A bleak end in Iraq
The year ended in Iraq with a string of bombings that killed and wounded hundreds of people and sharpened a political deadlock that has gripped the country since the departure of the last American combat troops on 18 December. The carnage was a tragic closing chapter to the US occupation of Iraq, marked this month by a ceremony presided over by US President Barack Obama nearly nine years after former president George W Bush sent American forces into the country to topple the regime led by former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein with a promise t…
Iraq celebrates U.S. withdrawal
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki declared a new dawn on Saturday as Iraq celebrated the departure of American troops at a ceremony held amid tight security and without Maliki's key political rivals. Iraq was engulfed in its worst political crisis in a year after the last U.S. troops left on December 18 when Maliki sought the arrest of Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, threatening a frail coalition government of Sunnis, Shi'ites and Kurds. Saturday marked the end of the 2008 security pact agreed by then-President George W. Bush and …
Iraqis Celebrate As Forces Leave
Hundreds of Sunni Muslims gathered in Baghdad Friday to celebrate the withdrawal of American forces, but in a sign of the sectarian divisions that re-emerged immediately after their departure, Shiite Muslims did not join the event. The celebration took place near the Abu Hanifa mosque, the main house of worship in the primarily Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah in northern Baghdad. To secure the event, Iraqi troops blocked traffic on roads leading to the mosque and searched people approaching the area. During the rally, men and children waved Ir…
Iraq row festers
A political row festered in Iraq on Friday, as a top Sunni leader denied he penned a commentary criticising the Shiite-led government, the latest in a crisis that has stoked sectarian tensions. Since the departure of US troops less than two weeks ago, Iraq has plummeted into a political standoff, with authorities having charged Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi with running a death squad and premier Nuri al-Maliki calling for his Sunni deputy Saleh al-Mutlak to be sacked. Mutlak and Hashemi's Sunni-backed Iraqiya party has boycotted …
Veterans to pressure UK NHS
Cuts to the armed forces could lead to thousands more combat veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan needing help to cope with a range of mental illnesses, including post-traumatic stress disorder, a charity has warned. With the British army being cut by a fifth between now and 2020, and the navy and air force shrinking too, the numbers leaving military service are rising fast. This could put an extra burden on the NHS to care for battle-scarred troops, according to Combat Stress. The charity says many personnel are unable to acknowledge they hav…
Iraq adopts terror law
The Iraqi Council of Ministers has approved a law defining "crimes of terrorism," intended to promote stability and security, government officials said. The Anti-Terrorism Law ratified Tuesday "stemmed from the Iraqi government's keenness for the sovereignty of the law, the stability of security in the country, along with putting an end to acts of terrorism," government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement Wednesday. "The draft-law describes crimes of terrorism as any action or refusal to carry out any act…
Iraq, war without end
Home is the hardest place to find for children of immigrants. But for me, nothing hits closer to home than when a bomb goes off in Baghdad. Last week, just days after American troops pulled out of Iraq, 63 people died and 176 were wounded in Baghdad. As the son of Iraqis who left home in the late '70s, I have only a few fading memories of my last visit to Basra. I remember our grandparents' home, my uncle's dog, the size of the tires on his Jeep. I remember the smell distinctly, but I can't put it into words. I remember feelin…
Oakland can be worse than Iraq
After the Iraq war broke out, Ghazwan Al-Sharif went to work translating for the U.S. military - a job that paid well but subjected his family to repeated violence, including a brutal attack on his sister. Scared for his life, Al-Sharif accepted the government's offer to come to America as a refugee, one of thousands relocated to this country since the war began. In June 2008, he moved in with two other Iraqi refugees, sharing a two-bedroom apartment in Oakland's Fruitvale neighborhood - a situation arranged by the nonprofit Internati…
Iraqis Wrangle Over Crisis
A suicide car bombing near Iraq's Interior Ministry headquarters in Baghdad killed five people on Monday, coming as Iraqi politicians hunker down in meetings aimed at defusing the political crisis that has erupted following the withdrawal of U.S. troops. The Baghdad blast, which also left at least 39 people wounded, came after a wave of attacks across Baghdad on Thursday killed 60 people, raising the specter of renewed sectarian violence amid a standoff between Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, a Su…
Iraq hit by more bombs
The bombing will add to fears of Iraq's growing political instability since the pull-out of Americans forces earlier this month. The government is on the verge of collapse after Iraqiya, the bloc representing most Sunnis, walked out of the cross-sectarian coalition in protest at the Shia prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki. Mr Maliki had issued a warrant for the arrest of Tariq al-Hashemi, the Sunni vice-president, accusing him of being responsible for terror attacks. Yesterday's bomb exploded at a checkpoint, and most of the dead were po…
Iraq's Christians mark Christmas
Iraq's dwindling Christian population marked Christmas on Sunday with religious leaders calling for peace, days after attacks across Baghdad killed dozens and a political row raised sectarian tensions. The commemoration came a week after US forces completed their withdrawal from the country, with a senior bishop noting little was being done to prevent a continuing Christian emigration from Iraq. At the Church of Our Lady of Sacred Heart in east Baghdad, hundreds of worshippers gathered for a 90-minute Sunday morning mass, the second of t…
Terror kills Christmas in Iraq
CHRISTMAS has gone underground in Baghdad this year with the leaders of one of the world's oldest Christian communities taking the extraordinary step of warning followers that it is too dangerous to openly celebrate Christ's birthday. "We have told everyone that there should be no public parties or large gatherings and people should do their own celebrations in their homes," said Ra'ad Emmanuel, the head of the government-backed Iraqi Christian Endowment. Interviewed in the endowment's offices in Baghdad, Mr Emmanue…
Explosions Rock Baghdad
A series of explosions ripped through Iraq’s capital on Thursday, in an ominous turn for a country already reeling from a deepening political and sectarian crisis that erupted after the departure of the United States military. It was Baghdad’s deadliest day in more than a year. The attacks began at 6:30 a.m. and transformed the morning commute into a bloodbath. Car bombs and improvised explosives destroyed schools, markets and apartments. An ambulance packed with explosives incinerated a government office. At least 63 people were killed and 1…
