Iraq

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Series of Blasts Kill 76 in Baghdad

180 wounded; France grants asylum to Christians

(Newser) - At least 13 separate attacks pounded Baghdad's Shiite neighborhoods today, killing 76 and wounding nearly 200, the AP reports. The assault was highly organized, with mortar attacks coordinated with bomb-rigged cars and roadside mines. Coming just two days after a hostage crisis at a Catholic church that left 58 dead,...

Iraq Church Attack Leaves Dozens Dead

More than taken 100 hostage in Baghdad yesterday

(Newser) - Dozens are dead and more than 50 wounded after militants took nearly 100 hostage in a Catholic church in Baghdad yesterday, prompting Iraqi anti-terrorist forces to storm the building. Officials say most of the injuries and deaths occurred after the kidnappers set off two suicide vests, the New York Times...

Saddam Crony Tariq Aziz Will Hang

Death sentence for Iraq's elderly former foreign minister

(Newser) - Saddam Hussein's foreign minister Tariq Aziz was sentenced to death by hanging today for persecuting members of Shiite religious parties under the former regime. Iraq's high criminal court spokesman Mohammed Abdul Sahib did not say when the 74-year-old would be put to death. The death sentence was for a conviction...

WikiLeaks: 15K Unreported Civilian Deaths in Iraq
 15K Civilian Deaths 
 Unreported in Iraq 
wikileaks files

15K Civilian Deaths Unreported in Iraq

Military logs show US did keep track

(Newser) - More from the analysis of WikiLeaks’ huge file dump: US military logs reveal 15,000 previously unrecorded civilian deaths in Iraq. As reported yesterday , the Iraq war logs show that, despite denying it did so, the US did keep records of Iraqi fatalities. Those fatalities totaled 109,032 between 2004...

Iran Captured Hikers in Iraq
 Iran Captured Hikers in Iraq 
wikileaks files

Iran Captured Hikers in Iraq

WikiLeaks releases field report from chaotic day of their arrest

(Newser) - Among the many revelations of WikiLeaks' latest file dump: Three American hikers accused of illegally crossing into Iran were actually seized on the Iraqi side of the border. According to the New York Times , WikiLeaks released a classified July 31 field report describing the "chaotic day." It states...

Yet Another Blackwater Case Collapses

Issues with evidence, immunity make prosecution tough

(Newser) - Legal cases against Blackwater employees accused of committing murder and other violent crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan have been collapsing one by one, the New York Times reports. This week, the Justice Department dropped a case against an armorer accused of killing a guard to an Iraqi official; the move...

In Secret Talks, Iran Forged Deal for Pro-Tehran Iraq

It brokered the coalition between Nouri Al-Maliki, Muqtada al-Sadr

(Newser) - Iran was behind the recently struck deal between Nouri al-Maliki and Muqtada al-Sadr, and the result could be an Iraqi government friendly to Tehran and distanced from the West, the Guardian reports. According to the paper's sources, Syria, Hezbollah, and top Shia religious leaders were involved with a secret campaign...

Clinton Aide Wanted Iraq to Shoot Down US Plane

... so we'd be justified going to war in '97

(Newser) - Gen. Hugh Shelton's new memoir contains this odd nugget, notes Justin Elliott at Salon : In 1997, one of Bill Clinton's Cabinet members suggested that Shelton order a US plane to fly low over Baghdad so Saddam would shoot it down and, ta da, give America instant justification for war. "...

Iraq's Oil Reserves Bigger Than Previously Thought

Country claims it has 24% more crude in new estimate

(Newser) - Iraq is home to 24% more oil than it had previously estimated, the country announced today. In Iraq's first revision to its stated oil reserves since 2003, the oil ministry claims to have 143.1 billion barrels of known and recoverable oil, up from the previous level of 115 billion...

Troop Death Benefits: We Pay, Prudential Profits

American legion calls for 'overhaul' of system

(Newser) - Prudential is making a profit on death benefits owed to military families—and it's doing so using government funds. When a service member dies, the feds send the full amount of the life insurance policy, usually $400,000, to Prudential. If survivors opt to receive a lump-sum payment, which 95%...

Surprise: Iraq Makes Progress on Government

Maliki likely to get new term, with help from anti-US cleric

(Newser) - A coalition of Shiite groups supported giving Nouri al-Maliki another term as prime minister, the Washington Post reports. The rare sign of progress came as the country achieved the dubious record of the longest time between an election and the formation of an actual government. Much uncertainty remains, however, and...

US Left 30K Iraqi Detainees to Be Tortured
 US Left 30K 
 Iraqi Detainees 
 to Be Tortured 
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

US Left 30K Iraqi Detainees to Be Tortured

Troop pullout leaves a slew of untried inmates

(Newser) - The US is turning a blind eye to the systematic abuse of detainees in Iraq's prisons, a report by Amnesty International claims. The transfer of prisoners from US-run detention centers to Iraqi facilities is a less-discussed aspect of the American pullout, but has flooded a system that remains rife with...

Iraq to Pay $400M to Saddam's US Victims

Deal will help lift UN sanctions

(Newser) - Iraq has quietly agreed to pay $400 million to Americans who say they suffered at the hands of Saddam Hussein’s regime after the invasion of Kuwait. The settlement will resolve an almost two-decade legal battle, and will allow the US to help Iraq emerge from UN sanctions dating back...

Iraqi Prank TV Show Plants Fake Car Bombs

Celebrities are told they'll be jailed, executed

(Newser) - Looks like years of war have given Iraq a pretty dark sense of humor. In a new reality TV program there, Iraqi soldiers prank celebrities by planting fake bombs in their vehicles—and then threatening to jail or execute them. “Why do you want to blow us up?” the...

Iraqi Soldier Kills 2 American Troops, Wounds 9

First servicemen killed in non-combat phase

(Newser) - An Iraqi soldier fired a barrage of bullets at American troops protecting one of their commanders during a visit to an Iraqi army base today and killed two of them—the first US servicemen to die since President Obama declared an end to combat operations. Nine Americans were wounded.

US Troops Sucked Into New Iraq Skirmish

7 militants launch assault on Iraq military HQ

(Newser) - A week after President Obama declared an end to fighting by US troops in Iraq, American soldiers battled attackers at Baghdad's military headquarters yesterday. Dozens of people were injured and 12 killed. No Americans were injured. It was the first fighting involving US troops since the formal declaration of the...

Why We Shouldn't Leave Iraq

 Why We 
 Shouldn't 
 Leave Iraq 
John Bolton

Why We Shouldn't Leave Iraq

Doing so will only strengthen Iran

(Newser) - In tonight's speech on the end of combat operations in Iraq, Barack Obama has a chance to show that he’s finally learned something about geostrategy. “Of course, if he did, it would mean abandoning much of what he advocated during his election campaign,” writes John Bolton for...

Billions Wasted on Abandoned Iraq Projects

Watchdog agency says $5B estimate may be understatement

(Newser) - As combat troops leave Iraq, they leave behind hundreds of unfinished projects—which cost the US some $5 billion. That amounts to 10% of the $50 billion spent on reconstruction, according to a US watchdog agency—and that could be an underestimate. The AP takes a look at a few...

Obama Hails End of Iraq Combat Ops

Withdrawal marks a campaign pledge fulfilled

(Newser) - President Obama today hailed the end of combat operations in Iraq, reports the AP, lauding Tuesday's milestone as a campaign promise fulfilled and another step toward Iraqi sovereignty. "As a candidate for this office, I pledged I would end this war. As president, that is what I am doing,...

As Troops Leave Iraq, Many Simply Call It 'a Job'

Mood shifts as the US presence shifts

(Newser) - As combat operations wind down , the American troops who remain in Iraq must come to terms with a new reality: What was once, in some minds at least, a war of liberation, is now a mostly a training and diplomatic mission. “It’s almost not worth the trip,”...

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