Saudi King Backs Iraq's Sunni Rebels

Deadliest terror attack since fall of Hussein

(NEWSER) - The death toll from Tuesday's series of suicide truck bombings in northern Iraq may exceed 500, with scores more lying injured in hospitals, CNN reports. The attacks were reportedly launched by al-Qaeda against the Yazidi, a pre-Islamic sect, spotlighting the religious warfare that US troop surge sought to quell. More»

321 corpses found in Baghdad in first three weeks of May alone

(NEWSER) - Statistics from Iraqi morgues show that three months into the surge, sectarian killings are rising, the Washington Post reports. In the first three weeks of May, 321 unidentified corpses, many showing signs of exectution and torture, were found in Baghdad. The number equals those found in all of January, the month before the new security plan was launched. More»

Latest evidence of breach with ally

(NEWSER) - King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia fired a warning shot at the Bush administration yesterday, calling Iraq “an illegal foreign occupation” and urging Arab leaders to unite to prevent U.S. domination of the region. The Saudis "are telling the U.S. they need to listen to their allies rather than imposing decisions on them,” Middle East expert Mustapha Hamarneh tells the New York Times. More»

(NEWSER) - Iraq was rocked by two deadly, possibly destabilizing bombings this weekend, but the proof is in the reprisals, Larry Kaplow writes in Newsweek—and there were none. “Iraq today is a different place than it was when ethnic conflict threatened to engulf the country in 2006,” Kaplow continues. “The powder here is wetter than it once was.” And that’s due mostly to Shiite military power and restraint in the face of Sunni attacks. More»

US security deal may strengthen central government; some see 'benevolent Shiite Saddam'

(NEWSER) - Ratification this week of a deal that would put an expiration date on the US deployment in Iraq stands to boost the prestige of PM Nouri al-Maliki, who in recent months has consolidated his power in moves that echo previous authoritarian regimes. As one Western observer tells the Los Angeles Times, Maliki is poised to become “a benevolent Shiite Saddam.” More»