Latest Iraq – United States relations Stories

By Stephen McGinty DURING the darkest days of his command, General David Petraeus, the US military commander in Iraq, would ponder the words of Ulysses S Grant. The Union Army general who won the American Civil War was approached by a fellow officer after the disastrous battle of Shiloh and told: "Well, we had a tough day, today." Grant, chewing on his ubiquitous cigar replied: "Yup. Lick 'em tomorrow, though." When appointed commanding general of United States and international forces in...

By The Associated Press BAGHDAD (AP) - Gunmen on Saturday abducted and killed four employees of an Iraqi television station who were filming a program about the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, one of a series of attacks in Iraq that left at least 18 people dead. A bomb concealed in a kiosk used to sell ice killed four security personnel and wounded nine people at a checkpoint in Baghdad, Iraqi officials said. Northeast of the capital, eight Kurdish soldiers died in a roadside bombing that...

["From Iraq" programme, moderated by Suhayr al-Qaysi, interviews Iraqi Electricity Minister Dr Karim Wahid - date not given; recorded] Dubai Al-Arabiya Television in Arabic at 1630 gmt on 12 September carries a new 25-minute episode of its "From Iraq" programme moderated by Suhayr al-Qaysi in the Dubai studio. Today's episode features an interview with Iraqi Electricity Minister Dr Karim Wahid, via satellite from Baghdad, on the electricity problem in Iraq and the means and measures taken by...

By Nancy A. Youssef and Jonathan S. Landay WASHINGTON - President Bush's announcement Tuesday that he'll maintain troop levels in Iraq through the end of his presidency suggests that despite his claim that the surge of additional U.S. troops in Iraq has succeeded, the security gains could be temporary, defense officials and experts said. "Here is the bottom line: While the enemy in Iraq is still dangerous, we have seized the offensive, and the Iraqi forces are becoming increasingly capable...

Integrated energy major Royal Dutch Shell has reached an agreement with the Iraqi government to capture and use gas in the Basra region, in a deal worth up to $4 billion, according to the Financial Times. Shell has become the first western oil firm to strike a deal with the Iraqi government since the US-led invasion of the country in 2003. Concurrently, the Iraqi oil ministry has also said that it has discarded its plan to award short-term technical support contracts to work on oilfields....

Some 8,000 U.S. military personnel will be rotated out of Iraq without replacement during the next several months, U.S. President George Bush said Tuesday. "Over the next several months, we will bring home about 3,400 combat support forces -- including aviation personnel, explosive ordnance teams, combat and construction engineers, military police and logistical support forces," Bush said in remarks to the National Defense University. A U.S. marine battalion serving in Anbar province would...

Some 8,000 U.S. troops will be returning home from Iraq without replacement during the next several months, U.S. President George Bush said Tuesday. "Over the next several months, we will bring home about 3,400 combat support forces -- including aviation personnel, explosive ordnance teams, combat and construction engineers, military police, and logistical support forces," Bush said in remarks prepared for delivery to the National Defense University. A U.S. marine battalion serving...

By Ben Feller Associated Press WASHINGTON -- President Bush will keep roughly the same number of U.S. forces in Iraq through the end of the year and pull about 8,000 troops home by February, a drawdown that's both slower and smaller than long anticipated. In a speech to be delivered today, Bush says more forces could withdraw in the first half of 2009. But for now, the situation isn't changing significantly. By the time the troops return home on the timeline Bush is proposing, someone else...

By Patrick Cockburn THE UNITED States has spied extensively on Iraq's Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, and other Iraqi government leaders, the American investigative journalist Bob Woodward has revealed. "We know everything he says," the journalist quotes one source as saying, in his fourth book on George Bush's presidency. The US administration's decision to spy continually on Mr Maliki - a close US ally- shows deep distrust of the Iraqi leadership by the US. The surveillance took place...

A newspaper article about Bob Woodward's new book on U.S. President George W. Bush that cites spying on Iraqi leaders was "incomplete," the White House said. "While the book itself is not yet public, the picture of Iraq policy that is presented in the Washington Post article is at least incomplete," National Security Adviser Steve Hadley said in a statement issued by the White House Friday. The book, "The War Within: A Secret White House History, 2006-2008," due out Monday, offers a new...