Stories tagged "iraq"

This morning U.S. and Iraqi officials had a ceremony to officially recognize the new U.S.-Iraq security pact. This pact, which is considered a landmark in restoring Iraq’s independence, requires all U.S. troops to leave Iraq by the end of 2011. For a look at what the pact's implications are for Iraq's future and the new role of U.S. forces (key words: baby steps), The Takeaway turns to Campbell Robertson. Mr. Robertson is the Iraq war correspondent for our partner The New York Times and is in Iraq and watched this morning's ceremony.

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In Afghanistan and Iraq, war dominates every day. For a brief holiday from Christmas, The Takeaway turns to New York Times correspondent Campbell Robertson.

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The State Department announced yesterday that it recommended that the U.S. drop Blackwater, the main private security contractor for American diplomats in Iraq. Blackwater has had an international reputation as the big Baghdad bully who is exempt from Iraqi law and U.S. oversight. All of that changed last year when its guards opened fire in Baghdad, killing 17 Iraqi civilians. Five Blackwater employees have since been charged with manslaughter. If the Blackwater contract is not renewed next year, the big question is, who will rush in to fill the security vacuum? Joining us for some answers is Washington Post foreign correspondent Steve Fainaru, who was embedded with thousands of private security contractors while researching his new book, "Big Boy Rules: America's Mercenaries Fighting in Iraq."

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People around the world are still talking about the Iraqi reporter who threw his shoes at President Bush. The BBC are reporting that the clip of this encounter had over one milllion hits in over 24 hours. Marc Sirois, the managing editor of Beirut's The Daily Star, joins The Takeaway to discuss the global reaction to the incident.

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An unpublished 513-page federal history of the American-led reconstruction of Iraq ("Official History Spotlights Iraq Rebuilding Blunders", the New York Times, Dec. 14, 2008) depicts an effort crippled before the invasion by Pentagon planners who were hostile to the idea of rebuilding a foreign country, and then molded into a $100 billion failure by bureaucratic turf wars, spiraling violence and ignorance of the basic elements of Iraqi society and infrastructure.

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Five employees of Blackwater are indicted in the killing of 17 unarmed Iraqi civilians.

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The BBC's Dan Damon is in Iraq, patrolling on foot with the US military.

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"The controls that might have been written six weeks ago when this bill was signed would perhaps be defunct at this point because of the change in policy. That exposes the soft underbelly of the overall process."
— Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen speaking about overseeing financial bailouts

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A new study of U.S. military veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan has found that 15 percent of women suffered some form of sexual trauma during their military service.

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By this week, the U.S. military in Iraq should have largely transferred responsibility for paying members of "the Sons of Iraq," Sunni Arab groups fighting al-Qaida to the Iraqi government. And, senior Iraqi politicians are warning that, after eight months of talks, a major deal between Baghdad and Washington that directs the presence of American troops in Iraq is doomed.

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If the NSA is listening to your phone calls and reading your emails, would you want to know about it?

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There are more details today on a draft agreement to extend the U.S. mandate in Iraq. According to the BBC, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is briefing members of Congress about a deal that would extend the U.S. presence in Iraq to 2011, but start a pullout of troops from Iraqi urban areas in the middle of next year. The deal still has to pass muster with the Iraqi parliament.

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Key to the success of the troop surge in Iraq was a change that took place between U.S. forces and former insurgent tribal groups that came to be called "The Awakening." These groups, impatient with militants like al-Qaida in Iraq and Shiite insurgents, began to work with U.S. forces. They used to work with al-Qaida. Now they fight against them, with the help of the Americans. They were paid for their allegiance, but starting today U.S. forces are going to stop paying these groups. The Iraqi army will hand out their pay packets instead. Will the alliance hold?

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U.S. military commander General David Petraeus handed over his command in Iraq to Lieutenant General Raymond Odierno. Petraeus has been credited with overseeing improvements in security across the country, but the incoming U.S. commander is warning that violence could easily escalate.

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Gen. David Petraeus, the new head of Central Command, says he probably won't ever use the word "victory" when talking about the war in Iraq.

Q: Do you think you will ever use the word "victory"? Petraeus: I don't know that I will. I think that all of us at different times have recognized the need for real restraint in our assessments, in our pronouncements, if you will. And we have tried to be very brutally honest and forthright in what we have provided to Congress, to the press, and to ourselves.

He went on to say that long-term gains in Iraq are not irreversible, and that he believes the administration is in for a long struggle with the war.

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