IRAQ: U.S. Writes Sunni Resistance Out of Anbar Story

Are the Sunni leaders in Iraq's Anbar province finally coming around to joining the U.S. counterinsurgency war?

POLITICS-US: I’m a Veteran, and I Support/Despise This War

The 2006 U.S. Congressional elections are heating up, along with a proliferation of television ads featuring U.S. veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

POLITICS-US: Iraq, Overstretched Army Bring Bush New Grief

With the U.S. intelligence community agreed that the invasion and occupation of Iraq have made this country less safe from terrorist threats, President George W. Bush appears now to be facing a growing revolt among top military commanders who say U.S. ground forces are stretched close to the breaking point.

POLITICS-US: Top CIA Expert Slams Bush Anti-Terror Actions

The Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) recently retired top expert on radical Islamists has strongly denounced the conduct of U.S. President George W. Bush's "global war on terrorism" and the continued U.S. military presence in Iraq, which he said is "contributing to the violence".

POLITICS: Iraq Occupation Depends on Sadr – and Iran

For many months, the George W. Bush administration has been complaining that Iranian meddling in Iraq is a threat to the country's stability and to U.S. troops. The irony of this publicity campaign over Tehran's alleged bid to undermine the occupation is that Iran may well be the main factor holding up a showdown between militant Shiites and U.S. forces.

IRAQ: Home Raids Provoke Increased Unrest

Renewed raids at Iraqi homes by joint U.S.-Iraqi security forces are angering Iraqis - while failing to improve the worsening security situation.

POLITICS-US: Bush Clears Task Force to Meet With Iranians

While his handlers worked assiduously Tuesday to ensure that U.S. President George W. Bush did not run into his Iranian nemesis, Mahmood Ahmedinejad, in the corridors of the U.N., a legendary fixer for the Bush family announced that the White House had cleared him to meet with a "high representative" of Tehran's government.

IRAQ: Artists Speak For Lebanon

If art knows no boundaries, artists don't either. Through witnessing destruction all around them, Iraqi artists have found time to spare a thought and more for Lebanon.

IRAQ: A Government Without Governance

The national unity government led by Shia Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has failed to deliver its promises to improve life for Iraqis. Five months after the government took over, the country still faces a rising tide of sectarian violence, and inadequate public services.

IRAQ: U.S. Resorting to ‘Collective Punishment’

U.S. forces are taking to collective punishment of civilians in several cities across the al-Anabar province west of Baghdad, residents and officials say.

MEDIA-IRAQ/US: Is It the PR, or the Policy?

In a recent speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared that, "The enemy is so much better at communicating. I wish we were better at countering that because the constant drumbeat of things they say - all of which are not true - is harmful."

POLITICS-US: Neo-Con Favourite Declares World War III

Two years before the 2008 presidential election, Newt Gingrich, the former Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, is trying desperately to grab the national spotlight by declaring he'd be a lot tougher than the George W. Bush in prosecuting what he calls "World War III".

IRAQ: Fallujah Under Threat Yet Again

After enduring two major assaults, Fallujah is under threat from U.S. forces again, residents say.

U.S.-9/11: Five Years In, Bush Is Losing Terror War

To consider whether U.S. President George W. Bush is winning his "global war on terror" (GWOT) five years after al Qaeda's devastating 9/11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon, one has only to look at the news of the past few days.

ASIA-9/11: GWOT Leaves Region in Turmoil

Five years after U.S. President George W. Bush launched his "global war on terrorism" (GWOT), the world has become more unsafe, more divided, more strife-prone, more paranoid, and ironically, more vulnerable to terrorism.

U.S.-9/11: Poll Finds Waning Faith in Military Interventions

Five years after "9/11", the U.S. public is considerably less enthusiastic about projecting military power abroad, according to a major new survey, the first of a spate of polls that are likely to released in the run-up to Monday's fifth anniversary of the attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

POLITICS-US: Soldier Who Chose Jail Over Iraq Goes Home

Last week, a 41-year-old U.S. army sergeant from Hinesville, Georgia was released from prison after serving 13 months of a 15-month sentence for refusing to board a plane bound for Iraq.

MEDIA-9/11: Remembering the Journalists

"If there's only one sight I'll remember from the destruction of the World Trade Centre, it is the flight of desperation - the headlong leap from the top-most floors by those who chose a different death than the choking smoke and flame," wrote John Bussey of The Wall Street Journal on Sep. 11, 2001.

IRAQ: U.S. Losing Control Fast

The U.S. military has lost control over the volatile al-Anbar province, Iraqi police and residents say.

POLITICS-US: Republican Control of Congress in Peril

As the 2006 U.S. mid-term election campaign officially got underway over the three-day Labour Day weekend, Republican hopes of retaining control of both houses of Congress look increasingly fragile.

IRAQ: Kirkuk Confronts an Uncertain Future

Rahman Aziz, 37, laughs out loud with his friend Rahman as they sit together across from the old citadel in this northern Iraqi city. The city needs their laughter.