Iraq war

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Iraqis Applaud US Exit, but Fears Linger

US troops quit Iraqi cities June 30; some see economic boon

(Newser) - Many Iraqis are looking forward to the departure of US troops from the country’s cities June 30—but what that means for security remains to be seen, Reuters reports. “Anyone who wants to fight them can go there and attack their bases without harming civilians,” says one...

US Army Evangelism: Is It a 'Crusade'?
US Army Evangelism:
Is It a 'Crusade'?
glossies
Jun 19, 2009 8:30 PM CDT

US Army Evangelism: Is It a 'Crusade'?

(Newser) - US Army chaplains have distributed Arabic-language Bibles in Iraq, told soldiers to "hunt people for Jesus," and speculated that President Obama is a secret Muslim. Enough already, says a religious rights watchdog: Led by Air Force veteran Mikey Weinstein, the group is suing the Pentagon over alleged religious-based...

Senate OKs $106B for Wars
 Senate OKs $106B for Wars 
Jun 18, 2009 5:08 PM CDT

Senate OKs $106B for Wars

(Newser) - The Senate today overwhelmingly passed a bill authorizing $106 billion to fund the nation’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Hill reports. It now goes to President Obama for his expected signature. The vote had been delayed by wrangling over how to keep detainee abuse photos under wraps. Yesterday,...

Colbert Gets Buzz Cut in Baghdad

(Newser) - When Stephen Colbert announced he was doing four shows in front of the troops in Baghdad, many wondered if he’d tone down his ironic bluster. Wonder no more. Colbert swaggered on stage for the taping in a camouflage business suit yesterday, and declared himself the only one man enough...

Iraqis Detain 5 US Contractors in Murder Probe

(Newser) - Five US contractors have been detained in the investigation of the slaying of another American in Baghdad's Green Zone, officials said today, in what may become the first case of US citizens facing Iraqi justice under a security agreement that took effect this year. But the five have not been...

West Pointers Eager to Hit War Running

A look into the heads of Army class of '09

(Newser) - There's a group quietly hoping that the war in Iraq doesn't end just yet, and they're hardly insurgents. They're the class of 2009 at West Point, reports Newsweek, in a look at graduates of the military academy and their eagerness to serve their country. The storied institution has proven remarkably...

Fix Iraq to Fix the Region
 Fix Iraq to Fix the Region 
OPINION
Jun 7, 2009 10:30 AM CDT

Fix Iraq to Fix the Region

A 'decent and stable' country could set an example

(Newser) - Many in the Middle East demanded action after President Obama’s Cairo speech, but the action that’s crucial right now is the Iraq peace process, writes Thomas Friedman in the New York Times. Hillary Clinton must lead us in an effort to establish a “decent and stable political...

Pentagon Prefers Blimps to $35M Spy Planes

(Newser) - Financially grounded by the recession, the Pentagon and governments around the world are launching blimps to spy on their enemies, the Economist reports. Such balloons cost far less than Predator and Global Hawk drones—which can sell for $35 million each—and stay airborne for more than a week, while...

Colbert Bringing Show to Baghdad

He's broadcasting four shows

(Newser) - Stephen Colbert is taking his show on the road—to Iraq. Next week, the Colbert Report will broadcast from Baghdad, where the host says he'll be "Bob Hoping" it, the AP reports. The four shows will be taped in front of 450 troops, and Colbert is taking it seriously....

Iraq PM Influenced Obama Torture Photo Decision

(Newser) - “Heavy pressure” from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki helped convince President Obama to oppose the release of Abu Ghraib torture photos sought by the ACLU, McClatchy reports. “Baghdad will burn,” Maliki reportedly told military officials. The administration cited objections from generals as the reason for the change...

Cheney: OK, OK, Saddam Wasn't Behind 9/11

Former VP stands by decision to invade Iraq

(Newser) - Former Vice President Dick Cheney has finally acknowledged, despite previous claims to the contrary, that Saddam Hussein did not collaborate with al-Qaeda to launch the 9/11 attacks. CIA information on such a collaboration "turned out not to be true," he conceded in remarks before the National Press Club,...

Gen. Disputes Story, Says He Hasn't Seen Photos

(Newser) - Retired Army Gen. Antonio Taguba has seen photos of rape at Abu Ghraib, but they aren’t the ones the Obama administration is trying to keep from the public. “The photographs in that lawsuit, I have not seen,” he told Salon. The general says he was not misquoted...

Troop Autopsies Yield Life-Saving Clues

Decision to autopsy all US war dead helps military eliminate equipment flaws

(Newser) - Navy pathologist Capt Craig T. Mallak's groundbreaking decision to order autopsies on every US casualty killed in Iraq and Afghanistan has helped save the lives of American troops, the New York Times reports. The autopsies—and, since 2004, CT scans—have allowed the military to build a huge database on...

Little Left for Fiancée of Fallen Soldier

Unmarried loved ones have no standing, get nothing from Army

(Newser) - To the US Army bureaucracy, love means little without a marriage certificate—so the fiancée of a man killed in Iraq was left with nothing other than what his family was willing to part with. Now, the Washington Post reports, Kyle Harper, 27, is trying to forge a path...

Generals Puzzle Through Surge in Army Suicides

(Newser) - Top Army brass are meeting monthly to figure out the disturbing rise in soldier suicides, the Washington Post reports. The generals pore through case studies and examine factors such as solitude, multiple tours of duty, and interactions between anti-depressants and high-caffeine drinks like Rip It popular among soldiers. “It's...

3 US Troops Among 25 Killed in Iraq Bombings

25 total dead in series of attacks

(Newser) - Three American soldiers were killed and nine others wounded today as bombings in Baghdad and the northern city of Kirkuk claimed at least 25 lives, the AP reports. The attacks came a day after a car bomb exploded near a group of restaurants in a Shiite neighborhood of northwest Baghdad,...

Rumsfeld Denies He Put Bible in Briefings

GQ writer, anonymous sources better suited to gossip beat, he says

(Newser) - Donald Rumsfeld didn't decorate the president’s World Intelligence Update cover slides with biblical quotes, a spokesman says, and GQ reporter Robert Draper should've known better than to use anonymous sources "with an axe to grind." The slides, the spokesman says in an email to Marc Ambinder...

Bullying Rumsfeld Used Bible to Sway Bush on Iraq
Bullying Rumsfeld Used Bible to Sway Bush on Iraq
GLOSSIES
May 17, 2009 1:00 PM CDT

Bullying Rumsfeld Used Bible to Sway Bush on Iraq

Former Pentagon chief undermined president, former aides say

(Newser) - Donald Rumsfeld isn’t a preacher, but nearly every morning after the Iraq invasion, he handed President Bush a national security digest containing Biblical quotations intended to influence his decisions. This tactic, Robert Draper writes for GQ in a lengthy look at Rummy's standing among administration contemporaries, epitomizes the former...

Gates' Laser Focus on Wars Reshapes Pentagon

(Newser) - Bush-holdover Robert Gates is using his position in the Obama administration to try to remake Washington’s biggest bureaucracy, refocusing it on the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Washington Post reports. Gates has pushed the Pentagon to shift from preparing for high-tech conventional wars of the future to...

Surge Worked in Iraq, But Beware Afghanistan
 Surge Worked in Iraq, 
 But Beware Afghanistan 
BOOK REVIEW
May 12, 2009 5:52 PM CDT

Surge Worked in Iraq, But Beware Afghanistan

(Newser) - A new book on the surge in Iraq could offer lessons to the Obama administration about Afghanistan, Dexter Filkins writes in the New Republic. Thomas E. Ricks’ The Gamble details the success of a small band of contrarian US generals, led by David Petraeus, in turning around the war. But...

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