Yahoo! News: Iraq

Iraq

• As Iraq combat operations end, US forces try to cement gains (The Christian Science Monitor)

  The Christian Science Monitor - The shrinking US military footprint here is particularly evident in this community south of Baghdad, where a few dozen American soldiers live among 1,000 Iraqi troops in an area crucial to Baghdad's security.

• Tony Blair memoir: I'd do Iraq again, and I considered firing Gordon Brown (The Christian Science Monitor)

  The Christian Science Monitor - Tony Blair began his leadership as a dashing popular British Bill Clinton -- a fresh answer to “the suit,” as Fleet Street called John Major. After 2001, it all went sideways and Mr. Blair’s 10-year tenure terminated with him portrayed at home as a “lap dog” for President George Bush.

• Iraqi army needs US help: commanders (AFP)

  AFP - Iraq cannot yet sustain its army despite having managed to quell a violent insurgency, US and local commanders told AFP, raising the prospect that American troops will stay on beyond 2011.

  
  

• US forces still in fight at end of combat mission (AP)

  AP - Even as President Barack Obama was announcing the end of combat in Iraq, American soldiers were sealing off a northern village early Wednesday as their Iraqi partners raided houses and arrested dozens of suspected insurgents.

  
  

• Obama's Iraq Speech: Reactions from Afghanistan (Time.com)

  Time.com - President Obama's Oval Office address indicated that the Iraq withdrawal would lead to more forces for Afghanistan. But Afghans only see an eventual withdrawal from their own troubled country

• Biden says Iraq close to forming government (Reuters)

  Reuters - Vice President Joe Biden, in Baghdad to mark the end of U.S. combat operations, said on Wednesday he believed Iraq's political stalemate was nearly over and officials would form a government in "the next couple of months."

• U.S. touts Iraq trade mission as war mission wanes (Reuters)

  Reuters - The Commerce Department said on Wednesday it will lead 15 U.S. companies, including Boeing, General Electric and Wamar International, on a trade mission in October to help rebuild Iraq.

• US, Iraqi leaders praise sacrifices of war, 'historic opportunity' (The Christian Science Monitor)

  The Christian Science Monitor - The United States marked the official end of its combat role in the seven-year Iraq war today, acknowledging the immense sacrifices of a war that has divided Americans as well as Iraqis and pledging to help the country move forward.

• After U.S. War in Iraq, Iran Gains Political Influence (Time.com)

  Time.com - Analysis: Even as the U.S. remains the supreme military power in Iraq, Iran has more influence over Iraqi politics

• Gates: Iraq outcome 'will always be clouded by how it began' (McClatchy Newspapers)

  McClatchy Newspapers - BAGHDAD — The U.S. military Wednesday marked the end of its combat mission in Iraq amid a series of conflicting messages that underscored the mixed feelings many here, both American and Iraqi, have toward a seven-and-a-half-year effort that cost tens of thousands of lives but left the political outcome undecided.

• Biden launches new US mission in Iraq (AFP)

  AFP - Vice President Joe Biden launched a new American military mission in Iraq on Wednesday, opening up a fresh phase in a seven-year deployment that has cost the lives of more than 4,400 US troops.

  
  

• U.S. in final phase of Iraq mission, urges new govt (Reuters)

  Reuters - U.S. forces are in the final phase of the Iraq war after ending combat missions, officials said on Wednesday as they urged Iraqi leaders to get on with forming a government six months after an election.

  
  

• Blair memoir lifts lid on Iraq, alcohol and royals (AFP)

  AFP - Tony Blair does not regret the Iraq war despite the "nightmare" it unleashed, but he feels "desperately sorry" for those who died, the former British prime minister says in memoirs published on Wednesday.

  
  

• Iraq 'close' to forming new government: Biden (AFP)

  AFP - Iraq is "close" to forming a new government nearly six months after elections, US Vice President Joe Biden told CBS on Wednesday during a visit to the country.

  
  

• Gates says history will judge worth of Iraq war (AP)

  AP - Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday that history will judge whether the war in Iraq was worth it.

  
  

• US forces officially begin new Iraq mission: Biden (AFP)

  AFP - US Vice President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that American forces had begun a new mission in Iraq, a day after the US combat role in the war-torn country officially came to an end.

  
  

• FACT CHECK: Is Iraq combat really over for US? (AP)

  AP - Despite President Barack Obama's declaration Tuesday of an end to the combat mission in Iraq, combat almost certainly lies ahead.

  
  

• Biden: Time to turn attention from Iraq to economy (AP)

  AP - Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday he's confident the various factions in Iraq will form a workable coalition and bring stability to the country, now that the U.S. combat role there has ended.

  
  

• US lawmaker: Complete Iraq pull-out needed (AFP)

  AFP - A leading US Congress critic of the Iraq war on Tuesday welcomed the formal end of US combat operations there but warned only a full troop withdrawal could bring stability to the strife-torn country.

  
  

• For Gates the US war in Iraq is over but cloud remains (AFP)

  AFP - US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday that America's war in Iraq is over but admitted that the outcome will remain "clouded" by the reason it was waged in the first place.