights," Kamal says in Wadi Osaj, an eerily-empty village near Jalawla.

Obama touts revised economic growth numbers Posted: 28 Aug 2014 02:11 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — New evidence of economic growth is heartening and underscores that companies are investing and consumers are spending, President Barack Obama said Thursday.

Obama Says 'We Don't Have A Strategy Yet' in Syria Posted: 28 Aug 2014 02:02 PM PDT President Obama on Thursday said the U.S. We don't have a strategy yet," Obama said in response to questions about whether he was considering expanding the airstrikes he has ordered against ISIL in Iraq to target the terrorist group's "safe haven" in Syria. Obama has come under increasing pressure from Republicans in Congress to strike at ISIL in Syria following the videotaped beheading of American photojournalist James Foley. The president did not dispute the importance of what he acknowledged was ISIL's "safe haven" in Syria, but he made clear that his short-term focus remained Iraq.

President Obama Says 'We Don't Have a Strategy Yet' to Fight ISIS Posted: 28 Aug 2014 02:01 PM PDT Obama Sending Kerry to Region to Build Anti-ISIS Coalition

A real peace for Israel, Gaza Posted: 28 Aug 2014 01:51 PM PDT If peace is merely the absence of war, then peace fell upon Israel and Gaza on Wednesday. The real peace must come in the talks between Hamas and Israel expected in September. Those negotiations should define peace in positive terms, such as a demilitarized Gaza Strip that provides a thriving economy for its 1.8 million people. Hamas and Israel may not become friends.

Turkey's Erdogan sworn in as president, consolidates power Posted: 28 Aug 2014 01:27 PM PDT By Gulsen Solaker and Tulay Karadeniz ANKARA (Reuters) - Tayyip Erdogan was sworn in as Turkey's president on Thursday, cementing his position as its most powerful leader of recent times, in a step opponents fear heralds more authoritarian rule and widening religious influence in public life. Reading the oath of office in a ceremony in parliament, Erdogan vowed to protect Turkey's independence and integrity, to abide by the constitution and by the principles of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the modern secular republic. Erdogan, who had been prime minister since 2003, has consistently presented his time in office as a historic mission to transform Turkey domestically and as a regional power. "We're now more worried than ever about one-man, autocratic rule in Turkey," CHP deputy Aykan Erdemir told Reuters.

U.S. warplanes bomb targets in northern Iraq Posted: 28 Aug 2014 01:22 PM PDT U.S. fighter planes conducted five airstrikes against Islamic State targets in northern Iraq on Thursday, continuing a limited campaign aimed at helping Iraqi and Kurdish forces retake key territory and degrade the militants' capability.

Islamic State Waterboarded James Foley and Other Captives Posted: 28 Aug 2014 01:17 PM PDT According to reports, ISIL fighters waterboarded their Western hostages during the early part of their captivities, including journalist James Foley, who was executed last week. James Foley was among the four who were waterboarded several times by Islamic State militants who appeared to model the technique on the CIA's use of waterboarding to interrogate suspected terrorists after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. As the United States contemplates further action, including airstrikes against ISIL installations in Syria, the dark irony of having American hostages tortured by the same methods used by the CIA against Islamic terror suspects is difficult to absorb on emotional grounds as well as logical ones.   To be fair, is there any indication terrorists were inclined not to waterboard prior to CIA doing it? — Bradley P. Moss, Esq (@BradMossEsq) August 28, 2014

US warplanes bomb targets in northern Iraq Posted: 28 Aug 2014 01:15 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. fighter planes conducted five airstrikes against Islamic State targets in northern Iraq on Thursday, continuing a limited campaign aimed at helping Iraqi and Kurdish forces retake key territory and degrade the militants' capability.

Gun tourism grows in popularity in recent years Posted: 28 Aug 2014 12:52 PM PDT LAS VEGAS (AP) — The death of an Arizona firearms instructor by a 9-year-old girl who was firing a fully automatic Uzi displayed a tragic side of what has become a hot industry in the U.S.: gun tourism.

Video shows Islamic State executes scores of Syrian soldiers Posted: 28 Aug 2014 12:49 PM PDT By Sylvia Westall and Mariam Karouny BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State fighters executed scores of Syrian soldiers captures when the militants seized an airbase in the province of Raqqa at the weekend, according to a video posted on You Tube on Thursday. The video, confirmed as genuine by an Islamic State fighter, showed the bodies of dozens of men lying face down wearing nothing but their underwear. An Islamic State fighter in Raqqa told Reuters via the Internet: "Yes, we have executed them all." The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors violence in the war, put the death toll at more than 120. Islamic State, a radical offshoot of al Qaeda, stormed Tabqa airbase on Sunday after days of clashes with the army and said it had captured and killed soldiers and officers in one of the bloodiest confrontations yet between the two sides.

Obama to deliver statement at 1600 EDT: White House Posted: 28 Aug 2014 12:48 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is set to deliver a statement at the White House at 1600 EDT on Thursday ahead of a meeting with his national security council on Iraq and Syria, the White House said. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Sandra Maler)

Obama to speak ahead of national security meeting Posted: 28 Aug 2014 12:37 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will speak at 4 p.m. from the White House before convening a meeting with his national security team on the militant threat in Syria and Iraq.

IS executes scores of Syrian troops in new atrocity Posted: 28 Aug 2014 12:26 PM PDT Islamic State jihadists boasted Thursday they had executed scores of Syrian troops after capturing a key air base, the latest in a string of abuses that have shocked the world. News of the killings came as US President Barack Obama weighed air strikes on IS positions in Syria and edged closer to greenlighting a mission to aid Shiite Turkmen trapped in an Iraqi town besieged by the jihadists. It also came as rival Islamist rebels led by Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front seized 43 UN peacekeepers on the Golan Heights, part of a mission that has monitored an armistice between Syrian and Israeli troops on the strategic plateau for decades. Britain-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that IS had executed at least 160 soldiers, among some 500 who had made a desperate bid to escape to government-held territory after their defeat last Sunday.

Egypt militants post beheading video Posted: 28 Aug 2014 12:12 PM PDT CAIRO (AP) — An al-Qaida-inspired militant group in Egypt has posted an online video showing the beheading of four men in the Sinai Peninsula accused of spying for Israel, whose bodies were found earlier this month.

For a war correspondent's mother, James Foley killing hits close to home Posted: 28 Aug 2014 11:54 AM PDT The news of James Foley's beheading in Syria hit me hard. So too did yesterday's plea by Shirley Sotloff for the militant jihadist group Islamic State to release her son. As a mother of a journalist who covers wars, my heart aches not only for Jim, and other captive journalists, but for their families.

Africa's militants may be inspired by Islamic State gains, officials told Posted: 28 Aug 2014 09:28 AM PDT By Drazen Jorgic NAIROBI (Reuters) - African Islamists may be emboldened by the Islamic State's gains in the Middle East, and local security services need to cooperate to counter the continent's militants, African intelligence officials heard on Thursday. African Islamist rebels like Nigeria's Boko Haram have not made as dramatic an advance as Islamic State, which controls a swathe of Syria and Iraq. But they have launched attacks across Africa, from Niger, Mali and Nigeria in the west to Somalia and Kenya in the east. ...

What's in a name?: West Palm Beach Condo Drops 'ISIS' Name Due to, You Know Posted: 28 Aug 2014 08:49 AM PDT The planned West Palm Beach condo project called ISIS Downtown, a name that until recently would have conjured up images of nothing more disturbing than the Egyptian goddess of fertility and motherhood, Isis, has renamed itself 3 Thirty Three...

Five Best Thursday Columns Posted: 28 Aug 2014 08:45 AM PDT "To interventionists like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, we would caution that arming the Islamic rebels in Syria created a haven for the Islamic State. We are lucky Mrs. Clinton didn't get her way and the Obama administration did not bring about regime change in Syria." Paul contends that America should realize the limits of its foreign policy and change course. Haaretz on why it's in Israel's interest to help Gaza develop its economic potential. The Israeli paper contends that for peace to last, Israel must help Gaza develop a stable economy. "For the third time in a decade, Israel has come to understand that military force isn't enough to deter organizations weaker than it and that the brutal blockade of the Gaza Strip will not foment a civil rebellion against Hamas.

Aid to Sunni Arabs in Kurdistan comes with a side of suspicion Posted: 28 Aug 2014 08:34 AM PDT These are the inhabitants of "Guantanamo" – a precarious camp on the fringes of Khanaqin. Kurdish security forces have provided a semblance of shelter as air strikes hit their towns, areas where the militant group Islamic State has allegedly found a solid foothold. Ethnic hostility between Iraq's Kurds and Arabs is nothing new. The camp's real name is Kurdistan, but managers of other refugee centers in the area refer to it as Guantanamo.

Jihadists burn three Iraq oil wells as Kurds launch attack Posted: 28 Aug 2014 08:12 AM PDT Retreating jihadists set three wells ablaze at a northern Iraq oil field Thursday as they battled Kurdish forces who launched a major attack nearby, officials said. The Islamic State (IS) jihadists set the wells on fire before deserting the Ain Zalah field, which was seized by militants along in early August, an official from the North Oil Company said. A colonel in the Kurdish peshmerga forces said they had launched a major attack that has seen the jihadists pushed back from several villages in the area of the oil field. The officer and Nineveh provincial council chief Bashar al-Kiki both said that Kurdish forces had also taken control of Batana mountain, near Zumar.

'Jihad recruiters' arrested in Netherlands, Germany Posted: 28 Aug 2014 08:07 AM PDT Police in the Netherlands and Germany have arrested two men for allegedly recruiting jihadi fighters to go to Iraq and Syria, Dutch police said Thursday. A woman was also held with the man arrested in Germany as part of a long-running investigation, police said in a statement. All three are from The Hague and are accused of inciting hatred through social media and plotting terror attacks, police said, likely referring to help allegedly given to would-be Islamist fighters to reach the Middle East. "The two male suspects are suspected of recruiting for the armed terrorist struggle in Syria and/or Iraq and conspiring to commit murder with terrorist intent," the statement said.

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