President Obama has given formal assurances that U.S. forces in Iraq will drop to 50,000 by the end of the month – a reduction of 94,000 troops since he took office 18 months ago. The remaining troops will form a transitional force until a final U.S. withdrawal from the country by the end of 2011. […]
I’d direct you all to read my fellow FPA blogger and global film critic, Sean Patrick Murphy, as he takes on the Iraqi war flick The Green Zone, based on Ray Chandresekaran’s excellent Imperial Life in the Emerald City. http://globalfilm.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2010/07/27/green-zone-2010/ Have a look before you catch it on the small-screen. Sounds like you might be better off […]
Nearly five months after national elections were held, Iraq is still without a government. Now, they may be without a football team.
To preface today’s post, I’ll be honest…there haven’t been a lot of “glass-is-half-full” stories coming out of Iraq, recently. Between the political impasse, and the precipitous rise in sectarian violence, it seems like forever since there’s been a plain-old feel good story to put the focus back on the good and decent Iraqi people who […]
Although there are hopeful signs that coalition talks between Iraq’s two major Shi’a blocs, the question of leadership remains squarely focused on Prime Minister’s Nouri al Maliki’s incumbency…
Although the news is yet to hit the Iraqi Ministry of Transportation’s state-of-the-art website, Ayad Katheer Raheem, director-general of the Iraq’s aviation department, said Tuesday that Saudi Arabian Airlines tapped privately-owned Al-Wafeer Airlines to run daily flights between the two Arab nations. Saleh A. Bogary, Alwafeer Air’s marketing director , confirmed the news, […]
The New York Times is reporting General Odierno said Tuesday that he anticipates an uptick in violence against US troops as they begin to depart the country. Intelligence reports have suggested that Iranian-backed Shi’a militias plan to turn up the heat against American soldiers to lay stake to claims that they’ve driven off occupying forces. […]
Sectarian conflict bloodies 12 more on final day of Shi’a pilgrimage.
On September 1, the US mission will get a new name: “Operation Iraqi Freedom” will be reconstituted as “Operation New Dawn” as America’s involvement trends further away from combat duties. Let’s hope Biden’s trip marks the first crack of daybreak.
The the Veep made a surprise visit to Baghdad on Saturday in the midst of a political impasse that’s been stacked up Iraq’s national parliamentary election four months ago.
Deadlocked efforts to resolve Iraq’s governing crisis nearly four months after parliamentary elections failed to produce decisive results, are at the heart of this current wave of political violence.
An early summer heat-wave has scorched the Gulf with record temperatures and terminal power-outages are leaving few Iraqis with any way to beat the heat, but plenty to complain about.
Three months after international observers hailed Iraq’s parliamentary elections as a resounding success for sovereignty and civil society, the nation’s fragile democracy is suffering a withering swell of political violence.
Here is a brief look at the stories making headlines this week: Iraq vote winner asserts right to form government [AP] The leader of the top vote-getting coalition in Iraq’s inconclusive March 7 elections insisted his bloc still has the right to form the next government despite an alliance forged this week between two rival […]
Iyad Allawi Former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s bloc has won the most seats in Iraq’s parliamentary elections, which took place earlier this month on March 7th. According to a briefing by the BBC, Allawi’is coalition won two seats more than that of incumbent PM Nouri Maliki, making the race extremely tight at 89:91 seats. […]