Daily News Archive In Focus – Iraq (1,038 articles)
Iraq may have fallen from the attention of most news outlet’s, but the war that commenced in 2003 is still very much ongoing. To read our archive of over 1,000 Iraq related stories CLICK HERE
Suicide bomber strikes in Baghdad
Reuters – One policeman dies and four are wounded after a man wearing an explosives belt attacks a police checkpoint in the Iraqi capital. Sunita Rappai reports.
What Iraq’s Oil Boom Means For The Global Market
NPR – In a remarkable shift, Iraq’s oil exports jumped by 20 percent since January, and the country exported more oil in April than in any month since Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990. Energy expert Daniel Yergin discusses how Iraq’s oil wealth is driving the Iraqi economy and reshaping the global oil market. Read Article
Iraqi Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi charged with murder
BBC – Iraq’s fugitive Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi has been charged with several murders, including those of six judges, court officials in Baghdad say. Mr Hashemi is not expected to attend his trial, which opens on Thursday. He has taken refuge in the Kurdish north. Read article
Robert Fisk: The Children of Fallujah – Sayef’s story
The Independent – Special Report day one: The phosphorus shells that devastated this city were fired in 2004. But are the victims of America’s dirty war still being born? For little Sayef, there will be no Arab Spring. He lies, just 14 months old, on a small red blanket cushioned by a cheap mattress on the floor, occasionally crying, his head twice the size it should be, blind and paralysed. Sayeffedin Abdulaziz Mohamed – his full name – has a kind face in his outsized head and they say he smiles when other children visit and when Iraqi families and neighbours come into the room. Read article
Robert Fisk: The Children of Fallujah – families fight back
The Independent – Special Report day three: Abandoned and afraid, the parents of Iraq’s suffering children wait in vain for help. “He needs multiple surgery outside Iraq. … He has no hearing in his left ear. They told me he has to be six before they can remove cartilage from his chest wall to put in his ear. All operations have to be outside Iraq to beautify the ear and give him his hearing.” … Compared to other children with birth deformities, Sayef Ala’a is lucky. He can see, breathe, walk, run, play and listen to his father and friends with his right ear. Read article
Robert Fisk: The Children of Fallujah – the hospital of horrors
Special Report day two: The pictures flash up on a screen on an upper floor of the Fallujah General Hospital. And all at once, Nadhem Shokr al-Hadidi’s administration office becomes a little chamber of horrors. A baby with a hugely deformed mouth. A child with a defect of the spinal cord, material from the spine outside the body. A baby with a terrible, vast Cyclopean eye. Another baby with only half a head, stillborn like the rest, date of birth 17 June, 2009. Yet another picture flicks onto the screen: date of birth 6 July 2009, it shows a tiny child with half a right arm, no left leg, no genitalia. Read article
Wave of bomb attacks strike Iraq
At least 20 car and roadside bombs targeting security forces rip through cities across Iraq, leaving at least 36 dead and dozens injured.
Iraq dinar hit by fallout from sanctions next door
Reuters – At Alaa Radhi’s currency exchange shop in central Baghdad, a board showing the rate of Iraqi dinars to the dollar has three question marks next to the price. For weeks now, Iraqi businesses say they have been struggling as the dinar has become increasingly volatile due to fallout from sanctions imposed on neighbouring Iran and Syria and to Iraq’s own political turmoil. Read Article
Fugitive Saddam deputy urges resistance in video
Reuters – A man appearing to be Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, the head of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party, criticises Iraq’s Shiite leaders and warns against Iranian influence. Lindsey Parietti reports.
‘Alarming’ surge in executions, says Amnesty
BBC – Amnesty International says there was a surge in the number of executions carried out worldwide in 2011, mainly centred in the Middle East. In an annual report, the group said Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia were most responsible for the increase. But it also noted that China executed more people than the rest of the world put together. Overall however, fewer countries now practise the death penalty, the group noted. Read Article
Dozens of bombs kill at least 52 across Iraq
Reuters – More than 30 bombs struck cities and towns across Iraq on Tuesday, killing at least 52 people and wounding about 250, despite a massive security clampdown ahead of next week’s Arab League summit in Baghdad. It was Iraq’s bloodiest day in nearly a month, and the scale of the coordinated explosions in more than a dozen cities showed an apparent determination by insurgents to prove that the government cannot keep the country safe ahead of the summit. Read Article
Iraq lets Iran fly arms to Syria despite U.S. protests
WT – The Iraqi government has refused U.S. requests to stop Iranian cargo flights to Syria, despite being aware of credible intelligence that the planes are transporting up to 30 tons of weapons, according to a U.S. official. The U.S. has made several requests in recent months to the Iraqi government, including directly to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, to either stop allowing Iran to use its airspace or allow the planes to be inspected in compliance with international law. Iraq has refused, saying the planes are carrying only humanitarian aid. Read article
Daily News Archive In Focus – Iraq (1,025 articles)
Iraq may have fallen from the attention of most news outlet’s, but the war that commenced in 2003 is still very much ongoing. To read our archive of over 1,000 Iraq related stories CLICK HERE
25 police killed in western Iraq shooting spree
Washington Post – A gang of gunmen disguised in military-style uniforms and carrying forged arrest warrants killed 25 police officers Monday, then hoisted the battle flag of al-Qaeda in a carefully planned early morning attack in western Iraq, officials said. The killings in Haditha highlight the success of al-Qaeda-linked militants in regaining a foothold in an area they once dominated through police executions and the killings of city officials. Read Article
Iraq War And Afghan Conflict Harmed The Economy, Study Says
Huffington Post – Defense spending has boomed in the post-9/11 era, creating new jobs and programs to support American military operations around the world. But a new report released last week by the Institute for Economics and Peace says that war expenditures create as much of a bubble as the housing or stock markets, providing short-term gains while creating massive long-term problems. Read Article
Iraq monthly death toll 151 in February
Reuters – Militants killed 151 Iraqi civilians and members of the security forces in February, according to official figures, showing that daily bombings and shootings remain a persistent fact of life despite the withdrawal of U.S. forces in December. The overall level of violence was down slightly from the previous month. A spate of attacks on February 23 that killed more than 60 people was a reminder that militants can still cause large-scale slaughter. Read Article
Israel, Kurdish fighters destroyed Iran nuclear facility, email released by WikiLeaks claims
Haaretz – In exchange released by website, worker at Stratfor intelligence firm doubts validity of a source claiming an Israeli ground force had already wiped out Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. The mega-leaks website, WikiLeaks, has partnered with the hackers cooperative Anonymous, to publish internal emails of the American strategic intelligence company Stratfor. In one of the hacked emails, Stratfor officials discuss information obtained from one of their sources who reports that Israeli commandos, in cooperation with Kurdish fighters, have destroyed Iranian nuclear installations. Read Article
Iraq attacks kill 55 as Shia and police targeted
BBC – At least 55 people have been killed and hundreds injured in a wave of bombings and shootings across Iraq, police say. Thursday’s violence targeted predominantly Shia areas, in particular police officers and checkpoints. Dozens were killed in Baghdad, with attacks targeting commuters and crowds. One car bomb in the upmarket Karrada district killed nine people. No group has yet said it was behind the violence. Attacks in Iraq have risen since US troops withdrew in December. Read Article
Saudi Arabia Cuts Oil Output, Export
CNBC – The world’s top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, appears to have cut both its oil production and export in December, according to the latest update by the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI), an official source of oil production, consumption and export data. The OPEC heavyweight saw production decline by 237,000 barrels per day (bpd) from three-decade highs of 10.047 million bpd in November, the JODI data showed on Sunday. Read Article
Shootings, bombings across Iraq leave 22 dead
Press TV – Twenty-two people have been killed and several others injured in shootings and bomb attacks in the capital Baghdad and the cities of Baqouba and Samarra, security officials say. Iraqi security officials said 15 people were killed and 21 others wounded in a car bombing at the entrance of the Baghdad police academy on Sunday. Read Article
US military Wants $3 Billion for a War It Isn’t Fighting
Wired – Thought the Iraq war was over? The Obama administration certainly wants you to think so, the better for its re-election campaign. Inconvenient fact, though: The Pentagon is asking for nearly $3 billion for a war it isn’t actually fighting. To be specific, the Pentagon’s brand-new budget request asks for $2.9 billion for what it calls “Post-Operation NEW DAWN (OND)/Iraq Activities.” That’s almost as much money as the Pentagon spends on Darpa, its mad-science arm. And there are practically no U.S. troops in Iraq. Read Article
Turkey ‘bombs Iraq hideouts of Kurdish rebels PKK’
BBC – Turkish warplanes have bombed suspected Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq, Turkey’s military says. The jets hit caves and hideouts in the regions of Zap and Hakurk late on Saturday before returning to base, the military said in a statement. No further details were given. The rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has been fighting for autonomy in Turkey’s largely Kurdish south-east since 1984 in a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives. Northern Iraq has long been used as a base by the PKK for attacks inside Turkey. Read Article
Car bomb kills three Iraqi soldiers north of Baghdad
Independent – Three Iraqi soldiers have been killed in a bomb blast north of Baghdad, an Iraqi official said today. The attack came hours before the nation’s parliament is to reconvene after Sunni-backed politicians ended their boycott in protest at persecution of Sunni officials. Major Ghalib al-Karkhi, a police spokesman in Diyala province, said a parked car bomb was detonated near a military patrol in Baqouba late yesterday, killing three soldiers and injuring three others. Read Article
