US Expands Visa Program for Iraqis Tenfold

With visa process slowed, many now fear for their lives

(NEWSER) - When the US signed up translators in Iraq, it promised them an inside track for a special visa to the US. But now that the war is over, the visa approval process has slowed to a crawl, leaving translators stuck in Iraq—where many want them dead for helping the Americans, the LA Times reports. “I served the Americans very well, but now they’ve left me on my own, with no security,” says one ex-translator. More»

UN Goodwill Ambassador sees some improvement for displaced Iraqis

(NEWSER) - Angelina Jolie visited a refugee camp near Baghdad today, part of her duties as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency, People reports. While visiting one displaced family, she asked if they wished to return to their home. "No way," said one daughter, in a reminder of the violence that still plagues Iraq. “Our neighbors returned and their three daughters were killed.” More»

(NEWSER) - An internal State Department assessment has deemed the recently completed US embassy in Baghdad grievously overstaffed, McClatchy Newspapers report. “There is a clear consensus from the top to the bottom of the embassy,” State’s inspector general writes. “The time has come for a significant rightsizing.” The embassy’s 1,200 employees are now occupying dormitories designed for 600. More»

Yanks face orders to fill understaffed Bagdad embassy

(NEWSER) - American diplomats may be forced to serve in Iraq if enough qualified candidates don't come forward voluntarily, reports CNN. The US embassy in Baghdad is chronically short-staffed, and the State Department has threatened that no other diplomatic jobs will be filled until the Baghdad bureau is up to speed. A similar threat last year, eventually withdrawn, drew huge protests among the foreign service. More»

Al-Qaeda bomber kills 13 in Mosul, while rockets hit Green Zone

(NEWSER) - Despite a yearlong decline in violence in Iraq, a series of attacks on Easter Sunday killed at least 57, reports the AP. In the most severe, a suicide car bomber killed at least 13 Iraqi soldiers and wounded 42 people at a military base in Mosul, an al-Qaeda holdout. A second suicide car bombing killed 7 and wounded 14 in Baghdad, while a series of explosions rattled the Green Zone. More»