Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• Ex-Army colonel pleads guilty to breaking law in job hunt
• U.S.-led forces conduct 12 air strikes in Iraq, three in Syria: military
• Afghanistan vows action after IS-style beheading video
• Brian Williams After Iraq Gaffe: "Maybe I Had a Brain Tumor" (Report)
• Obama has 'diminished' U.S. power, Cheney says in new book
• ABC breaks NBC's winning streak in evening news
• Kenya's unity against a terror tactic
• Netanyahu wants Iran deal to cover missile capacity
• Rand Paul: ophthalmologist turned libertarian crusader
• The 'seeds of Iraq's unraveling' were sown in 2003, not 2010
• Four Tunisian soldiers killed, eight wounded in ambush
• Iran, Turkey agree need to stop Yemen war: Rouhani
• Iraq battles IS in Tikrit week after city 'retaken'
• Turkish president visits Iran despite tensions over Yemen
• Cost of Fighting ISIS Nears $2 Billion
• Analysis: Iran nuke deal tough - but could be circumvented
• US Embassy in Jordan calls off warning against mall visits
• Bangladeshi hostages return home after being freed by IS in Libya
• Iraq exhumes remains of 47 from Tikrit graves: spokesman
• Dutch justice ministry: 190 people have left to fight jihad
• US Christians back emerging private war on Iraq jihadists
• ABC's 'World News Tonight' Snaps NBC 'Nightly News' 288-Week Winning Streak
• Fourth New York resident charged with supporting IS
• South Africa prevents girl trying to join Islamic State
• IS group beheads four for robbery, murder in Iraq: video
• Iraqi teams start exhuming mass grave of soldiers in Tikrit
• Rand Paul is not Ron Paul, for better or worse
• Tony Blair warns of dangers of second term for Conservatives
• Islamic State launches English-language radio bulletins
• Blair joins election fray with EU warning
• Egyptian protester's public killing brings surge of anger over police brutality
• After Yemen rescue, calls grow for permanent Indian crisis staff
• Turkish court acquits remaining military officers over alleged coup plot
• Exhumation of Iraq's Camp Speicher victim mass graves begins
• 8 migrants drown after boat sinks off Turkish coast
• Why Only Ground Forces Can Truly Destroy ISIS
• IS-inspired Malaysia detainees plotted terror attacks: police
• Rebels kill eight Iran soldiers on Pakistan border
• Will Bob Corker Save the GOP?
• Militants in Malaysia planned raids for guns, attacks in capital: police

Ex-Army colonel pleads guilty to breaking law in job hunt Posted: 07 Apr 2015 04:30 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — A retired Army colonel has pleaded guilty to negotiating his post-military employment with a helicopter company that did business with the Defense Department office he managed while he was still in uniform, according to court records filed Tuesday by U.S. government attorneys.

U.S.-led forces conduct 12 air strikes in Iraq, three in Syria: military Posted: 07 Apr 2015 02:07 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.-led forces targeted Islamic State militants with 12 air strikes in Iraq and three air strikes in Syria, the U.S. military said on Tuesday. In Iraq, the air strikes, conducted since Monday morning, hit Islamic State positions near Bayji, Mosul and Fallujah, among other places, the Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement. In Syria, the air strikes hit Islamic State targets near Aleppo and Kobani, it said. (Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Will Dunham)

Afghanistan vows action after IS-style beheading video Posted: 07 Apr 2015 02:04 PM PDT Afghanistan on Tuesday vowed action against Taliban-allied Uzbek insurgents after they posted a video purportedly showing the beheading of a former Afghan soldier, highlighting their apparent tilt towards the Islamic State group. A local commander of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), which has so far held a low profile in Afghanistan, was recently reported to have pledged support to the Islamic State jihadists. The Taliban have seen defections to IS in recent months, with some insurgents voicing their disaffection with their one-eyed supreme leader Mullah Omar who has not been seen since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan. IMU's footage, circulating on social media, bore the hallmarks of IS execution videos that have brought global notoriety to the group that captured swathes of territory straddling Iraq and Syria.

Brian Williams After Iraq Gaffe: "Maybe I Had a Brain Tumor" (Report) Posted: 07 Apr 2015 01:46 PM PDT NBC insiders told 'Vanity Fair' that the suspended 'Nightly News' anchor "couldn't say the words 'I lied.' " They spilled about Williams' conflicts with former NBC News president Steve Capus and revealed what might have signaled the end for former 'Today' senior vp and GM Jamie Horowitz.

Obama has 'diminished' U.S. power, Cheney says in new book Posted: 07 Apr 2015 01:33 PM PDT Former Vice President Dick Cheney, already a fierce critic of President Barack Obama, accuses him in an upcoming book of allowing American power to become "significantly diminished" even as the threat of terrorism rises. Cheney renews his criticism of Obama in "Exceptional: Why The World Needs a Powerful America," a book co-authored with his eldest daughter, Liz Cheney, due to be published on Sept. 1 by Threshold Editions, which has backed books by conservative authors. Threshold is part of publishing house Simon & Schuster, which is owned by CBS Corp . "Unfortunately, as we face the clear and present danger of a rapidly growing terrorist threat, President Obama has significantly diminished our power, abandoned America's allies and emboldened our enemies," Cheney said in a statement released by his publisher.

ABC breaks NBC's winning streak in evening news Posted: 07 Apr 2015 01:26 PM PDT NEW YORK (AP) — NBC's "Nightly News" lost the weekly ratings competition for the first time since 2009 — and for the first time since anchor Brian Williams was suspended in February for telling a false story about his reporting from the Iraq War.

Kenya's unity against a terror tactic Posted: 07 Apr 2015 01:10 PM PDT On Tuesday, Kenya ended three days of official mourning for the 148 people, mainly Christian students, killed last week at a university by the militant Islamist group Al Shabab. In targeting Christians at Garissa University College – while leaving Muslim students alone – the militants may have hoped to incite Kenya's majority Christians to rise up against the Muslim minority. As Al Shabab gunmen roamed the university campus in the early morning of April 2 – just before Good Friday – many Muslim students hid Christians in a mosque or helped them escape. In Nairobi, Cardinal John Njue of the Roman Catholic Church asked all Kenyans "to bear with one another, irrespective of our religion and positions in the society." An Anglican leader, Bishop Julius Kalu, asked the country to resist the attempt to divide the country into religious factions.

Netanyahu wants Iran deal to cover missile capacity Posted: 07 Apr 2015 12:39 PM PDT Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu kept up his offensive against the framework nuclear deal with Iran on Tuesday, saying it fails to address Tehran's long-range missile arsenal. "Why doesn't the framework address Iran's intercontinental ballistic missile programme whose sole purpose is to carry nuclear payloads?" he asked on his official Twitter account. He said the economic benefits from the easing of sanctions would go to fund Iran-sponsored radicals across the Middle East. "What is to stop Iran from using the over one hundred billion dollars that will be unfrozen as part of this agreement to fund aggression and terror in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and elsewhere," he tweeted.

Rand Paul: ophthalmologist turned libertarian crusader Posted: 07 Apr 2015 12:28 PM PDT Instead of an American flag, Republican presidential hopeful Rand Paul wears a red penny in his lapel, symbolizing the core of his philosophy: no more runaway debt and total submission to the US Constitution. We don't have one red cent more to send them in Washington," the conservative Kentucky senator said in 2010 shortly after a crushing poll win. Paul's launch of his presidential candidacy on Tuesday follows that of Texan fellow senator Ted Cruz, who announced his own two weeks ago. Both are appealing to conservative and libertarian Tea Party voters for a ticket to next year's race to the White House.

The 'seeds of Iraq's unraveling' were sown in 2003, not 2010 Posted: 07 Apr 2015 12:18 PM PDT The dangerous fantasy that Iraq was on the brink of a new democratic era in 2010 – if only the Obama administration had leaned harder on Iraq's politicians – just won't die. The oft-told premise is that the US had enormous amounts of "leverage" over Iraqi politicians that Barack Obama simply refused to exercise and that had he done so, he would have left Iraq safe and prosperous, and prevented the rise of the Islamic State. Which implies what what went wrong in Iraq was merely the wrong president, at the wrong time. At least, that's the impression given from reading the works of powerful people who were involved in the US war effort in Iraq from 2003-2010.

Four Tunisian soldiers killed, eight wounded in ambush Posted: 07 Apr 2015 11:56 AM PDT Four Tunisian soldiers were killed and eight wounded Tuesday in an ambush in the Kasserine region where the military is battling jihadists, state television reported. Tunisia has seen an upsurge in Islamic extremism since overthrowing longtime strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.

Iran, Turkey agree need to stop Yemen war: Rouhani Posted: 07 Apr 2015 11:36 AM PDT Turkey and Iran agree on the need for a political solution to end Yemen's war, which has raised tensions between them, Iran's president said Tuesday after talks with his visiting Turkish counterpart. "We talked about Iraq, Syria, Palestine... We had a long discussion about Yemen. We both think war and bloodshed must stop in this area immediately and a complete ceasefire must be established and the strikes must stop" in Yemen, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said during a joint press conference broadcast by state television.

Iraq battles IS in Tikrit week after city 'retaken' Posted: 07 Apr 2015 11:08 AM PDT Iraqi security forces and allied paramilitaries battled militants from the Islamic State jihadist group in Tikrit on Tuesday, the interior ministry said, a week after the city was declared retaken. The Iraqi forces launched a raid on the basis of intelligence that there were between eight and 15 IS members in a hideout in the Qadisiya area of north Tikrit, the ministry said in a statement on the day's operations. "Our security forces were able to kill a number of them while the others blew themselves up after being surrounded," it said. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the "liberation" of Tikrit on March 31, but Interior Minister Mohammed al-Ghaban said the following day that "pockets" of IS fighters remained.

Turkish president visits Iran despite tensions over Yemen Posted: 07 Apr 2015 11:03 AM PDT TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Iran Tuesday amid deep differences between the two nations over the conflicts in Yemen and Syria.

Cost of Fighting ISIS Nears $2 Billion Posted: 07 Apr 2015 10:37 AM PDT There have been bits of good news here and there regarding the U.S.-led war against ISIS. Last week, for example, Iraqi government forces with the help of allied Shiite militias liberated the city of Tikrit ...

Analysis: Iran nuke deal tough - but could be circumvented Posted: 07 Apr 2015 10:36 AM PDT VIENNA (AP) — In selling the Iran nuclear deal to Congress and other skeptics, President Barack Obama said it is built on "unprecedented verification," telling his radio audience over the weekend: "If Iran cheats, the world will know it."

US Embassy in Jordan calls off warning against mall visits Posted: 07 Apr 2015 08:37 AM PDT AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — The U.S. Embassy in Amman has called off a warning to American citizens to stay away from upscale malls in Jordan's capital because of a possible threat of attacks.

Bangladeshi hostages return home after being freed by IS in Libya Posted: 07 Apr 2015 08:36 AM PDT By Serajul Quadir DHAKA (Reuters) - Two Bangladeshi oil workers abducted a month ago in Libya by Islamic State militants have returned home and rejoined their families in their villages, a foreign ministry spokeswomen said on Tuesday. Muhammad Helal Uddin, 46, and Muhammad Anowar Hossain, 39, both employees of an Austria oilfield services firm, said their captors freed them after confirming they were both Muslims. "They also asked us why we took a job in a non-Muslim company." Anowar, who said he supervised electricians and plumbers in the oilfields, said the militants treated their hostages well but life in the hot and dry Sahara was harsh. Libyan militants professing loyalty to Islamic State in Iraq and Syria have been blamed for several high-profile attacks this year involving foreigners, including an assault on a luxury Tripoli hotel and the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians.

Iraq exhumes remains of 47 from Tikrit graves: spokesman Posted: 07 Apr 2015 08:21 AM PDT Iraq has exhumed the remains of 47 people believed to have been massacred by jihadists from mass graves in Tikrit, the human rights ministry's spokesman said Tuesday. "The number of remains that were exhumed so far is 47, and they were found in 11 mass graves," Kamel Amin told AFP, adding that the number is expected to rise. Amin said they are believed to have been victims of the infamous Speicher massacre, named for the military base near which up to 1,700 mostly Shiite recruits were abducted by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group last year. The mass grave sites were discovered after Iraqi forces retook the city of Tikrit last week in their biggest victory so far against IS.

Dutch justice ministry: 190 people have left to fight jihad Posted: 07 Apr 2015 08:06 AM PDT THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch justice ministry says about 190 people have traveled from the Netherlands to fight in overseas "jihadi conflicts," some 35 have returned home and 30 have been killed.

US Christians back emerging private war on Iraq jihadists Posted: 07 Apr 2015 07:50 AM PDT After fighting with rebels in Libya and embracing the revolt in Syria, Matthew VanDyke has rolled up in northern Iraq, but the celebrity American revolutionary-cum-filmmaker has traded his fatigues for a three-piece suit. VanDyke, who rose to fame as a foreign fighter backing Libyan rebels against Moamer Kadhafi, has just finished leading his new military contracting firm through its first assignment -- training Christian volunteers to take on jihadists. Funded by Christian groups from abroad, mainly from the United States, the Nineveh Plains Protection Unit (NPU) aims to bring a local Christian militia to bear against the Islamic State group that has seized swathes of Iraq and Syria.

ABC's 'World News Tonight' Snaps NBC 'Nightly News' 288-Week Winning Streak Posted: 07 Apr 2015 07:47 AM PDT David Muir's broadcast bests 'Nightly' one day after NBC News chairman Andrew Lack starts his new job.

Fourth New York resident charged with supporting IS Posted: 07 Apr 2015 07:21 AM PDT A New York resident has been charged with providing support to Islamic State jihadists in Syria, the Justice Department said Tuesday, after three suspected co-conspirators pleaded not guilty to similar charges. Brooklyn resident Dilkhayot Kasimov, 26, is charged with "attempt and conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)," the Department of Justice said in a statement, using an alternative name for the Islamic State group. Kasimov is accused of planning to travel to Syria "for the purpose of waging violent jihad on behalf of ISIL," the Justice Department said.

South Africa prevents girl trying to join Islamic State Posted: 07 Apr 2015 07:18 AM PDT By Wendell Roelf CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South African authorities stopped a 15-year-old girl believed to be travelling to join Islamic State from taking a flight in Cape Town, the state security ministry said on Tuesday, the country's first known detention linked to the militant group. The ministry said in a statement it was investigating whether Islamic State, which has overrun large areas of Syria and Iraq, had a recruitment network in South Africa. The teenager had tried to take a domestic flight on Sunday to Johannesburg, South Africa's main international hub. The ministry did not give her name or say where she was heading after that, but the Star newspaper reported she had been planning to fly to Turkey before travelling by road to join Islamic State in Syria.

IS group beheads four for robbery, murder in Iraq: video Posted: 07 Apr 2015 07:14 AM PDT The Islamic State group has beheaded four men for armed robbery and murder in the northern Iraqi province of Nineveh, according to an online propaganda video seen by AFP Tuesday. The undated video portrays the group, which has been steadily retreating recently from Iraqi forces backed by Iran and a US-led coalition, as still capable of maintaining law and order and dispensing justice. Earlier in the video, allegedly stolen money is shown being returned to its owners, who make thumbprints in a receipt book. Nineveh, where the video was said to have been shot, was the first to fall to the IS-led drive and is still the jihadist group's main stronghold in the country.

Iraqi teams start exhuming mass grave of soldiers in Tikrit Posted: 07 Apr 2015 07:11 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi forensic teams in the newly recaptured city of Tikrit have started exhuming bodies from mass graves believed to contain some of the hundreds of soldiers killed by Islamic State militants last year, a government spokesman said Tuesday.

Rand Paul is not Ron Paul, for better or worse Posted: 07 Apr 2015 07:03 AM PDT Ron Paul, father of Rand Paul, has always been an original thinker. As a longtime member of Congress from Texas, on paper a Republican but in posture a Libertarian, Congressman Paul rarely met a spending bill he could like. Paul was, and still is, the hero of the "liberty" movement. Now his son, Senator Paul (R) of Kentucky, is following in his footsteps – sort of.

Tony Blair warns of dangers of second term for Conservatives Posted: 07 Apr 2015 06:52 AM PDT LONDON (AP) — Former British leader Tony Blair waded into Britain's general election campaign Tuesday, warning of economic chaos should Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative Party win the race.

Islamic State launches English-language radio bulletins Posted: 07 Apr 2015 06:34 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — The Islamic State group has launched English-language radio news bulletins on its al-Bayan radio network.

Blair joins election fray with EU warning Posted: 07 Apr 2015 06:11 AM PDT Former prime minister Tony Blair plunged into Britain's general election fray on Tuesday, sounding a warning about the dangers of the country leaving the EU. In a rare intervention in domestic politics, Blair claimed Prime Minister David Cameron's planned referendum on European Union membership threatens the British economy. Blair headed the centre-left Labour Party from 1994 to 2007, leading them to three general election victories. He will not run in the May 7 election and is backing Labour leader Ed Miliband.

Egyptian protester's public killing brings surge of anger over police brutality Posted: 07 Apr 2015 04:30 AM PDT One moment Shaimaa al-Sabbagh, a young mother and poet, was standing tall on one of Cairo's busiest thoroughfares. Mrs. Sabbagh, who had just participated in a march commemorating Egypt's 2011 revolution, was neither the first nor the last demonstrator to be shot by Egypt's police. For both supporters and critics of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former general who overthrew his democratically-elected Islamist predecessor, Mohamed Morsi, Sabbagh's death has laid bare deep flaws within the country's security and justice system. "Everyone knows that a girl with flowers was shot near the square where the revolution took place, even if they have no idea of what else is happening in Egypt," says Sabbagh's friend and colleague Hakeem Abdel Naem.

After Yemen rescue, calls grow for permanent Indian crisis staff Posted: 07 Apr 2015 04:29 AM PDT By Rupam Jain Nair and Douglas Busvine NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's evacuation of nearly 4,000 nationals from Yemen has been a triumph of improvisation, but some officials in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government say a slow response to the crisis has underlined the need for a full-time staff to protect Indians abroad. On Monday, India rescued more than 1,000 people by plane and ship, the most on a single day since Saudi Arabia launched air strikes against Iran-allied Houthi rebels in Yemen on March 26. India has been asked by 26 nations - including the United States - to help get their citizens out of the conflict zone.

Turkish court acquits remaining military officers over alleged coup plot Posted: 07 Apr 2015 04:11 AM PDT By Ece Toksabay ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Turkish court on Tuesday acquitted the last 62 military officers jailed over an alleged 2003 plot to oust then-prime minister Tayyip Erdogan, after the judge ruled some of the digital evidence as inadmissible, a defence lawyer said. Last week an Istanbul court acquitted 236 other officers in connection with the alleged plot. The defence lawyer told Reuters the digital evidence was rendered useless by major time-based inconsistencies. The alleged plot, named "Sledgehammer" after a wargames scenario the army was studying at the time, was said to include plans to bomb mosques and trigger a conflict with Greece by shooting down one of Turkey's own warplanes, paving the way for a military takeover.

Exhumation of Iraq's Camp Speicher victim mass graves begins Posted: 07 Apr 2015 04:04 AM PDT Iraqi forensic teams began on Monday excavating 12 suspected mass grave sites thought to hold the corpses of as many as 1,700 soldiers massacred last summer by Islamic State militants as they swept across northern Iraq. The mass killings last June of Shi'ite soldiers from Camp Speicher, a former U.S. base outside the Sunni city of Tikrit, has become a symbol of the brutality of Islamic State fighters and their hatred for Iraq's Shi'ite majority.

8 migrants drown after boat sinks off Turkish coast Posted: 07 Apr 2015 03:01 AM PDT ISTANBUL (AP) — The Turkish Coast Guard says it has recovered the bodies of eight migrants who drowned after a wooden migrant boat sunk in the Aegean off the Turkish coast of Datca late Monday.

Why Only Ground Forces Can Truly Destroy ISIS Posted: 07 Apr 2015 02:15 AM PDT Over the past week in the Middle East, watching several key cities change hands from government forces to rebel groups and vice versa was like seeing a ping pong match. Instead, a three year program to train, fund and arm 15,000 Syrian moderate rebels was approved—but has not yet been implemented—by the Obama administration.

IS-inspired Malaysia detainees plotted terror attacks: police Posted: 07 Apr 2015 02:07 AM PDT Malaysia's national police chief said Tuesday that 17 people detained over the weekend for a suspected Islamic militant plot had planned to kidnap high-profile figures and launch terrorist attacks. Khalid Abu Bakar said the plotters arrested on Sunday were believed to have been inspired by the extremist Islamic State (IS) group and its bloody jihad in Syria and Iraq. Those arrested included a 49-year-old former member of a Malaysian militant group who had undergone military training in Afghanistan in 1989 and in Indonesia in 2000, Khalid said. "Seventeen people between the ages of 14 to 49 were arrested while they were holding a secret meeting to plan terror attacks in the (Kuala Lumpur area)," he said in a statement.

Rebels kill eight Iran soldiers on Pakistan border Posted: 07 Apr 2015 01:38 AM PDT Eight Iranian border guards have been killed in a clash with Sunni rebels who had infiltrated from neighbouring Pakistan, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported on Tuesday. "Armed terrorists entered Iran from Pakistan and clashed with border guards, killing eight soldiers before fleeing back to Pakistan," Ali Asghar Mirshekari, deputy governor of Sistan-Baluchistan province, told the news agency. The southeastern province has a large Sunni Muslim community and has seen repeated attacks by militants on the security forces of mainly Shiite Iran.

Will Bob Corker Save the GOP? Posted: 07 Apr 2015 12:00 AM PDT "Pat, sometimes it seems like our friends want me to go over the cliff with flags flying," President Reagan once told me. Today, it is "Bibi" Netanyahu and the neocons howling "kill the deal" and "bomb Iran" who are shoving the Republican Party toward the cliff. Should a Republican Congress meticulously point out the flaws and risks of this nuclear deal with Iran and, if the Iranians do cheat or attempt a breakout, be rewarded for their skepticism and statesmanship? Or should the GOP sabotage and scuttle the deal and let itself be held politically liable for the diplomatic and strategic disaster that would follow?

Militants in Malaysia planned raids for guns, attacks in capital: police Posted: 06 Apr 2015 10:57 PM PDT Suspected militants loyal to the Islamic State (IS) had planned to raid Malaysian army camps and police stations to seize weapons and to attack "strategic locations" in the capital, Malaysia's police chief said on Tuesday. Hours after news of the arrest of 17 suspects, lawmakers passed an anti-terrorism bill early on Tuesday following more than 10 hours of debate on legislation that reintroduces detention without trial three years after it was revoked. "The purpose of this new terrorist group is to establish an Islamic country a la IS in Malaysia," police chief Khalid Abu Baker said in a statement on Tuesday. Malaysia has not seen any significant militant attacks but has arrested 92 citizens on suspicion of links to the Islamic State.

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