State Department Renews Blackwater Contract
WASHINGTON Amid investigations into fatal shootings of civilians and allegations of tax violations, Blackwater USA’s multimillion-dollar contract to protect diplomats in Baghdad has been renewed, the State Department said Friday.
A final decision about whether the private security company will keep the job is pending, the department said.
Bush: Retreat From Iraq Would Embolden Iran, Fund Terrorists
WASHINGTON Five months after launching the U.S. invasion of Iraq, President Bush is making some of his most expansive claims of success in the fighting there. Bush said last year’s troop buildup has turned Iraq around and produced “the first large-scale Arab uprising against Usama bin Laden.”
Massive anti-war demonstrations were planned in downtown Washington Wednesday […]
McCain Fights Anti-Iraq Onslaught
Campaigning in Ohio on Monday, John McCain continued to try to shore up his credentials as the tough on terror candidate, earning a 30-second ovation at a town hall outside Cleveland for promising to stand strong against Al Qaeda.
“We will never surrender and they will. And I want to assure you of that,” McCain […]
Car bomb kills at least 51 Iraqis, official says
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — In one of the deadliest attacks in Baghdad in months, at least 51 Iraqis were killed and 75 were wounded Tuesday in an car bombing, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.
U.S.-allied fighters collect the body of a comrade who was killed in a suicide bombing Tuesday in Baghdad.
Report: U.S. Escalating Covert Operations Against Iran
Late last year, Congressional leaders agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran, and charges that the administration is running “cross border” operations into Iran, The New Yorker magazine reported.
In an article published online Sunday, the magazine cites current and former military, intelligence, and congressional […]
Gen. Petraeus Picked to Head U.S. Central Command
WASHINGTON Gen. David Petraeus has been tapped to become the next commander of U.S. Central Command, that oversees military operations from the Middle East to Central Asia and directs the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced his decision Wednesday at an press conference in Washington, saying President Bush would send Petraeus’ nomination […]
Top U.S. general: Situation in Iraq improving
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq who has been nominated to head American forces in the Middle East, said Thursday he hopes to make recommendations for further troop reductions in Iraq before he moves to his new post in September.
Gen. David Petraeus, right, and Gen.
Iranian Chief Executive Ahmadinejad gets in Republic of Iraq
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in Baghdad Sunday for the start of a historic two-day trip, said “visiting Iraq without the dictator is a good thing.”
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Iraqi counterpart Jalal Talabani stand during a welcome ceremony in Baghdad, Sunday.
Female Italian sandwich votes out Iraqi tribal sheikh, minor
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) Two bombings in separate Iraq provinces on Monday killed eight U.S. troops, the U.S. military said.
A boy with a machine gun weeps Monday at the site of a suicide bombing in Kanan that killed a sheik.
A roadside bomb killed three U.S. soldiers and an interpreter in Diyala province, that has […]
Police: Adult female blows up Capital of Iraq store
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) A female suicide bomber struck Sunday in a predominantly Shiite area of central Baghdad, killing at least three people in an attack that occurred as Iraqi officials have been stressing the capital’s increased security.
An Iraqi boy watches as an man inspects the aftermath of a Sunday suicide bombing in Baghdad.
