Yahoo! News: Iraq

Iraq

• Baghdad to kill stray dogs after fatal attacks (AP)

  AP - Baghdad authorities announced a campaign on Thursday to kill stray dogs who roam the Iraqi capital in packs, after a spate of fatal dog attacks left children in some neighborhoods fearful of going outside.

• Deal on US Troop Withdrawal Spurs Fierce Debate in Iraq (Time.com)

  Time.com - How Iraq has been transformed into a nation of SOFA potatoes by the debate over the fate of U.S. forces in the country

• Al-Qaeda has been 'dramatically' reduced in Iraq: US general (AFP)

  AFP - Al-Qaeda in Iraq's ability to carry out large-scale attacks against civilians, and on US and Iraqi forces, has been "dramatically reduced," a US general said on Thursday.

  
  

• US charges defense contractor with Afghan murder (AP)

  AP - A defense contractor who provided personal security to Afghan and Iraqi leaders has been charged with killing an Afghan civilian.

• Mosul, where Iraq's insurgency still rages (AFP)

  AFP - The ear-deafening blasts of car bombs targetting US or Iraqi security force patrols shatter the calm daily in Mosul, the northern city which military commanders say is the last urban bastion of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

  
  

• Italian FM urges Iraq protection for Christians (AFP)

  AFP - Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini urged the Iraqi government to protect minorities, namely Christians who have suffered a wave of killings, during a surprise visit to Baghdad on Thursday.

  
  

• US, Iraqis to transfer control of Diyala to Sunnis (AP)

  AP - The Shiite-led government has demanded control over U.S.-funded Sunni groups that revolted against al-Qaida in Iraq in Diyala province by January — a move that could jeopardize fragile security gains in one of Iraq's most turbulent areas.

• US raid kills Iraqi blamed in 2004 reservist death (AP)

  AP - An al-Qaida in Iraq leader blamed in the 2004 abduction and murder of an Army reservist and other deadly attacks over several years was killed in an American raid in Baghdad, the U.S. military said Thursday.

• Jordan appeals for more aid to help Iraq refugees (AFP)

  AFP - Jordan urged the international community on Thursday to provide more aid to countries sheltering hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees uprooted by war.

  
  

• US, Iraq, Turkey to fight PKK 'terrorists': US embassy (AFP)

  AFP - The United States, Iraq, and Turkey have condemned the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) as a "terrorist organisation" and formed a joint committee to combat them, the US embassy said Thursday.

  
  

• Iraqi parliament likely to approve US pact (AFP)

  AFP - Iraq's parliament appeared likely to approve a comprehensive US military pact that would see all troops leave by the end of 2011 despite a loud and contentious debate of the measure on Thursday.

  
  

• Shouting and pounding, Iraqis fight over US pact (AP)

  AP - Opposition lawmakers shouted and pounded their desks in protest Thursday in a second day of emotional debate in parliament over a proposed agreement with the U.S. that would allow American forces to stay in Iraq for three more years.

  
  

• U.S. forces kill Qaeda leader wanted for attacks (Reuters)

  Reuters - U.S. forces killed a senior al Qaeda leader wanted for planning suicide bombings, kidnappings and assassinations, including the abduction and killing of a U.S. army sergeant in 2004, the U.S. military said on Thursday.

• Top Iraq Shiite cleric demands MP vote on US pact (AFP)

  AFP - Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani, Iraq's highest Shiite religious authority, on Thursday lashed out at lawmakers who had left on a pilgrimage instead of voting on a divisive US military pact.

  
  

• U.S. pact can pass Iraqi parliament: minister (Reuters)

  Reuters - A pact allowing U.S. troops to stay in Iraq for three more years has a chance of being approved by parliament despite some heated opposition, Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said on Thursday.

• Dead San Diego Marine again denied Medal of Honor (AP)

  AP - The Department of Defense has reaffirmed its decision not to award the Medal of Honor to a Marine from San Diego who witnesses say threw himself on a grenade to save his colleagues during fierce fighting in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004.

• US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,200 (AP)

  AP - As of Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008, at least 4,200 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

  
  

• Defense officials highly critical of U.S.-Iraq troop accord (McClatchy Newspapers)

  McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — Although the Pentagon officially has welcomed the new accord on a U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq, senior military officials are privately criticizing President Bush for giving Iraq more control over U.S. military operations for the next three years than the U.S. had ever contemplated.

• Gates, Rice defend US-Iraq security agreement (AP)

  AP - The security agreement between U.S. and Iraq provides both the time and authority needed for American troops to train Iraqi forces and pursue terrorists, senior Bush administration officials said Wednesday.

  
  

• Lawmaker accuses Bush of secrecy over Iraq deal (Reuters)

  Reuters - The U.S. government is refusing to make public the security pact it has signed with Iraq, even though it has already been published in full in an Iraqi newspaper, a congressional hearing was told on Wednesday.