The results of Iraq's provincial elections could be released as soon as tomorrow, and many in the government have praised it as a rousing success. But while it has been presented as a testament to the progress made by the United States in propping up the Iraqi...
Afghan DM: Foreign Fighters Coming From Iraq
As the violence in Afghanistan continues to escalate, Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak has pointed out that a large number of the foreign fighters flocking to the nation to take part in the seven-year-long war are coming from Iraq. Its not exactly a secret...
Obama: Substantial Number of Iraqi Troops Will Be Home in Another Year
In an interview today on NBC, President Barack Obama was asked whether a "substantial number" of troops would be home in time for next year's Super Bowl (to be held on February 7, 2010). Obama replied "Yes. We are going to roll out in a very formal fashion what our...
Maliki, Allies Gain in Iraqi Elections
Early (and unofficial) projections show Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and allies gaining at the expense of the rival Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council. If this holds though the final count, which will not be available until likely late in the week, it will...
Iraq Bans Blackwater
The Iraqi government has informed the US embassy today that it will decline to renew Blackwater Worldwide's license to operate in the nation. This will require the security contractors, still being used by the State Department, to leave the nation once the joint...
Iraq FM: Obama Policy Will Be One of ‘Continuity’
The Iraqi government is quite satisfied that President Barack Obama will not make any dramatic moves to withdraw troops in 2009, in spite of his campaign promise to have all American troops out of the nation within 16 months of taking office. "We are sure that the...
Commandant Presses for Marines to Move From Iraq to Afghanistan
"The time is right for Marines to leave Iraq," US Marine Corps Commandant General James Conway told reporters today, complaining that the situation in Iraq is "a nation-building kind of environment" and "that is not what we do." Instead Conway believes the roughly...
Two Days After Inauguration: Is Obama’s Iraq Timetable Already Dead?
As recently as yesterday, Obama aides were treating the president's campaign promise for a 16-month timetable to withdraw from Iraq as a working plan. It didn't take long for what many voters assumed was a firm commitment to become, in the parlance of the previous...
Obama Asks Military For ‘Responsible’ Iraq Pullout Plan
President Barack Obama met with top military commanders today to get a full update on the situation in Iraq and to ask them to begin drawing up an Iraq exit strategy. "I asked the military leadership to engage in additional planning necessary to execute a responsible...
Gen. Odierno: Iraq Elections Key to US Pullout
While President Barack Obama has already pledged that the United States will "responsibly leave Iraq to its people," and is planning to ask the military to draft a plan to get troops out in 16 months, but comments from General Ray Odierno, the top US commander in...


