POLITICS: Bush’s New Iran Policy – No Evidence for IED Charge

For 18 months now, the George W. Bush administration has periodically raised the charge that Iran is supplying anti-coalition forces in Iraq with arms.

IRAQ: Anything But a Happy New Year

Iraqis have left a bloody 2006 behind, but the two opening weeks of 2007 do not bode well for the rest of this year.

POLITICS: U.N. Officials Question Iraq’s Rough Justice

The U.S.-backed government in Baghdad is facing harsh criticism from the international community for ignoring calls to adopt a policy of restraint with regard to carrying out death sentences against the members of Iraq's former ruling party.

IRAQ: Furore over Execution Continues Unabated

Expressions of outrage over the conduct of the trial and the manner of Saddam Hussein's rushed, chaotic execution are continuing unabated here as lawyers and human rights groups voice together their open criticism - although some are still cautiously asking the media to withhold their names from publication.

POLITICS: Bush’s New Iran Policy – War Plan or Propaganda?

President George W. Bush's seemingly aggressive Iran policy of taking direct action against alleged Iranian "networks" involved in attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq, combined with the deployment of a second carrier group off Iran's coast, triggered speculation that it is related to a plan for an attack.

RELIGION: Pope Finds Support for Middle East Stand

Pope Benedict XVI has found some support for his call for peace solutions in the Middle East and around the world.

POLITICS-US/IRAQ: Bush Isolates Himself Further

President George W. Bush's decision to escalate U.S. military intervention in Iraq and issue new threats against Syria and Iran appears to have left him politically more isolated than ever.

HEALTH-US: Sick, Literally, of Fighting in Iraq

Susan Tileston hasn't seen her son, Levi Moddrelle, in more than two years. Levi served in the 101st Airborne Division in Afghanistan and then Iraq, where he was stationed for almost a year. He returned home for Christmas in 2003, but wasn't the same.

RIGHTS: Italy Leads Campaign Against Death Penalty

The Italian government is leading a new campaign against the death penalty following the execution of Saddam Hussein.

IRAQ: Media Under Growing Siege

The U.S. administration continues to tout Iraq as a shining example of democracy in the Middle East, but press freedom in Iraq has plummeted since the beginning of the occupation.

POLITICS-US: Hardliner’s Hardliner Led Bush’s Iraq Review

When President George W. Bush's unveils his long-awaited new strategy on Iraq Wednesday night, he will be relying heavily on the counsel of one J.D. Crouch II, perhaps the most hard line - if most obscure - of his hawkish advisers.

POLITICS-US: More Subpoenas Come Down in Watada Case

In a case that could have repercussions for free speech and press freedom in the United States, the U.S. military has subpoenaed two peace activists and a journalist in its case against Lt. Ehren Watada, the first commissioned officer to be court-martialed for refusing to serve in Iraq.

IRAQ: Terrified Soldiers Terrifying People

Ten-year-old Yassir aimed a plastic gun at a passing U.S. armoured patrol in Fallujah, and shouted "Bang! Bang!"

POLITICS-US: Bush&#39s Surge Strategy Faces Heavy Opposition

If, as expected, George W. Bush next week announces his intention to "surge" some 20,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq to pacify Baghdad and Sunni-dominated al-Anbar province, he may find himself in a tougher fight than he expected even a week ago.

IRAQ: Execution Memories Refuse To Go Away

The footage of the execution of Saddam Hussein has generated controversy in Iraq that is refusing to die down.

POLITICS: Hussein’s Execution May Trigger U.N. Backlash

The swirling controversy over the execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is threatening to trigger a backlash at the United Nations.

HEALTH-US: Iraq Vets Left in Physical and Mental Agony

On New Year's Eve, the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq passed 3,000. By Tuesday, the death toll had reached 3,004 - 31 more than died in the Sep. 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.

MEDIA-US: Networks’ Foreign News Coverage Focused on Iraq

For the fourth straight year, Iraq dominated foreign affairs coverage by the three major U.S. commercial television network evening news broadcasts during 2006, according to the latest annual review by the authoritative Tyndall Report.

POLITICS: New U.N. Chief Ambiguous on Death Penalty

As he walked into a group of waiting reporters on his first day at the United Nations, the newly-anointed Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon refused to express his personal views on the death penalty - in contrast to his predecessor Kofi Annan who publicly opposed capital punishment.

POLITICS: Annan Leaves a Mixed Legacy

When Kofi Annan completed his 10-year tenure as U.N. secretary-general on Dec. 31, he left behind a mixed political legacy: his acknowledged successes in promoting peace, development, gender empowerment and human rights, and his self-admitted failures in reining in a sprawling U.N. bureaucracy facing charges of mismanagement.

IRAQ: ‘Illegal’ Execution Enrages Arabs

The execution of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein carried out at the start of the Muslim festival Eid al-Adha has angered Iraqis and others across the Middle East.