News Archive 2007

Iraq Attacks Fall 60 Percent, Petraeus Says
NY Times Online
By STEPHEN FARRELL and SOLOMON MOORE
Published: December 30, 2007
BAGHDAD — The top American military commander in Iraq said Saturday that violent attacks in the country had fallen by 60 percent since June, but cautioned that security gains were “tenuous” and “fragile,” requiring political and economic progress to cement them...

Shiite Contest Sharpens In Iraq
Washington Post Online
By Sudarsan Raghavan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, December 26, 2007; Page A01
KARBALA, Iraq -- Posted at the door of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's office recently, a flier denounced the arrests of his followers. Up and down the barricaded street, soldiers and policemen loyal to his Shiite rivals stood sentry, some in tan armored personnel carriers, questioning anyone they suspected of links to the populist cleric...

Iraq 'torture complex' discovered
BBC Online
Tuesday, December 20, 2007
US and Iraqi forces have discovered a "torture complex" in an al-Qaeda safe haven near Muqdadiya in central Diyala province, the US military has said. Three buildings containing chains on the walls and ceilings, and a metal bed connected to a power supply were found during an operation on 9 December...

In Iraq, Rice renews call for reconciliation
by CNN's Morgan Neill and Jomana Karadsheh
CNN Online
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday that improvements in security in Iraq have provided a window of opportunity in which political reconciliation should take place. "There has been progress made here," Rice said at a Baghdad news conference during an unannounced visit to Iraq...

Inspector General for Iraq Under Investigation
By Robin Wright
Washington Post
Friday, December 14, 2007; Page A01
Over the past four years, Inspector General Stuart W. Bowen Jr. and his staff have probed allegations of waste and fraud in the $22 billion U.S. effort to rebuild Iraq. Their work has led to arrests, indictments and millions of dollars in fines. And it has earned Bowen, who had been a legal adviser to President Bush, many admirers among both parties on Capitol Hill for his efforts to identify overspending and mismanagement. But Bowen's office has also been roiled by allegations of its own overspending and mismanagement...

U.S. and Iran Will Meet, Iraqi Official Says
Published: Monday, 10 December 2007
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NY Times Online
AGHDAD (AP) -- U.S. and Iranian experts will hold a meeting next week to discuss security issues ahead of an expected round of formal talks on Iraq's stability, Iraq's foreign minister said Monday. Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said the two sides had agreed to hold their fourth round of ambassador-level talks in Baghdad, but the timing was still being discussed. However, a meeting of security, military and diplomatic experts would be held on Dec. 18 to discuss technical issues, he said...

Red Crescent confirms Iraq trend
Published: Monday, 3 December 2007
BBC Online
Up to 28,000 Iraqi refugees have returned home since mid-September, according to the Iraqi Red Crescent. The figure is lower than that given by the Iraqi government, but it confirms a trend of refugees coming back....

Bush, Maliki Sign Pact on Iraq's Future
By Peter Baker and Ann Scott Tyson
Published: November 27, 2007
Washington Post Online, A14
President Bush reached a deal yesterday that is intended to lead to a more normalized, long-term relationship between the United States and Iraq by the time he leaves office, but it left unsettled the question of how many and how long U.S. forces would remain....

U.S. Scales Back Political Goals for Iraqi Unity
By STEVEN LEE MYERS and ALISSA J. RUBIN
Published: November 25, 2007
NY Times Online
WASHINGTON, Nov. 24 — With American military successes outpacing political gains in Iraq, the Bush administration has lowered its expectation of quickly achieving major steps toward unifying the country, including passage of a long-stymied plan to share oil revenues and holding regional elections...

Iraqis Joining Insurgency Less for Cause Than Cash
By Amit R. Paley
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, November 20, 2007; Page A01
MOSUL, Iraq -- Abu Nawall, a captured al-Qaeda in Iraq leader, said he didn't join the Sunni insurgent group here to kill Americans or to form a Muslim caliphate. He signed up for the cash. "I was out of work and needed the money," said Abu Nawall, the nom de guerre of an unemployed metal worker who was paid as much as $1,300 a month as an insurgent. He spoke in a phone interview from an Iraqi military base where he is being detained. "How else could I support my family?"...

In Mixed Slice of Baghdad, Old Bonds Defy War
By SABRINA TAVERNISE and KARIM HILMI
NY Times Online
Published: November 13, 2007
BAGHDAD — At its oldest spot, a small dusty strip of dirt road near a mosque, the neighborhood of Bab al Sheik — a maze of snaking streets too narrow for cars — dates from a time, more than a thousand years ago, when Baghdad ruled the Islamic world...

Iraq rocket fire 'falls sharply'
Published: Monday, 12 November 2007
BBC News Online
Rocket and mortar attacks in Iraq are reported to have fallen to their lowest levels for nearly two years. The US military said such attacks in October fell to 369, half the level during October 2006. This is the third month running of reduced rocket fire...

Militant Group Is Out of Baghdad, U.S. Says
By DAMIEN CAVE
Published: November 8, 2007
NY Times Online
BAGHDAD, Nov. 7 — American forces have routed Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the Iraqi militant network, from every neighborhood of Baghdad, a top American general said today, allowing American troops involved in the “surge” to depart as planned...

2007 Is Deadliest Year for U.S. Troops in Iraq
By DAMIEN CAVE
Published: November 7, 2007
NY Times Online
BAGHDAD, Nov. 6 — Six American soldiers were killed in three separate attacks in Iraq on Monday, the military said Tuesday, taking the number of deaths this year to 852. The toll makes 2007 the deadliest year of the war for United States troops.

For Kurds In N. Iraq, A Familiar Foreboding
Published: November 1, 2007
By Sudarsan Raghavan
Washington Post Online
DESHTETEK, Iraq, Oct. 31 -- The last three women left this tiny hamlet on Monday, carrying no more than their clothes and prayers. They joined 250 villagers who fled in the past two weeks, locking their homes and their yellow church and driving away on a desolate road scarred by war. Only 11 men remain, their lands separated from Turkey by a thin, emerald river winding through a fertile valley...

Iraqi troops rescue tribal chiefs
Published: October 29, 2007
BBC News Online
Iraqi troops have rescued eight members of a group of 11 tribal leaders abducted in Baghdad on Sunday, the Iraqi defence ministry has said.Spokesman Maj Gen Mohammed al-Askari said the sheikhs were freed in a raid on a house following a tip off...

US-Iraqi contract 'in disarray'
Published: October 23, 2007
BBC News Online
A $1.2bn (£590m) contract for training Iraqi police was so badly managed that auditors do not know how the money was spent, the US state department says...

In Iraq, Conflict Simmers on a 2nd Kurdish Front
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.
Published: October 23, 2007
NY Times Online
BAGHDAD, Oct. 22 — Deadly raids into Turkey by Kurdish militants holed up in northern Iraq are the focus of urgent diplomacy, with Turkey threatening invasion of Iraq and the United States begging for restraint while expressing solidarity with Turkish anger. Yet out of the public eye, a chillingly similar battle has been under way on the Iraqi border with Iran...

Combat Brigade To Leave Iraq
By Amit R. Paley and Josh White
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, October 18, 2007; Page A16
BAGHDAD, Oct. 17 -- The U.S. military intends to reduce the number of combat brigades in Iraq from 20 to 19 by the end of this year, the first part of a plan to withdraw thousands of American troops from the war zone by next summer, military officials said Wednesday...