IRAQ: Police Bombings Raise New Fears

A tense security situation in this volatile city has worsened after some policemen found bombs planted on the roofs of their houses.

POLITICS: Bush Forced al-Maliki to Back Down on Pullout in 2006

Many official and unofficial proponents of a long-term U.S. military presence in Iraq are dismissing Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's demand for a U.S. timeline for withdrawal as political posturing, assuming that he will abandon it under pressure.

POLITICS: Bush, U.S. Military Pressure Iraqis on Withdrawal

Instead of moving toward accommodating the demand of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for a timetable for U.S. military withdrawal, the George W. Bush administration and the U.S. military leadership are continuing to pressure their erstwhile client regime to bow to the U.S. demand for a long-term military presence in the country.

IRAQ: Most NGOs Losing Face

Welcomed at first after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, most NGOs have run into scepticism and mistrust. Few remain to help.

US/IRAQ: McCain Knee-Capped by Al-Maliki

This weekend's surprise endorsement by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of Sen. Barack Obama's call for U.S. combat forces to leave Iraq by mid-2010 marks a serious setback to Sen. John McCain, who has tried hard to depict his Democratic rival as "naïve" on foreign policy, especially with respect to Iraq.

IRAQ: Fallujah Braces for Another Assault

U.S. and Iraqi forces are preparing another siege of Fallujah under the pretext of combating "terror", residents and officials say.

IRAQ: Unrest Surfaces in Fallujah Again

Security has collapsed again in Fallujah, despite U.S. military claims.

BOOKS-US: Blogging Brobdingnagian Blowback

It was neoconservative pundit Charles Krauthammer who, in the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse, inaugurated Washington's unipolar moment.

BOOKS: Muqtada – One Man’s Meat, Another Man’s Poison

"He is an American spy," the militiamen shouted at Patrick Cockburn four years ago in Kufa, south of Baghdad. He could have hardly imagined that he would live to write a book on the very people who kidnapped him.

IRAQ: Refugees Forsaken Even By Their Own Gov’t

As Iraq's refugee crisis continues to worsen, the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is failing to help the estimated five million Iraqis who have been displaced by conflict, says a new report by the International Crisis Group (ICG).

POLITICS-US: Pull-out Demand Signals Final Bush Defeat in Iraq

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's demand for a timetable for complete U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq, confirmed Tuesday by his national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie, has signaled the almost certain defeat of the George W. Bush administration's aim of establishing a long-term military presence in the country.

POLITICS-US: Vets Mull Wins and Losses in Benefits Fight

You could hear the joy in Patrick Campbell's voice as he reflected on U.S. President George W. Bush's signing Monday of a new GI Bill of Rights for veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Q&A: What the Most-Seen Photographs Say

No matter how familiar they become, the photographs depicting abuse at Abu Ghraib prison never seem to lose their ability to shock.

IRAQ: Journalist Charges Censorship by U.S. Military in Fallujah

U.S. journalist Zoriah Miller says he was censored by the U.S. military in the Iraqi city of Fallujah after photographing Marines who died in a suicide bombing.

RIGHTS-US: Anti-Torture Campaign Wins Influential Backers

On the eve of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, a bipartisan group of some 200 religious leaders and former top U.S. national security and military officers launched a campaign for a presidential order to outlaw torture and cruel and inhumane treatment of all detainees.

US/IRAQ: A Blueprint for Withdrawal

Proponents of a U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq routinely brush off criticisms that their ideas are "irresponsible". But until today, the charge that withdrawal cannot be accomplished responsibly - and just how that would be done - has never been coherently answered.

POLITICS-IRAQ: Fear of US-Sunni Ties Undercut Security Talks

The threat by the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki earlier this month to reject the U.S.-Iraq status of forces and strategic framework agreements was prompted in part by U.S. demands for access to bases that were unacceptable to a highly nationalistic Iraqi population.

IRAQ: Whoever Wins, They Lose

Iraqis seem divided on who they would like to see as the next U.S. president, but few believe that either will end the occupation.

POPULATION: Iraq Still a Major Source of Refugees in 2007

Despite a marked reduction in violence due in part to more aggressive U.S. counter-insurgency efforts in 2007, Iraq was the biggest source of the world's newest refugees for the third year in a row, according to the latest annual report of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) released here Thursday.

POLITICS: US Concessions Rescue Floundering Iraq Security Deal

Despite apparent serious disagreements reflected in a series of incongruent statements by senior officials of the U.S. and Iraqi governments, they appear to have made a breakthrough in negotiations for a new security pact.

IRAQ: Home to Too Many Widows

Just about everyone in Iraq is a loser as a result of the occupation, but none more than women. One of the more obvious signs of that is the very large number of widows.