Middle East

12 June 2008 -- Iraqi officials say insurgents carried out several bombings in Baghdad Thursday, killing four people, including a U.S. soldier.

In the deadliest attack, a car bomb struck a patrol of Iraqi police commandos in the Allawi district of central Baghdad, killing one commando and two civilians. Another 15 people were wounded.

The U.S. military says a roadside bomb in western Baghdad killed an American soldier.

Elsewhere, the U.S. military says coalition forces killed four militants and detained nine others in operations against al-Qaida in central and northern Iraq since Wednesday.    » read more »

6/9/2008 -- In a new report from The Century Foundation, former National Intelligence Council vice-chair Ellen Laipson argues that the United States needs to move quickly to reset its Iraq policy goals, arguing that U.S. strategic goals in the Middle East region require a change in Iraq policy regardless of how Iraq’s internal political scenario plays out.

“The time for social engineering is over,” Laipson writes in her report, America and the Emerging Iraqi Reality: New Goals, No Illusions, which The Century Foundation released on Monday, June 9. “Events in Iraq will be determined by powerful currents within Iraqi society and politics that are less and less susceptible to outside manipulation or influence.”    » read more »

09 June 2008 -- The Pentagon says U.S. forces in Iraq will not be used to launch attacks on any of the country's neighbors. The comment was made as U.S. and Iraqi negotiators work on an agreement to cover the future U.S. troop presence in Iraq, and as Iraq's prime minister visits Iran.

Fast food franchises at Balad air base, Iraq: Photo by Nutloaf (CC)

Spokesman Bryan Whitman says the United States wants an agreement that would allow its forces to stay in Iraq temporarily, and would protect the troops like agreements with other countries do. And he went one step further to try to reassure Iran and other Iraq neighbors.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, June 9, 2008 – Negotiations continue on the strategic framework agreement between the United States and Iraq that will allow military operations in Iraq to continue after the United Nations mandate runs out Dec. 31, U.S. officials said today.

U.S. Army Soldiers and Air Force Airmen participate in a combative tournament in Kirkuk, Iraq: Feb. 24, 2008. Soldiers with 10th Mountain Division hosted the event at Forward Operating Base Warrior for Soldiers and Air Force Airmen. The Army won in all three weight classes. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Samuel Bendet.    » read more »

09 June 2008 .-- Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has told Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that the presence of the U.S. military is Iraq's main problem.

Iranian state media report the two leaders met Monday in Tehran as part of Mr. Maliki's visit to Iran, his third since he became prime minister.

The Iranian reports quote the ayatollah as saying he is certain the Iraqi people will get through these difficult times and that the American dreams for Iraq will not materialize.

U.S. and Iraqi officials are negotiating a security deal that would allow American forces to remain in Iraq beyond December 31, when their U.N. mandate expires.    » read more »

08 June 2008 -- U.S. and Iraqi officials say a suicide truck bomber has killed an American soldier and wounded 18 others at a military base in northern Iraq.

The bomber blew up his vehicle Sunday near the patrol base in the town of Rashad in Kirkuk province. Two Iraqi contractors also were wounded in the attack. Gunmen killed three U.S. soldiers in the same province last Wednesday.

Iraqi officials say attacks elsewhere in the country killed at least 12 Iraqis on Sunday. In one incident, five shepherds were shot dead east of the capital, Baghdad.

In another incident, a bomb exploded outside a police center in western Baghdad, killing four police recruits and wounding 23 other people.    » read more »

June 2, 2008 -- Washington, DC – Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-DE) issued the following statement in response to Senator John McCain’s speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) annual meeting earlier today.

John McCain: Photo by Wigwam Jones (CC)

“Today, Senator McCain made clear that he would continue the policies of George Bush – policies that have made the entire Middle East more dangerous and left the United States and our allies, including Israel, less secure.    » read more »

29 May 2008 -- Iraqi officials say two suicide bombings have killed at least 26 people in northern Iraq.

In the deadliest attack Thursday, officials say a bomber blew himself up at a police recruiting center, killing 16 people and wounding 14 others. Police and hospital officials in the northwestern town of Sinjar say 14 of the dead were police recruits, and the other two were police officers.

In Mosul, U.S. forces say a suicide bomber driving a police vehicle killed two Iraqi policemen and eight bystanders. Sixteen other people were wounded in that attack.

Separately, police say members of a U.S.-backed Iraqi neighborhood patrol killed at least 12 insurgents during a clash near the northern city of Tikrit.    » read more »

29 May 2008 -- Iran's foreign minister has blamed the United States and its allies for the grave security situation in Iraq, which he says has "cast a shadow" on the lives of Iraqis.

Manouchehr Mottaki told a United Nations conference in Stockholm that Iraq's security problems are a result of what he called the "mistaken policies" of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.

He stressed Iran's commitment to rebuilding its war-torn neighbor. U.S officials have accused Iran of arming and training Shi'ite insurgents in Iraq.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki opened the conference Thursday by urging the international community to cancel his country's debt.

Mr. Maliki also called for an end to compensation that Iraq is required to pay due to Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.    » read more »

Irbil, Iraq -- 28 May 2008 -- An Amnesty International report on worldwide human rights says violence against women is widespread in northern Iraq.

In its report, Amnesty International says women and girls throughout the world suffer disproportionately from violence - in times of both peace and conflict - at the hands of their governments, their communities and their families.

Iraqi woman, Kurdistan: Photo by James Gordon (CC)

The report highlights the issue of violence against women as a major problem in northern Iraq. That is an assessment that the Kurdistan regional government's human-rights minister, Yousif Aziz, has already reached.    » read more »

Jerusalem / Tel Aviv (ICRC) – The Israeli authorities must take immediate measures to allow Palestinian families from Gaza to resume visits to their relatives detained in Israel, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said today.

The family visits organized by the ICRC since 1967 had to be suspended on 6 June 2007 following a decision by the Israeli authorities. As a result, the parents, wives, husbands, sisters, brothers and children of more than 900 detainees have been deprived of direct contact with their detained relatives for almost one year. Detainees depend on these visits not only for psychological support but also for material assistance such as clothes and blankets.    » read more »

May 25, 2008 -- "I congratulate Michel Sleiman on his election as President of Lebanon. I am confident that Lebanon has chosen a leader committed to protecting its sovereignty, extending the government's authority over all of Lebanon, and upholding Lebanon's international obligations under UN Security Council Resolutions, including 1559, 1701, and 1757.

I am hopeful that the Doha Agreement, which paved the way for this election, will usher in an era of political reconciliation to the benefit of all Lebanese. We look forward to working with President Sleiman in pursuit of our common values of freedom and independence."

Source: White House

26 May 2008 -- Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has described Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip as "one of the greatest human rights crimes on Earth."

Mr. Carter was speaking Sunday at a literary festival in Wales. He told The Guardian newspaper that the Israeli blockade has led to what he calls the "imprisonment" of Gaza's 1.6 million Palestinians.

Israel and Egypt sealed their borders with Gaza after the Hamas militant group seized control of the territory last June. Israel continues to send fuel and humanitarian supplies to Gaza while blocking the regular crossing of people and goods.

Israeli leaders say the blockade is necessary to stop Gaza militants from firing rockets at Israeli towns.    » read more »

21 May 2008 -- Iraqi police say at least 11 people have been killed by gunfire after a roadside bombing near Sadr City, a Shi'ite militia stronghold in Baghdad.

Local officials say the gunfire erupted Wednesday after roadside bombs exploded near a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol in the Obeidi neighborhood. The U.S. military, however, says none of its troops were involved.

Sadr City, Baghdad: Photo by James Gordon (CC)

Sadr City itself remained calm, a day after some 10,000 Iraqi troops began an operation aimed at bringing government control over the Shi'ite stronghold.    » read more »

05/19/2008 - WASHINGTON - The Defense Department today announced force rotations for Iraq and Afghanistan, including upcoming active-duty deployments later this year and alerts to Army National Guard units to deploy in spring 2009 and 2010.

U.S. and Iraqi Soldiers conduct an information gathering patrol in Amariyah, Iraq, May 1, 2008: The U.S. Soldiers are from Charlie Troop, 2nd Platoon, 4th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Manuel J. Martinez.    » read more »