Fallback strategy for Iraq: Train locals, draw down forcesWASHINGTON — American military planners have begun plotting a fallback strategy for Iraq that includes a gradual withdrawal of forces and a renewed emphasis on training Iraqi fighters in case the current troop buildup fails or is derailed by Congress.
Such a strategy, based in part on the U.S. experience in El Salvador in the 1980s, is still in the early planning stages and would be adjusted to fit the outcome of the current surge in troop levels, according to military offic... (more)
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The Sadrist Movement in Iraq: Death Squads in Iraq, US war preparations and "Surge"Dr Munthir al-Kewther was born in Najaf, Iraq, in 1965. He has studied Islamic and Western philosophy at various Western and Iraqi universities. Kewther completed his PhD in Islamic philosophy at Iraq's Kufa University in 1995.
Kewther is currently dean of the faculty of media and journalism at al-Huraa University in the Netherlands. He has an extensive background as a television presenter and broadcaster. From 2001-06 he was a newsreader and program presenter at Al-Mustaqillah T... (more)
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Warsaw Ghetto Comments Provoke Fury: German Bishops Accused of Anti-SemitismThe visit by German Catholic bishops to Israel and the Palestinian territories had exceeded expectations -- until some of the bishops compared the situation of the Palestinians to the Warsaw Ghetto. The comments have enraged the Jewish community in Germany -- now the Church is rushing to apologize.
The members of the German Catholic Bishops' Conference spent last week in the Holy Land. While the trip went well for the most part, remarks by two of the bishops have led to a row in G... (more)
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Mossad kidnaps Iranian ex-officialA former Iranian Defense Ministry official, who was reported missing in Turkey last month, has reportedly been kidnapped by Israeli secret services.
Alireza Askari, 63, was then taken to the United States by the Israeli spy agency Mossad, informed sources said.
Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki had earlier said that Iran will send a team of diplomats to Turkey to find out how the former deputy defense minister mysteriously disappeared while on a private tri... (more)
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Israel, Iran top 'negative list'A majority of people believe that Israel and Iran have a mainly negative influence in the world, a poll for the BBC World Service suggests.
It shows that the two countries are closely followed by the United States and North Korea.
The poll asked 28,000 people in 27 countries to rate a dozen countries plus the EU in terms of whether they have a positive or negative influence.
Canada, Japan and the EU are viewed most positively in the survey.
... (more)
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Texans fear US sovereignty will disappear down superhighway If it were built, the road would be one of the engineering wonders of the 21st century -a trade route a quarter of a mile wide, carving a path from Mexico through the heart of America to Canada.
In its most radical form, it would allow lorry drivers to travel hundreds of miles from the Mexican border deep into the US before reaching customs and immigration controls in Kansas.
Backers of the idea, labelled the "Nafta Superhighway", after the N... (more)
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Iran's rich architecture and rare treasures threatened by possible US strikesTourists visit Persepolis, which lies within 50 miles of the Ardakan and Fasa uranium processing plants. Photograph: Vahid Salemi/AP
In his quiet office at the British Museum, among the portraits of long-dead explorers and copies of 3,000-year-old inscriptions, one of the greatest experts on the archaeology of the Middle East has a series of maps of Iranian nuclear installations spread out across his desk.
John Curtis's maps fill him with foreboding: because ... (more)
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Putin ready to fix election, intelligence chief claims Relations between the US and Russia appeared to sink to a new low yesterday after Moscow angrily dismissed accusations that democracy in Russia had taken a "back step".
Russia's foreign ministry called the accusation by Mike McConnell, Washington's national intelligence director, in a speech to the US Senate's armed services committee on Tuesday, "outmoded" and "totally groundless".
Mr McConnell, an expert on the former Soviet Union, said Russi... (more)
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Report: 3 Gulf states agree to IAF overflights en route to Iran Three Arab states in the Persian Gulf would be willing to allow the Israel Air force to enter their airspace in order to reach Iran in case of an attack on its nuclear facilities, the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Siyasa reported on Sunday.
According to the report, a diplomat from one of the gulf states visiting Washington on Saturday said the three states, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, have told the United States that they would not obje... (more)
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Israel seeks all clear for Iran air strikeIsrael is negotiating with the United States for permission to fly over Iraq as part of a plan to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.
To conduct surgical air strikes against Iran's nuclear programme, Israeli war planes would need to fly across Iraq. But to do so the Israeli military authorities in Tel Aviv need permission from the Pentagon.
A senior Israeli defence official said negotiations were now underway between the two countries f... (more)
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Another U.S. Military Assault on MediaBAGHDAD, Feb 23 (IPS) - Iraqi journalists are outraged over yet another U.S. military raid on the media.
U.S. soldiers raided and ransacked the offices of the Iraq Syndicate of Journalists (ISJ) in central Baghdad Tuesday this week. Ten armed guards were arrested, and 10 computers and 15 small electricity generators kept for donation to families of killed journalists were seized.
This is not the first time U.S. troops have attacked the media in Iraq, but this time t... (more)
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US ratchets up 'psy-ops' against Tehran Psychological warfare is fast emerging as the key component of the conflict between Iran and the United States. It is being used extensively by the latter to influence Iranian behavior in Iraq and secure a climbdown by the Islamic Republic in the intricate negotiations over the country's controversial nuclear program.
As the Iranians analyze and react to this carefully crafted psychological-warfare campaign, they run the risk of miscalculating broader developments in the region. T... (more)
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US Dismisses Iranian Nuclear Offer As Warships ArriveThe United States on Tuesday dismissed an Iranian offer to suspend uranium enrichment work if Western countries did the same, as a second US aircraft carrier took up position in the region. The offer came ahead of a Friday report by the UN nuclear watchdog expected to confirm that Iran has defied the calls for a halt to its sensitive uranium enrichment program. Washington and many Western nations believe Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran insists the program is peaceful.
... (more)
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The Iraq Effect: War Has Increased Terrorism Sevenfold Worldwide"If we were not fighting and destroying this enemy in Iraq, they would not be idle. They would be plotting and killing Americans across the world and within our own borders. By fighting these terrorists in Iraq, Americans in uniform are defeating a direct threat to the American people." So said President Bush on November 30, 2005, refining his earlier call to "bring them on." Jihadist terrorists, the administration’s argument went, would be drawn to Iraq like moths to a flame, and would pe... (more)
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Blair: 1,600 troops to leave IraqLONDON, England (CNN) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Wednesday announced plans for the imminent withdrawal of around 1,600 of his country's troops from Iraq.
In a statement to lawmakers in the House of Commons, Blair said the UK's coalition contingent based in Basra would be reduced in the coming months -- but only if Iraqi security forces could secure the southern part of the country.
"The actual reduction in forces will be from the present 7,100 -- itsel... (more)
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Iran claims U.S., Britain involved in attackTEHRAN, IRAN — Bullet cartridges bearing a U.S. insignia and English lettering were among the weaponry seized last week from Sunni militants suspected of killing 11 members of Iran's elite Shiite-dominated Revolutionary Guards, Iranian officials said Sunday.
A photograph of the cartridge box, along with an array of other ammunition, was published by Iranian newspapers and agencies.
The Iranians did not provide direct access to the weapons and explosives, drawi... (more)
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Fars News Agency: Terrorists Use US-Gifted Arsenals TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Following a Saturday report about the use of US manufactured weapons in the recent terrorist operations in Iran's southeastern province of Sistan and Balouchestan, a security official provided FNA with a photograph of the said weaponry.
These arsenals have been confiscated during a raid on the hideout of a terrorist group known as Jondollah in the provincial capital city of Zahedan on Thursday. A bomb blast tore through a bus in Zahedan, southeast Ira... (more)
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Booby Traps Detonated by US Remote ControlsTEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- An informed source said here in Tehran on Tuesday that after terrorists' hideout in Iran's southeastern city of Zahedan was conquered, Iranian police discovered several US-made remote controlled detonators there.
Speaking to FNA, the source expressed deep concern about the US intentions and plots for sowing discord between Shiite and Sunnite Muslims, specially inside Iran.
He further pointed out that remote controlled detonators are used w... (more)
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US 'Iran attack plans' revealedUS contingency plans for air strikes on Iran extend beyond nuclear sites and include most of the country's military infrastructure, the BBC has learned.
It is understood that any such attack - if ordered - would target Iranian air bases, naval bases, missile facilities and command-and-control centres.
The US insists it is not planning to attack, and is trying to persuade Tehran to stop uranium enrichment.
... (more)
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Inside Iran
Rageh Omaar embarks on a unique journey inside what he describes as one of the most misunderstood countries in the world, looking at the country through the eyes of people rarely heard - ordinary Iranians.
It took a year of wrangling to get permission to film inside Ira... (more)
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Flying the Flag (Arming the World)
John Pilger and David Munro look behind the political rhetoric and discover the world of international arms dealing. Won a Bronze Apple in the category of 'Domestic and International Concerns', National Educational Film & Video Festival, Oakland, California, 1995; Certificate... (more)
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The Unwanted Refugees Of The Iraq WarThis story was written for CBSNews.com by Amman, Jordan-based reporter Kristen Gillespie.
In the middle of the empty, rocky desert on Jordan's easternmost flank, a group of fabric tents flap loudly in the winter wind. It's a small camp set up by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) before the war with Iraq began in the spring of 2003.
The mass exodus of Iraqis anticipated in the weeks after Saddam Hussein's regime fell didn't materialize,... (more)
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