IRAQ: Divided Government Begins to Take Shape

Major differences continue to divide Shias, Sunnis and Kurds in their move to form a national unity government. Thorny issues are being dealt with simply by putting them aside.

POLITICS: Reversing Policy, U.S. “Froze” Iran Talks in March

In yet another apparent episode of the inability of the White House to steer a consistent diplomatic course in the Middle East, a new report says that the George W. Bush administration ordered U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad in March to postpone indefinitely the talks with Iran on Iraq for which Khalilzad had previously gotten White House approval.

IRAQ: A Word from the Islamic Army

Call them terrorists, call them resistance fighters. A significant member of one such group spoke to IPS about why he joined.

IRAQ: Kurds Overtake the Rest

Kurds had long waited for the day when the new prime minister walked into the parliament hall with his deputy and cabinet members.

POLITICS-US: Jewish Community Worried About Iran Backlash

Amid growing tensions between the United States and Iran, leaders of the U.S. Jewish community are expressing concern over Pres. George W. Bush's recent statements that his main concern in any possible military action would be protecting Israel.

POLITICS-US: Cui Bono? Negroponte or Rumsfeld

Monday's nomination by U.S. President George W. Bush of Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden to take over the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from the hapless Porter Goss has predictably intensified speculation over what is really going on behind the scenes.

HUMAN RIGHTS-US: Another War against Bad Press

A major delegation of lawyers and officials from the United States appeared before the U.N. Committee Against Torture Friday, defending that country vigorously against allegations of serious abuse that have dogged the U.S. government since the early days of the war against terror.

IRAQ/US: Bush’s Wavering Halts Insurgent Peace Talks

The United States has backed away from high-level peace negotiations with Sunni insurgent groups after meeting with them regularly over several weeks in January and February, according to an insurgent leader.

RIGHTS: Assyrians Face Escalating Abuses in “New Iraq”

The longstanding persecution of ethnic minorities in Iraq is quietly writing the end chapter to Iraqi Assyrian history: if the world doesn't wake up to the plight of this people, they will soon be shoved through the door of extinction, warn patrons and human rights defenders.

POLITICS: Iraq, Afghanistan Among Top Ten Failed States

Despite receiving some eight billion dollars a month in economic aid and military support over the past year, Iraq and Afghanistan rank among the world's 10 weakest states, along with much of Central Africa, according to the "Failed States Index" for 2006 released here Tuesday.

WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY-IRAQ: What Can You Believe?

There is so much more media around now; the problem is that Iraqis do not know what to believe anymore.

POLITICS-US: Terrorism Still Thriving, State Department Says

Four years into the "global war on terror", terrorism appears to be thriving, according to the 2005 edition of the annual "Country Reports on Terrorism" released here Friday by the U.S. State Department.

IRAN: Defiant but Ready to Deal

As the deadline set by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to halt uranium enrichment descends upon Iran, the already narrow window of opportunity to resolve the crisis over Tehran's nuclear programme diplomatically may soon slam shut.

RIGHTS-US: Impunity Endures Two Years After Abu Ghraib

Two years after the abuse by U.S. soldiers of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq first came to light, accountability for what turns out to have been a widespread pattern of mistreatment at several detention sites, including torture and at least eight homicides, remains elusive, according to a new report released by three major human rights groups here Wednesday.

POLITICS: Pakistan Stressed by US Designs on Iran

As the crisis around Iran over its alleged nuclear ambitions assumes an ugly shape, Pakistan finds itself once again, under enormous political pressure because of aggressive United States policy towards a Muslim country in its immediate neighbourhood.

POLITICS-US: Six Months to Midterm Elections, Bush’s Popularity at Record Low

Another bad week for U.S. President George W. Bush, who almost exactly three years ago was preparing to don a flight jacket for his triumphal "Mission Accomplished" tour of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier to celebrate his conquest of Iraq.

IRAQ: Baghdad Slipping Into Civil War

The new clashes between Shia militiamen dressed in Iraqi military and police uniforms and resistance fighters and residents from the Sunni Adhamiya district of Baghdad have convinced many that what Baghdad is witnessing is no less than a civil war.

CORRUPTION: Wolfowitz’s Latest War

When Paul Wolfowitz's name was first floated for the World Bank presidency in early 2005, his nomination was met with scepticism from wary Bank staff and incredulity from development campaigners, a start that threatened to put him on a rocky path during his tenure.

POLITICS-US: Iran Crisis, Deja Vu All Over Again?

The drumbeat in some Washington foreign policy circles for "regime change" in Iran has striking similarities to the run-up to the Iraq invasion, and is being led by some of the usual suspects - like the American Enterprise Institute's Michael Ledeen.

POLITICS-US: Rumsfeld’s Fall Drags Hawks in its Wake

Despite White House efforts to put an end to the controversy, the battle over the fate of Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld shows little sign of abating.

US/IRAQ: General Reveals Rift with Rumsfeld on Insurgents

A military assessment of the Iraqi insurgency in late 2004 concluded that it had the active support of millions of Sunnis who rejected the legitimacy of a U.S. installed government, according to Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, who led all coalition forces in Iraq from January 2005 to January 2006.