POLITICS-US: Commander’s Veto Sank Threatening Gulf Buildup

Admiral William Fallon, then President George W. Bush's nominee to head the Central Command (CENTCOM), expressed strong opposition in February to an administration plan to increase the number of carrier strike groups in the Persian Gulf from two to three and vowed privately there would be no war against Iran as long as he was chief of CENTCOM, according to sources with access to his thinking.

HEALTH-US: Suicidal and Facing a Third Tour in Iraq

At the beginning of May, Corporal Cloy Richards tried to kill himself.

POLITICS-US/IRAN: Another Step Toward Realism

Realists in the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush appear to have won another victory over the dwindling ranks of neo-conservatives and others hawks with this weekend's announcement that Washington will soon engage in bilateral talks with Iran.

POLITICS-US/SYRIA: No Detente Just Yet

The U.S. State Department has harshly condemned Syria's sentencing of political prisoner Kamal al-Labwani, one week after Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice broke a two-year diplomatic embargo against Damascus.

BRITAIN: With Friends Like His…

That boring old truism, that people are judged by the company they keep, must be true also of leaders. Because that is where outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair hit his tragic flaw - he kept rather close company with U.S. President George W. Bush.

IRAQ: And Yet More Talk

Two days of talks on Iraq last week produced an international agreement promising support for the Iraqi government in exchange for political and economic reforms to be implemented by Baghdad. But while the so-called International Compact on Iraq (ICI) cancelled some of the country's foreign debts, the initiative - and the conferences that accompanied it - yielded few other tangible results, local commentators say.

US/IRAQ: ‘Pentagon Moved to Fix Iraqi Media Before Invasion’

In the run-up to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Pentagon planned to create a 'Rapid Reaction Media Team' (RRMT) designed to ensure control over major Iraqi media while providing an Iraqi 'face' for its efforts, according to a ‘White Paper' obtained by the independent National Security Archive (NSA) which released it Tuesday.

POLITICS-US: Deadly Tornado Brings Iraq War Home

Increasingly isolated by his dogged opposition to a timetable for withdrawing U.S. combat troops from Iraq, U.S. President George W. Bush will travel to the site of a deadly tornado in Kansas Wednesday, in part to rebut charges that relief operations there were hampered by shortages of equipment that had been shipped to Iraq.

IRAQ: UN Report Sparks Uproar in Kurdistan

A United Nations report on Iraq's human rights situation has provoked mixed reactions in the northern Kurdistan region. Officials accuse the UN of "exaggeration and inaccuracy" while human rights activists say the "actual extent of violations has been understated by the UN."

POLITICS-US: Slowly, Slowly, the Ship of State Turns Realist

With just over 18 months left in office, the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush appears once again to be moving in a more "realist" direction in its dealings with the rest of the world, including the Middle East.

POLITICS: A Softer, Gentler Era of U.S., Iran Relations?

Tehran's high-level presence at the meeting this week in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt to discuss Iraq's security boosts the chances for eventual negotiations between Tehran and Washington over their long-running disputes, say analysts here and in Iran.

U.S./IRAQ: Bush Holds Iranian Officials as Bargaining Chips

When the George W. Bush administration announced in January that it was targeting Iranian officials in Iraq, it justified the policy as necessary to protect U.S. troops because of their alleged involvement in attacks on U.S. forces.

POLITICS-US/IRAQ: Ex-Soldier Recalls Horrors of Abu Ghraib

Saturday marked the third anniversary of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. On Apr. 28, 2004 CBS broadcast the first graphic photos of torture inside of the U.S.-run prison in Iraq on its 60 Minutes II programme.

IRAQ: Troop Surge Touted as Success, But Casualty Stats Incomplete

The George W. Bush administration and proponents of the U.S. troop surge in Iraq have claimed that the increased military presence in Baghdad and al-Anbar province has reduced sectarian violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims and lowered civilian casualties. But not all of the numbers are being included.

POLITICS-U.S.: Iraq Showdown Looms After Senate Vote

With Thursday's vote by the U.S. Senate to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq in October, the stage has been set for a prolonged confrontation between the Democratic-led Congress and President George W. Bush over the future of the war.

IRAQ: Democrats’ Timetable Allows U.S. War in Sunni Region to Go On

The language on a timetable for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq voted out of the House-Senate conference committee this week contains large loopholes that would apparently allow U.S. troops to continue carrying out military operations in Iraq's Sunni heartland indefinitely.

REFUGEES-IRAQ: U.S. State Department Pushes for Palestinian Resettlement

U.S. State Department officials confirmed this week that they have been in discussions with Israel and the Kurdish regional government about possible resettlement solutions for the estimated 15,000 Palestinian refugees currently stranded in Iraq.

POLITICS: Suspicion of U.S. Found Pervasive in Islamic World

Six and a half years after U.S. President George W. Bush launched his "global war on terror", suspicion of U.S. motives remains pervasive throughout the Islamic world, according to a new and highly detailed survey of four countries released here Tuesday.

IRAQ: U.S. Blamed for ‘Bloody Wednesday’

Iraqis blame the U.S. occupation for the failure of two parallel security plans drawn up by U.S. forces and Iraqi troops that failed dramatically with the bombings last week that killed more than 300 people in Baghdad.

THEATRE-U.S.: Iraq, Afghanistan War Vets Find Relief in the Footlights

The house lights go down and the stage lights come up on "The Wolf", the first production of VetStage, a non-profit theatre company run by veterans of the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It opens with a funeral: a Roman Catholic priest preparing to deliver a eulogy for a U.S. soldier killed by a road-side bomb.

IRAQ: Basra Splits Between Warring Shias

Oil-rich Basra in the south of Iraq is getting caught up in an increasingly more fierce battle between warring Shia groups.