IRAQ: Beyond the Green Zone - Inter Press Service

IPS Correspondent Gareth Porter talks to Real News.

The U.S. military establishment believed they could easily pressure President Obama to back down on his pledge to withdraw troops from Iraq within 16 months. Having found Obama unconvinced by their argument, they have now launched a campaign in Washington to blame Obama's withdrawal policy for any future instability in Iraq.

US-IRAQ: Kurds Caught Up in Biden's Diplomatic Offensive
Analysis by Mohammed A. Salih
WASHINGTON - The indefinite postponement of a referendum on Iraqi Kurdistan's controversial draft constitution just days after a visit by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has given rise to speculation that Washington may have played a role in the delay.
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POLITICS: Behind Detainee Release, a U.S.-Iraqi Conflict on Iran
Analysis by Gareth Porter*
WASHINGTON - The release Friday of five Iranians held by the U.S. military in Iraq for two and a half years highlights the long-simmering conflict between the U.S. and Iraqi views of Iranian policy in Iraq and of the role of its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) there.
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RIGHTS: New Charges Added to Blackwater Lawsuit
By William Fisher
NEW YORK - New charges filed against private security contractor Blackwater accuse the company of murder, destruction of audio and videotaped evidence, distribution of controlled substances, tax evasion, child prostitution, and weapons smuggling.
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IRAQ: Questions Remain About the U.S. Role
Analysis by Helena Cobban*
WASHINGTON - The United States largely complied with a plan, negotiated with Iraq's government last November, to withdraw its troops from the centre of all Iraqi cities by Jun. 30.
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IRAQ: Is Another Conflict Inevitable?
Analysis by Mohammed A. Salih
WASHINGTON - Relations between Iraq’s various Kurdish, Arab and Turkoman ethnicities are going through a new round of complications since a provision in the draft constitution of the country’s northern Kurdistan region declared a range of disputed areas part of the historical Kurdish homeland, infuriating non-Kurds in the country.
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US-IRAQ: Troops Leave Cities, as Questions Remain
By Jared Levy
WASHINGTON - U.S. combat troops pulled out of most Iraqi cities Monday, a day before the Jun. 30 deadline for their withdrawal in accordance with the Status of Force Agreement (SOFA) ratified by the Iraqi parliament in November 2008.
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MIDEAST: Arabs Court U.S. via Baghdad
By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa Al-Omrani
CAIRO - Egypt finally appointed an ambassador to Iraq earlier this month after four years without diplomatic representation in Baghdad. While the last year has seen other Arab capitals do likewise, some critics question the wisdom of the move in light of Iraq's still volatile security situation.
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IRAQ: Lame-Duck Lawmakers Push Through Kurdistan's New Charter
By Mohammed A. Salih
WASHINGTON - A draft constitution passed by the parliament of Iraqi Kurdistan has drawn divided reactions, with some questioning the very legitimacy of a lame-duck parliament to pass the single most important legal document of the Kurdish region and others touting it as a positive step forward.
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MIDEAST: Iran Crisis Ripples Outward
Analysis by Helena Cobban*
WASHINGTON - As the political crisis that erupted after Iran’s Jun. 12 elections enters its third week, it is becoming evident that this crisis will have repercussions in many parts of the Middle East - and far beyond.
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POLITICS: U.S. to Name Ambassador to Damascus after Four Years
By Katie Mattern and Ali Gharib
WASHINGTON - After informing the Syrian embassy in Washington on Tuesday night, the U.S. State Department announced on Wednesday that President Barack Obama will be sending an ambassador to Damascus for the first time since 2005.
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Q&A: Military Losing GI Hearts and Minds
William Fisher interviews MARJORIE COHN and KATHLEEN GILBERD of the National Lawyers Guild
NEW YORK - The continuing occupation or Iraq and the growing war in Afghanistan are leaving permanent physical and emotional scars on a whole generation of U.S. soldiers. Not since Vietnam have so many GIs objected to a war, and never have military families spoken out so strongly for withdrawal.
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US-IRAQ: Fate of Withdrawal Pact to be Decided at the Polls
Analysis by Mohammed A. Salih
WASHINGTON - As Iraqis witness a spike in violence after a months-long relative lull, the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has decided to put its security agreement with the U.S. to a public referendum, although the move appears to be only heightening a sense of uncertainty over the fate of the country.
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POPULATION: The Worst Places to Be a Refugee
By Katie Mattern
WASHINGTON - Gaza, South Africa and Thailand are among the world's worst places to be a refugee, according to the latest annual World Refugee Survey released here Wednesday by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI).
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MIGRATION: Pakistan Refugee Crisis Worst in a Decade, U.N. Says
By Marina Litvinsky
WASHINGTON - Forty-two million people were forcibly uprooted by conflict and persecution worldwide in 2008, said a new report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) released Tuesday.
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U.S.: Congress Reviews Military Contracts, Kabul Embassy Scandal
By Pratap Chatterjee
WASHINGTON - Private security guards abandoning their posts at the U.S. embassy in Kabul for up to three and a half hours.
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POLITICS: Syrian Foreign Minister Eager to Work with Obama
By Helena Cobban*
WASHINGTON - Former U.S. senator George Mitchell is due to arrive in Syria’s capital, Damascus, Friday on his first visit there since being named Pres. Barack Obama’s special envoy for Arab-Israeli peace.
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Unlike most other international news media, who report on Iraq from inside the heavily-fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, IPS's Iraqi correspondents spread across the country to bring you some of the boldest reporting about this war-torn nation. To this IPS adds incisive coverage from the international centres of power where the future of Iraq is being moulded.