Iraq

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Every Iraqi Urged to Pick Up a Weapon

Iraq's top cleric says 'everyone who can' must fight

(Newser) - Iraq's top Shiite cleric issued a statement during Friday prayers today, calling on everyone—Shiite and Sunni alike—to fight back against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the New York Times reports. It is "the legal and national responsibility of whoever can hold a weapon, to...

US Flew Secret Drone Missions Over Iraq

Embassy evacuation plans stepped up

(Newser) - The US rebuffed Iraq's request for airstrikes as insurgents gained strength, but American drones were already collecting intelligence on the militants. The secret drone program, carried out with the consent of the Iraqi government since last year, failed to predict the rapid advance of militants who have now seized...

US: We'll Help Iraq, but No Ground Troops

Beyond that, Obama says 'all the options' are on the table

(Newser) - As insurgents aligned with al-Qaeda continue to make huge gains in Iraq, President Obama said today that the US is poised to provide military help of some kind, reports the LA Times . "I don’t rule out anything because we do have a stake in making sure that these...

Iraq Militants Loot Bank, Are Now Insanely Wealthy

ISIS makes off with $429M, may be world's richest terror group

(Newser) - What's worse than a ruthless multinational terrorist organization? A rich ruthless multinational terrorist organization. And that's what Iraq has on its hands now, because the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has plundered 500 billion Iraqi dinars—or about $429 million—from Mosul's central bank, which the...

US Rejected Iraq's Call for Airstrikes

Militants vow to take fight to Baghdad

(Newser) - As the scale of the threat from militants who have now seized several Iraqi cities became clear, Iraq's government asked the US to strike militant positions—only to find Washington, somewhat unsurprisingly, reluctant to become involved in new military action in the country. Requests for both manned and unmanned...

500K Flee as Iraq Loses City; Islamists Eye Baghdad
 Iraq Loses Control of 2nd City 
UPDATED
Jun 11, 2014 10:23 AM CDT

Iraq Loses Control of 2nd City

State Dept. calls ISIS 'threat to entire region'

(Newser) - Stability is deteriorating quickly in Iraq, where officials are confirming that Islamist militants have seized control of a second city, Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit. Officials tell the AP that the provincial governor based in Tikrit is missing, while the New York Times notes that militants encountered precious little...

Iraq Loses Control of Its 2nd-Largest City

Police abandon Mosul to Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

(Newser) - Fighters believed to be with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria took control of the city of Mosul today, as police and military forces fled their bases, leaving weapons, vehicles, and even their uniforms behind for the taking, the New York Times reports. The militants have seized the provincial...

60 Killed in Iraq Car Bomb Wave

Militants enter university, take hostages

(Newser) - A series of car bombs exploded across Iraq's capital today, killing scores of people in a day of violence that saw militants storm a university in the country's restive Anbar province and take dozens hostage, authorities said. Reuters puts the number dead at more than 60. The attacks...

Sick Veterans 'Inhaled Metal': Researchers

Experts describe 'Iraq-Afghanistan war lung injury'

(Newser) - Pulmonary and respiratory diseases have been on the rise in US troops, and researchers are pointing to a possible culprit: metal in their lungs. Experts at Stony Brook University performed lung tests on six ill soldiers "and found titanium in every single one of them," says researcher Anthony...

Maliki's Party Wins Iraq Election

But will need to form a coalition to govern

(Newser) - A coalition led by Iraq's Shiite prime minister has emerged as the biggest winner in parliamentary elections, paving the way for him to try to form the country's next government. The Independent High Electoral Commission today released results of the election, the first since the US military withdrawal...

Iraq Holds 1st Elections Since US Pullout

Massive security presence in place as polls open

(Newser) - A key election for a new Iraqi parliament was underway today amid a massive security operation as the country continues to slide deeper into sectarian violence, more than two years after US forces left. Hundreds of thousands of troops and police have fanned out to guard voting centers for the...

Iraq Inks Deal to Buy Arms from Iran

Nouri al-Maliki got tired of US foot-dragging: Iraqi lawmakers

(Newser) - Iran has agreed to sell arms and ammunition worth $195 million to Iraq after Washington apparently hesitated to make an arms deal with Baghdad. According to Reuters , signed documents show that Iran will sell mortar launchers, tank ammunition, light and medium arms, and other weapons—as well as night vision...

Al-Sadr Exits Politics; What It Means for Iraq

Powerful Shiite cleric cites family's reputation in explanation

(Newser) - One of the most powerful figures in Iraq is leaving politics, and not quietly. On Sunday, Muqtada al-Sadr announced online that he was closing "all offices and libraries in all religious, social, and political fields" in a bid to protect his family's reputation, reports the Christian Science Monitor...

Car Bomb Lesson Ends Badly, Kills 21 'Students'

ISIS militants in Iraq were learning to make car bombs

(Newser) - The lesson here was not exactly intended: Islamic State of Iraq and Syria militants learning how to make car bombs today accidentally set off their own bomb at a training camp in the countryside north of Baghdad, leaving at least 21 dead and resulting in two dozen arrests, Iraqi officials...

Iraq Forces Torture, Rape Women Prisoners: Report

And they're often jailed for their husband's alleged crimes

(Newser) - Women in Iraq's prisons face beatings, electrical shocks, and sexual assault, among other horrors—and they're often detained for the actions of their male relatives, not their own, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch. Sometimes the abuses were carried out while those male relatives looked...

Déjà Vu: Iraq Turns to Sunnis to Fight al-Qaeda

US urges Maliki to pass arms to militias

(Newser) - As Iraqi forces struggle to retake Anbar from al-Qaeda affiliated militants, the government is turning to the same tactic the US used to end the Iraq war: Allying itself with local Sunni tribal militias. The US is urging Nouri al-Maliki to pass the guns it's shipping him to the...

UK Accused of War Crimes in Iraq

250-page report cites sex assaults, beatings, electrocution

(Newser) - UK lawyers and European human rights activists are calling on the International Criminal Court to prosecute British leaders over war crimes allegedly committed in Iraq. Public Interest Lawyers and the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights have compiled a 250-page report, submitted to the ICC Saturday, on "systematic...

'Why the Hell Did All My Buddies Die There?'

US vets bitter about rise of al-Qaeda in Fallujah: Washington Post

(Newser) - A decade ago, the city of Fallujah became a not-so-pleasant reference point for Americans following the Iraq war as US forces dug in against insurgents. Today the American troops are gone, an al-Qaeda group has claimed the city as an Islamic state, and fighting between militants and Iraqi forces have...

Senate Doesn't Trust Iraq With Helicopters

Bob Menendez blocks Obama's call for an Apache sale

(Newser) - With Iraq spiraling back into war , the Obama administration has promised to send arms, and it's pressuring Congress to OK the sale of dozens of Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopters. But there's a problem: Several top senators tell the Daily Beast that they just don't trust Nouri al-Maliki'...

Iraqi Troops Fight al-Qaeda, Leaving 34 Dead

In Syria, opposition fighters battle rebels linked to extremists

(Newser) - The Iraqi military tried to dislodge al-Qaeda militants in Sunni-dominated Anbar province today, unleashing airstrikes and besieging the regional capital in fighting that killed at least 34 people, officials said. A series of bombs in Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad, meanwhile, killed at least 20 people. The recent gains by the...

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