Iraq war

Stories 881 - 900 | << Prev   Next >>

Iraqi Refugees Resort to Prostitution
Iraqi Refugees Resort to Prostitution

Iraqi Refugees Resort to Prostitution

Displaced women turn to sex trade to support families

(Newser) - As Iraqi refugees flood across the border into Syria, more and more women are turning to prostitution to support themselves and their families. The Times visits the Damascus area, where some women approach men on the street, some work at clubs known as "casinos," and some are even...

Sheehan Quits the Peace Movement
Sheehan Quits the Peace Movement

Sheehan Quits the Peace Movement

Activist mom slams Dems, uncaring nation, leaves Camp Casey

(Newser) - Cindy Sheehan is retiring from the anti-war movement. In a long, bitter online letter posted yesterday on Daily Kos, the iconic "peace mom" expressed frustration over the Democrats' failure to end the war, and characterized the US as "a country which cares more about who will be the...

G.I.'s Disillusioned About the War
G.I.'s Disillusioned About the War

G.I.'s Disillusioned About the War

Soldiers from 82nd Airborne say they favor withdrawal

(Newser) - More than a dozen soldiers from the elite 82d Airborne division tell the New York Times that they now see the war in Iraq as futile. “In 2003, 2004, 100 percent of the soldiers wanted to be here, to fight this war,” says one platoon sergeant who advocates...

U.S. Raid Frees 42 Al Qaeda Captives in Iraq

US officials say Diyala residents are turning against Sunni insurgents

(Newser) - U.S. troops freed 42 kidnapped Iraqis from an al Qaeda hideout in Diyala province, north of Baghdad yesterday. Some of the prisoners had been tortured for months, including some who had broken bones and had been hung from the ceiling, AP reports. One captive said he was 14 years...

Contractors in Iraq Trigger Two Shootings

Two incidents ignited by Blackwater raise questions about quasi-miliary role

(Newser) - Contractors from private security firm Blackwater USA set off two firefights in Baghdad in as many days last week. On Thursday, a Blackwater guard shot and killed an Iraqi driver who trailed a convoy suspiciously, and Wednesday a Blackwater convoy escorting State Department officials was ambushed—sparking a battle between...

Congress OKs New Iraq Bill
Congress OKs New Iraq Bill

Congress OKs New Iraq Bill

Sans timetable, Bush expected to sign; Clinton and Obama say nay

(Newser) - Congress approved $95 billion to pay for the war in Iraq—without a timetable for troop withdrawal. The bill, which Bush says he'll sign, passed both houses last night, ending a long and bitter struggle between Democrats and a veto-ready White House over bringing the troops home. Aspiring presidents Clinton...

Dem Congress Still Dishing Out Pork
Dem Congress Still Dishing Out Pork

Dem Congress Still Dishing Out Pork

The new majority is not as kosher as they claim to be

(Newser) - Democrats in Congress pledged to cut the pork out of appropriations bills, but the new majority is already cheating on the diet, reports the  Washington Post. Using a technique called "phonemarking," congressmen are contacting federal agencies directly and asking them to fund their pet projects, all while boasting...

Support for War Drops to Record Low
Support for War Drops
to Record Low

Support for War Drops to Record Low

CBS/NY Times poll suggests that fewer Americans than ever back the war in Iraq

(Newser) - Six out of 10 Americans say the US should have stayed out of Iraq, a new CBS News/New York Times poll reports. And an all-time high of 76%—including a majority of Republicans—say the war is going badly. Americans support get-tough measures tying funding to progress, including a timetable...

Morgue Stats Show Surge in Iraqi Killings

321 corpses found in Baghdad in first three weeks of May alone

(Newser) - Statistics from Iraqi morgues show that three months into the surge, sectarian killings are rising, the Washington Post reports. In the first three weeks of May, 321 unidentified corpses, many showing signs of exectution and torture, were found in Baghdad. The number equals those found in all of January, the...

Bush Details Bin Laden Plot
Bush Details
Bin Laden Plot

Bush Details Bin Laden Plot

Attempt to start Al-Qaeda cell in Iraq dates to 2005

(Newser) - Osama bin Laden attempted to launch a terrorist cell in Iraq through which Al-Qaeda could attack the US, President Bush said today. The newly declassified information fleshed out a 2005 Homeland Security alert that Bin Laden directed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, then his top man in Iraq, to organize the unit...

Brass Plan New War Strategy
Brass Plan New War Strategy

Brass Plan New War Strategy

(Newser) - US officials are quietly developing a plan to stabilize Iraq by neutralizing subversive and corrupt elements within the government, the Washington Post reports. The classified plan, still being finalized by Gen. David Petraeus and Amb. Ryan Crocker, shifts the focus of America's strategy in Iraq from military to political objectives.

House Breaks Up Iraq War Funding Bill

Unusual move allows vote against war, for domestic spending

(Newser) - House Democratic leaders are splitting the new Iraq funding bill into two distinct amendments, the Politco reports. One will be the $103 billion Bush requested for the war in Iraq, which will speak of benchmarks but won't demand a withdrawal date, the other a $17 billion domestic spending package.

Troops May Double in 'Second Surge'
Troops May Double in 'Second Surge'

Troops May Double in 'Second Surge'

Analysis of Pentagon orders shows 8 more brigades in Iraq by year's end

(Newser) - The number of US combat troops in Iraq is being quietly doubled this year in what the San Francisco Chronicle calls a second surge, the paper concludes from an analysis of Pentagon orders. The combination of new combat brigades and lengthened tours for troops already stationed in Iraq could bring...

Iran Charges American Scholar
Iran Charges American Scholar

Iran Charges American Scholar

Imprisoned academic accused of working against government

(Newser) - The Iranian government has charged an Iranian-American scholar already in custody in Tehran with working for "the soft-toppling of the country." Haleh Esfandiari, 67, was arrested May 8 after being under house arrest since January. The accusations come just days before American and Iranian diplomats are to meet...

Dems Ditch Iraq Timeline Demand
Dems Ditch
Iraq Timeline Demand

Dems Ditch Iraq Timeline Demand

New war spending bill won't include much-ballyhooed provision

(Newser) - Democratic leaders have quietly abandoned a cornerstone of their Iraq war platform: a timeline for withdrawal. Racing to pass a spending bill before the Memorial Day recess, they don't have the votes to pass a timeline, the LA Times reports, and they risk fallout for failing to fund troops in...

Iraqi Cash Is Funding Al Qaeda
Iraqi Cash
Is Funding
Al Qaeda

Iraqi Cash Is Funding Al Qaeda

Bin Laden search finds money trail leading from various sources

(Newser) - A stepped-up CIA effort to hunt down Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan hasn't succeeded in locating the  terrorist, the LA Times reports, but it has uncovered evidence that cash is being funneled from Iraq to keep Al Qaeda alive and well. "Iraq is a big moneymaker for them,"...

Iran Extends Hand Into Southern Iraq

Foreign militias threaten tenuous stability in Basra area

(Newser) - The southern Iraqi city of Basra is under the control of an array of private militias, some of which have strong ties to Iran, the Guardian reports. Factions like "God's Revenge" mete out patronage and enforce a fragile order in Iraq's second-largest city at the behest of competing warlords...

Contractor Fatalities Soar in Iraq
Contractor Fatalities Soar in Iraq

Contractor Fatalities Soar in Iraq

New numbers show soaring increases in civilian casualties, even as the troop presence rises

(Newser) - Private contractors have been killed  in Iraq in record numbers this year, the New York Times reports, as the deployment of U.S. forces in outside the Green Zone amps up the danger for both soldiers and civilians. Through March, there were at least 146 killed, compared to 224 troops...

Wolfowitz Torpedoed 2nd Chance
Wolfowitz Torpedoed
2nd Chance

Wolfowitz Torpedoed 2nd Chance

Repeated the same mistakes at the Pentagon, World Bank

(Newser) - Paul Wolfowitz clung to his job at the World Bank with characteristic tenacity, but friends and colleagues tell the New York Times that his failure there may have been inevitable. He approached the bank position with the same single-mindedness he displayed at the Pentagon, where he was blind to dissenting...

Wolfowitz Resigns From World Bank
Wolfowitz Resigns From World Bank

Wolfowitz Resigns From World Bank

White House yields; speculation on successor already lively

(Newser) - Paul Wolfowitz will leave the World Bank on June 30, capping a tumultuous two years for the development institution and its beleaguered president. Wolfowitz's tenure was marked by controversy from day one, when he assumed the office under the cloud of the Iraq war, until today, when a drawn-out ethics...

Stories 881 - 900 | << Prev   Next >>