POLITICS-US: Bush Suffers First Iraq Defeat in Congress

In a significant defeat for President George W. Bush, the House of Representatives Friday voted 246 to 182 to "disapprove" his plan to add an estimated 30,000 U.S. troops to the 140,000 marines and soldiers already deployed in Iraq. Seventeen Republicans voted with the majority Democrats to approve the non-binding resolution.

POLITICS-US: The Neo-Con Dog That Isn’t Barking

For several weeks now, Washington has been abuzz with rumours that U.S. President George W. Bush is preparing to attack nuclear and other sites in Iran this spring - rumours deemed sufficiently credible that lawmakers from both parties are hastily preparing legislation precisely to prevent such an eventuality.

GREECE: U.S. Becomes a Target Again

Fears have grown that a rocket attack on the U.S. embassy last month could indicate increased targeting of U.S. facilities in Greece.

HEALTH: US Ill-Equipped to Deal With Wave of Troubled Vets

Staff Sergeant Don Hanks had served 15 years in the U.S. Army before he spent a year running patrols in the heart of Iraq's Sunni triangle. He said he returned from the conflict a changed man.

POLITICS-US: National Security Experts Grim on Terror War

A new survey of more than 100 U.S. foreign policy experts - both Republicans and Democrats, as well as retired military and intelligence professionals - has found deep pessimism over the "global war on terror" and even deeper pessimism over the war in Iraq.

POLITICS: U.S. Briefing on Iran Discredits the Official Line

The first major effort by the George W. Bush administration to substantiate its case that the Iranian government has been providing weapons to Iraqi Shiites who oppose the occupation undermines the administration's political line by showing that it has been unable to find any real evidence of an Iranian government role.

IRAQ: More Troops, And More Violence

Violence and bombings have only increased after the proposed "surge" of 21,500 U.S. troops in Iraq.

IRAQ: Iran ‘Fooling’ U.S. Military

New evidence is emerging on the ground of an Iranian hand in growing violence within Iraq.

POLITICS-US: Reprieve for Officer Who Denounced “Immoral War”

The court-martial of the first commissioned U.S. military officer to refuse to serve in Iraq ended abruptly Wednesday when the military judge overseeing the proceedings declared a mistrial over a technicality.

U.S.: Proposed ’08 Pentagon Earns Superlatives All Around

How big is President George W. Bush's proposed 2008 Pentagon budget?

POLITICS-US: How Neocon Shiite Strategy Led to Sectarian War

The supreme irony of President George W. Bush's campaign to blame Iran for the sectarian civil war in Iraq, as well as attacks on U.S. forces, is that the Shiite militias who started to drive the Sunnis out of the Baghdad area in 2004 and thus precipitated the present sectarian crisis did so with the support of both Iran and the neoconservative U.S. war planners.

MEDIA: Iraq Leads Another Bloody Year for the Press

It was another dangerous year for the press around the world as the number of killed and imprisoned journalists rose in 2006, according to an annual report by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

POLITICS-US: One CEO’s Dissent from War on Terror

Meet Richard Wade Vague. Tall, friendly, dressed in a dark, finely tailored suit, with a firm, confident handshake and a ready, if surprisingly modest, smile, he looks like the quintessential successful 51-year-old self-described "conservative" corporate executive that he is.

POLITICS-US: Officer Who Wouldn’t Serve Goes on Trial

Supporters of the first commissioned U.S. officer to refuse to serve in Iraq plan to pack the courtroom at Fort Lewis, Washington where First Lieutenant Ehren Watada will face a court martial Monday.

POLITICS-US/IRAQ: No Light at Tunnel’s End

A long-awaited study by the U.S. intelligence community released here Friday concludes there is little, if any, light at the end of tunnel in Iraq.

IRAQ: Turkey Could Emerge as a New Threat

Growing confrontation between Iraqi Kurds and neighbouring Turkey presents a new threat to a fragile calm in the north.

POLITICS-US: Lawmakers Move to Restrain Bush on Iran

Increasingly concerned about the escalating rhetoric against Iran by senior U.S. officials, including President George W. Bush, members of Congress are trying to put limits on his ability to attack the Islamic Republic.

POLITICS-US: Iraq War Opponents Follow the Money

Senior Congressional Democrats are brushing off questions about cutting off funding for the Iraq war, and indicate they will do little to forcefully stop President George W. Bush from sending 21,500 additional U.S. troops to Iraq.

CORRUPTION: More U.S. Money Wasted in Iraq, Audit Finds

Dozens of millions of dollars originally slated for the reconstruction and security of Iraq have been squandered on luxury items like an Olympic-sized swimming pool, VIP trailers, and buildings that were never or rarely used, a U.S. government watchdog says.

IRAQ: Official Lies over Najaf Battle Exposed

Iraqi government lies over the killing of hundreds of Shias in an attack on Sunday stand exposed by independent investigations carried out by IPS in Iraq.

POLITICS-US/IRAQ: Who Is the Enemy?

Two incidents involving U.S. forces in predominantly Shi'a southern Iraq over the past week appear to demonstrate the growing complexities and dangers of the country's civil conflict.