The U.S. war in Iraq resulted in the rise of the long-suppressed Iraqi Shiites and coincidentally, unfortunately for Washington, closer ties with Shiite Iran. But a stalwart Iraqi nationalism and a wariness of dominance by foreign powers has manifested in some bitterness toward Iran. Last month, a senior Iranian cleric, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, announced that [...]
The Obama administration is continuing to pursue an agreement with the Iraqi government that would give U.S. defense contractors remaining there beyond 2012 immunity from Iraqi law. While the approximately 17,000 diplomats and servicemembers working for the State Department are shielded by diplomatic immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law, the thousands of private contractors and [...]
Accused of the biggest intelligence leak in American history, Bradley Manning will begin the first stages of his military trial on Friday. But U.S. prosecutors are really trying to indict Julian Assange, who published Manning’s leaks. Investigators have been scrutinizing the details of the case in an attempt to hustle Assange into legal culpability, but [...]
The Senate passed the 2012 defense authorization bill 86-13 on Thursday, one day after the House of Representatives passed it in a 283-136 vote. The bill, which codifies a system of indefinite detention for terrorism suspects, will be sent to the President’s desk today. The Obama administration is supportive of the bill and is expected to sign [...]
Iranian military engineers were able to hack into the U.S. surveillance drone which was downed and captured by Iran last week. Preferring to remain anonymous, an Iranian engineer told the Christian Science Monitor that they were able to scramble the communications technology in the aircraft and manipulate its GPS signals, making it “land on its own [...]
Pakistan will renegotiate a set of agreements with the United States that go back to 2002, as part of a wider shift in policy resulting from the unprovoked U.S. attack in November that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. The arrangements being reconsidered by the Pakistani government include two key policies: allowing the transit of supplies through [...]
House Passes Yet More Iran Sanctions | Fear of oil-price spike if Senate also passes them
UN’s Ban Increasingly Shows Hawkish Side | Pushes for ‘action’ in Syria, more troops in Somalia
In the second phase of the prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas, Tel Aviv is expected to free 550 more Palestinian prisoners within the next few days. The agreement has already resulted in the release of 477 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier held captive for five years. That first [...]
Flags Burn as Last US Troops Trickle Out of Iraq | Another ‘end’ comes with declarations of victory
