Middle East

WASHINGTON, Aug. 21, 2008 – Washington and Baghdad are close to reaching a status of forces agreement, but negotiations on the deal to determine the future U.S. military role in Iraq are ongoing, a Defense Department official said today.

“We’ve made good progress on it; we are close,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. “There are still some issues to work out, but … it’s very premature at this point to say that we have an agreement.”

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in a surprise one-day visit to Baghdad today, said the discussion about the status of forces is possible only because of recent security progress leading up to negotiations.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, Aug. 20, 2008 – Influencing, countering and ultimately defeating regional threat networks in the greater Middle East will require a “whole-of-many-nations'-governments approach,” a U.S. commander said during a conference call yesterday with military bloggers and online journalists.

Faced with threats from al-Qaida and similar groups, as well as a nonspecific “malign Iranian influence,” U.S. and allied strategic planners are expanding their toolkits beyond military force to include diplomacy, communication, humanitarian assistance and other civilian-oriented tools, said Air Force Brig. Gen. Robert H. Holmes, deputy director of operations for U.S. Central Command.    » read more »

8/13/2008 -- UMM QASR, Iraq (NNS) -- As part of Iraq Navy Day celebrations, USS Firebolt (PC 10) made a port visit to Umm Qasr, Iraq Aug. 13, marking the first visit by a U.S. ship to Iraq in more than 15 months.

"Our port visit to Umm Qasr demonstrates the great confidence we have in our Iraqi partners, and reflects the marked improvements in security that they have achieved within the past several months," said Lt. Cmdr. Trent Thompson, Firebolt's commanding officer.

The coastal patrol craft USS Firebolt (PC 10) underway in the Persian Gulf.: U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Randall Damm    » read more »

13 August 2008 -- U.S. and Iraqi officials say car bomb attacks have killed at least four people and wounded at least 28 in northern Iraq.

Police say a bomb exploded in a parked car in the town of Qayara, south of Mosul Wednesday, killing two civilians. At least nine people were wounded in the blast.

Elsewhere, police say a suicide car bomber detonated his explosives near a convoy carrying Abdul-Karim Ali Nsaif, the mayor of the town of al-Multaqa, near the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. Officials say the bomb wounded the mayor and at least three of his bodyguards.

Police say another suicide car bomber struck an Iraqi army patrol in Mosul, killing an Iraqi soldier and a civilian and wounding at least 15 people.    » read more »

August 5, 2008 -- WASHINGTON – Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., and senior Committee Member John Warner, R-Va., today announced the release of a report [PDF] by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) detailing annual Iraqi oil revenues and Iraqi government contributions to security and reconstruction efforts in the country. This report was requested by the Senators in a March 6th letter to the Comptroller General.    » read more »

August 1, 2008 -- Washington, DC – Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) and Senators Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Bob Casey (D-PA), George Voinovich (R-OH) and Jim Webb (D-VA) today introduced legislation which prohibits the Bush Administration from entering into a binding security agreement without the approval of Congress.    » read more »

June 25, 2008 -- PRESIDENT BUSH: It's been my honor to welcome a friend, President Talabani, back to the Oval Office. He is the President of a free Iraq. He is a man who's been on the front lines of helping to unify Iraq and to help Iraq recover from a brutal regime -- that of Saddam Hussein.

George W. Bush shakes hands with Jalal Talabani, President of Iraq: White House photo by Eric Draper.

I complimented the President on the progress that the government has made. I complimented the President on the fact that as security has improved, he and his fellow officials are reaching out to all aspects of society to help people realize the blessings of a free life.    » read more »

25 June 2008 -- The U.S. military says a roadside bombing in Baghdad has killed an American soldier - the 10th U.S. fatality in Iraq since Monday.

The military says the powerful bomb went off Wednesday in the predominantly Shi'ite eastern half of Baghdad.

Iraq has seen an increase in deadly attacks on Americans in recent days. Bomb attacks in Baghdad and northern Iraq killed seven U.S. nationals Tuesday, including soldiers and civilians. On Monday, a gunman killed two U.S. soldiers south of Baghdad.

At least 26 U.S. troops have died in Iraq this month, an increase over the 19 who died in May. But, U.S. fatalities are well below last year's figures and the U.S. military says violence in Iraq has dropped to a four-year low.    » read more »

June 20, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, DC – Senator Edward M. Kennedy today introduced a bill to establish a senior position at the White House to coordinate, develop and implement strategies to more effectively address the plight of Iraqi refugees and internally displaced persons. Since the 2003 invasion, more than four million Iraqis have been displaced from their home or have become refugees. Senator Kennedy is Chairman of the Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Refugees.    » read more »

17 June 2008 -- Iraqi officials say a car bomb has killed 51 people and wounded 75 others at a market in a mainly Shi'ite area of Baghdad. Tuesday's bombing in the Hurriyah district of western Baghdad was the deadliest in the Iraqi capital in more than three months.

The car bomb triggered a fire that engulfed a multi-story building containing shops and apartments. Many of the victims were trapped in that building.

Baghdad had been relatively calm since May 11, when U.S. and Iraqi forces began observing a truce with Shi'ite militants that ended weeks of fighting.

In another attack Tuesday, an Iraqi television news reporter, Muhieddin Abdul-Hamid was shot dead near his home in the northern city of Mosul.    » read more »

June 12, 2008 -- John McCain claims he has a plan for Iraq and that "[w]hen Iraqi forces can safeguard their own country, American troops can return home." But the reality is, Senator McCain doesn't have a plan to bring our troops home from Iraq--he doesn't even think it's important to have one. Yesterday when asked on the Today Show if he had an idea of when troops in Iraq could come home, John McCain said "No, but that's not too important." [johnmccain.com, accessed 6/11/08; NBC's Today Show, 6/11/08]    » read more »

June 12, 2008 -- According to reports, one of John McCain's top economic surrogates-- Republican National Committee Victory Fund Chair Carly Fiorina--was head of Hewlett-Packard at a time when the company was actively working to circumvent export controls established as part of a trade boycott of Iran. This report makes Fiorina the second senior McCain advisor in as many weeks to be linked to companies doing business in Iran.    » read more »

15 June 2008 -- A spokesman for Iraq's radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr says his movement will not directly participate in provincial elections scheduled for October 1.

Sadr's spokesman said Sunday that the movement instead will support "technocrats and independent politicians" in the polls.

He said the movement will not directly contest the elections because it does not want to be part of sectarian divisions.

Iraq's 18 provinces will choose governing councils in the elections, which Washington says will help to stabilize the country by giving more power to local leaders.

Unresolved debate over a draft election law could postpone the vote. The law is expected to ban parties with militias from contesting elections.    » read more »

June 12, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, DC- Speaking on the Senate floor today U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) urged President Bush to work with Congress on any future long-term security agreements with Iraq.

“Unfortunately, the Administration is handling these negotiations in the same manner that has characterized its entire approach to Iraq since 2003: with unnecessary secrecy, a disdain for Congressional input and an arrogant insistence that its course of action is the only reasonable option,” said Casey.    » read more »

11 June 2008 -- Turkey has stepped up military operations this year against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq's Kurdistan region. These operations include frequent cross-border shelling campaigns. The Kurdistan government is again condemning Turkish military action in Iraq.

Kurdish village, Dohuk, Kurdistan: US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) photograph by ACoE photographer Jim Gordon

Kurdistan officials say Turkey's military frequently shells unpopulated mountain areas not far from the Turkish border. Turkey says it is targeting rebels of the Kurdistan Worker's Party, the PKK, which has been fighting for independence in southeastern Turkey for nearly 25 years.    » read more »