Last update: October 13, 2008 - 10:38 PM
Neither side finds the options attractive. One possibility is an extension of the U.N. mandate that expires at the end of the year. That would require a Security Council vote, and both governments think that could be complicated by Russia or others opposed to the U.S.-led war. Another alternative would amount to a simple handshake agreement between Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and President Bush to leave things as they are until a new deal, under a new U.S. administration, can be negotiated.
Negotiators have been stuck for months on the question of legal jurisdiction over U.S. troops and immunity for possible crimes....
Iraq strives to move beyond body count (click here)
Tue Oct 14, 2008 2:42am EDT
By Missy Ryan
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - In five years of war, Iraq has been hostage to a parade of grim statistics: car bombs, corpses, cholera and refugees fleeing rampant bloodshed.
But as violence drops sharply and Iraq turns toward reconstruction, officials seize upon a more quotidian, yet scarcely less important, set of numbers: economic output, employment, childhood vaccinations and even the whereabouts of Iraq's war-weary population.
The U.S. government, World Bank and other donors have backed efforts in recent years to help Iraqi's statistics agency, COSIT, get a better grasp of the country's vital figures....
Iraq kicks off first oil bid round (click here)
By RAPHAEL G. SATTER
Iraqi oil officials on Monday set the conditions under which foreign energy companies will be allowed to share in the country's enormous oil and gas wealth.
The rules, detailed at talks that involved executives from 34 international oil companies, stipulate that Iraqis will keep overall control of any future joint venture but underscored the need for boosting foreign investment.
"This is a very important milestone in the history of the Iraqi oil industry," said Natik al-Bayati, the director-general of Iraq's Petroleum Licensing Directorate and one of Iraq's top oil negotiators.
Foreign investment in Iraq's energy infrastructure is politically sensitive because of accusations that the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein was fought in part to exploit Iraq's vast oil reserves....
IRAQI FEMALE SUICIDE BOMBERS - NO LONGER SHOCKING (click here)
Posted: Monday, October 13, 2008 1:37 PM
Filed Under: Baghdad, Iraq
By Carla Marcus, NBC News Producer
BAGHDAD – Attacks carried out by female suicide bombers have become as common an occurrence here as roadside bombings, political assassinations and public mourning. No longer do I react with surprise when I hear about an explosion triggered by a woman.
Just last week on Oct. 8, a young woman in Baqouba blew herself up in front of a courthouse – killing 10 people and injuring 17. She was wearing an abaya, a traditional black robe, which allows explosive devices to be easily concealed. According to the doctor who examined the remains of her body, she may have been as young as 14....
Police say car bomb kills 2 in Baghdad
By HAMID AHMED – 1 day ago
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi police say a car bomb has exploded in southwestern Baghdad, killing two civilians.
Three others were wounded by the blast Sunday afternoon in the predominantly Shiite Bayaa district.
A police official says the bomb-rigged car was parked on a major commercial street in the neighborhood.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
Bayaa was the scene of Sunni-Shiite fighting last year when Shiite militias displaced many Sunnis.
Baghdad car bomb kills nine, wounds 13: police
Sun Oct 12, 2008 1:19pm EDT
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A car bomb killed nine people and wounded 13 in the Bayaa district of southern Baghdad on Sunday, police said.
The bomb exploded in a car parked on a busy commercial street in Bayaa, a mainly Shi'ite area, police said, adding the death toll could rise.
Violence in Iraq has dropped to four-year lows, but militants still carry out bombings and other attacks almost daily.
Oct 10, 2008 19:14 Updated Oct 10, 2008 19:16
Iraq: 13 dead, 27 wounded in car bomb
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A car bomb killed 13 people Friday in a market in a Shi'ite enclave of southern Baghdad, police and hospital officials said. At least 27 people were wounded.
Two police officers said the car exploded at 4:30 p.m. in the main market area of Abu Dshir, a Shi'ite part of the majority Sunni neighborhood of Dora, a former insurgent stronghold. The casualties included women and children, they said.
The policemen and officials at two hospitals who gave casualty figures spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.
Security has improved in the area over the last year largely because Sunnis once hostile to the government joined with US-led forces to chase out al-Qaida in Iraq and other extremists.
Still, security in the area is by no means certain.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1222017504554&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Baghdad not as ‘secure’ as government claims, residents say
By Ahmad Arhimiya
Azzaman, October 13, 2008
The security situation in Baghdad has aggravated recently amid a rise in car bombings and attacks directed mainly at government troops.
Residents say conditions are worsening in the Iraqi capital once again despite the heavy presence of Iraqi security forces and a surge in number of checkpoints.
The troops have complicated life in the city as they regularly cordon off streets and areas, set up temporary checkpoints and shut streets and bridges to traffic.
Some residents spend most of the day in their cars before reaching their offices or shops.
“There is a direct link between traffic jams and security. Congested streets in Baghdad are an indication of an upsurge in insecurity,” said a resident refusing to be named.
Snipers have returned to the city but now they aim their bullets solely at Iraqi troops.
http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news%5C2008-10-13%5Ckurd.htm
Blasts Hit Iraqi Markets, Police Patrol; 16 Civilians Dead
October 11, 2008 6:33 a.m. EST
Baghdad, Iraq (AHN) - A bomb exploded at a market in southern Baghdad and two other explosions in Mosul, Nineveh province also hit a market and police patrol Friday. The mayhem killed 16 Iraqi civilians.
The bomb attack on a market in Abu Dshir, a mainly Shia enclave in the predominantly Sunni district of Dora, resulted in 13 deaths, including women and children, while 27 were wounded, authorities said. Shops and parked cars were also destroyed.
The attack on another market in Mosul killed two people and injured 12 others. The explosion targeting a police patrol in Mosul killed one person and wounded 12 others.
Attacks on Christians in Iraqi city raise concern
By KIM GAMEL – 5 days ago
BAGHDAD (AP) — An Iraqi archbishop expressed concern Wednesday over what he called a "campaign of killings and deportations" against Christians in the northern city of Mosul after police reported seven Christians killed in separate attacks this month.
A female suicide bomber also blew herself up near government offices in Baqouba, northeast of the capital, killing 11 people, Iraqi officials said.
The violence in both cities occurred despite U.S.-Iraqi operations launched over the summer aimed at routing al-Qaida in Iraq and other insurgents from remaining strongholds north of the capital.
Iraqi police in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, have reported finding the bullet-riddled bodies of seven Christians in separate attacks so far in October, the latest a day laborer found on Wednesday.
Christians flee Iraqi city of Mosul after killings
By KIM GAMEL – 11 hours ago
BAGHDAD (AP) — Cars and trucks loaded with suitcases, mattresses and passengers cradling baskets stuffed with clothes lined up at checkpoints Monday to flee Mosul, a day after the 10th killing of an Iraqi Christian in the northern city so far this month.
Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but local leaders have blamed al-Qaida in Iraq, which maintains influence in the region despite an ongoing U.S.-Iraqi military operation launched in May.
The latest victim was a music store owner who was gunned down Sunday evening at work in an attack that left his teenage nephew wounded, according to police and a neighbor.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hwK_CSpBxsNuVUEaDuOwmSSCiqGwD93PQR106
Iraq's missing generation
The future of Iraq hinges on its young, but far too many of them have been driven into exile
Elizabeth Ferris and Navtej Dhillon
guardian.co.uk,
Monday October 13 2008 21.30 BST
Article history
· The reconstruction of Iraq needs the commitment and resources of its entire people. Yet the Iraqi government and the international community have neglected the current generation of Iraqi youth. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the case of young Iraqi refugees who have the potential to transform their homeland.
· Youth, not oil, is Iraq's most precious asset in building a stable and prosperous future. In 2002, before the US invasion, around 60% of Iraq's population was under the age of 30 – many with high school and university education. Today, too many of those young people are among the 2.2 million Iraqi refugees living in countries such as Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.
· As Iraq takes important steps towards national reconciliation and economic development, no one is paying attention to young Iraqi refugees. Their plight is largely portrayed through a sectarian lens. But when the focus shifts to the age of those uprooted, it is clear that a large number are young men and women, struggling with displacement at the prime of their life. Rather than building their future careers and families, their plans are on hold and their hopes are in limbo.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/13/iraq-middleeast
