POLITICS: Gulf Security Hinges on Axis of Realpolitik

As the sectarian conflict in Iraq escalates, along with stepped up attacks on U.S. troops and civilians, Dr. Houchang E. Chehabi, an international relations professor at Boston University and expert on Persian Gulf issues, says Iran could step in to stabilise Iraq - if offered an incentive to do so.

IRAQ: Protecting Neither Facilities nor People

The Facilities Protection Service (FPS) created after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 has become the principal set of death squads in Iraq, senior leaders say.

U.S./IRAQ: A Convenient Verdict?

Saddam Hussein doesn't have many friends here, but the death sentence handed down Sunday against the former Iraqi president has invited accusations that the announcement was timed to influence the U.S. congressional elections set for Tuesday, only two days after the verdict.

IRAQ: Saddam Verdict Could Tear Iraqis Apart

The death sentence for former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein could deepen a divide that threatens to tear Iraqis apart.

POLITICS-US: Documentary Blasts Iraq War Profiteering

With just four days to go before the U.S. mid-term congressional elections, the director of a scathing new documentary about the outsourcing of personnel and supplies for the Iraq war says he hopes audiences will view it "as a tool for discussion".

RIGHTS: 98 Percent of Cluster Bomb Victims are Civilians

Ninety-eight percent of registered victims of cluster bombs are civilians, Handicap International, a UK-based NGO said in a report published Thursday.

POLITICS-US: Neo-Con Nadir?

Less than a week from mid-term elections that are expected to bring at least one house of Congress under Democratic control, neo-conservatives, whose foreign policy ideas dominated most of the first half of the administration of George W. Bush, are having a hard time.

POLITICS-US: Republicans Spring a New “Winning” Strategy

In the final days before the November elections, George W. Bush administration surrogates have taken to asking whoever they are conversing with about the Iraq war, "Do you want us to win in Iraq?"

POLITICS-US: Hillary Urges Talks with Syria, Iran, North Korea

In a major policy address, Sen. Hillary Clinton Tuesday called for a "sea change" in U.S. foreign policy that would include direct talks with Syria, Iran and North Korea and greater U.S. engagement in promoting peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

POLITICS-US: Jews Give Bush, Republicans Failing Grades

Despite Republican efforts, led by President George W. Bush, to align the party squarely behind the policies of successive right-wing governments in Israel, U.S. Jews are expected to vote overwhelmingly for Democratic candidates in next week's elections.

POLITICS-US: Belafonte on Thinking Outside the Ballot Box

Legendary musician and social justice activist Harry Belafonte grew up on the streets of Harlem, New York and Jamaica. After serving in World War II, he returned to New York and began a successful acting and singing career.

IRAQ: U.S. Military Adopts Desperate Tactics

Increased violence is being countered by harsh new measures across the Sunni-dominated al-Anabar province west of Baghdad, residents say.

RIGHTS: Once Again, Stop the War

More than three years after London saw its biggest ever rally to prevent the war in Iraq, the group Stop the War is launching a new campaign to pull coalition forces out of Iraq.

POLITICS-US: Bush Under Growing Pressure to Engage Syria

While U.S. President George W. Bush appeared this week to reject suggestions that Washington directly engage the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, pressure both here and in the region for Washington to work out some accommodation with Damascus is rising.

MIDEAST: 50 Years After Suez, U.S. Hegemony Ebbing Fast

As the Middle East prepares to mark the 50th anniversary on Oct. 29 of the Suez Crisis that effectively ended European colonialism, a half century of U.S. hegemony in the region also appears to be coming to an end, according to a growing number of analysts here.

POLITICS-US/IRAQ: “It’s Time to Step Out”

For the first time since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, active-duty members of the military are asking members of Congress to end the occupation of Iraq and bring U.S. soldiers home.

RIGHTS: Complaints Mount at U.S. Fortress in Iraq

Several months before a U.S. construction foreman named John Owen would quit in disgust over what he said was blatant abuse of foreign labourers hired to build the sprawling new U.S. embassy in Baghdad, Rory Mayberry would witness similar events when he flew to Kuwait from his home in Myrtle Creek, Oregon.

IRAQ: Labour Laws Trampled at New US Embassy, Ex-Foreman Says

Things began looking sketchier than ever to John Owen as he boarded a nondescript white jet on his way back to Iraq in March 2005 following some downtime in Kuwait City.

POLITICS-US: Muslim and Arab Americans Ditch Republicans

Increasingly disillusioned with more than five years of the "global war on terror", Arab- and Muslim-American voters are poised to vote heavily Democratic in the Nov. 7 mid-term elections, according to two polls released this week.

IRAQ: Troubled Oil Begins to Surface

Through a steadily worsening security situation and deepening political divisions, a dispute is now erupting between Kurdish leaders and the Baghdad regime over access to oil resources.

IRAQ/U.S.: A Consensus Develops: Leave the Course

While Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's continued tenure in office has been the subject of a surge of speculation over the past week, it may be George W. Bush's continued reign - at least over Iraq policy -¬ that appears most endangered at the moment.