At least 146 contract workers were killed in the first three months of 2007, revealing the increased risks they face as the military steps up its effort.
Baghdad--Since the Baghdad security plan began on a rolling start in February, many neighborhoods have been cleared of insurgents by U.S. soldiers in armored Stryker vehicles. The second, "control" phase is underway in many areas. "We are very good at clearing areas," says Maj. Gen. Joseph Fil, commander of the division carrying out the plan, "but that does not count for anything unless you hold it afterward. This time we have forces in place to stay."
BAGHDAD--The U.S. military commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, is under no illusions about the difficulty of his task. He keeps by his desk a cartoon from an Arab newspaper depicting a small soldier named David looking up at a ferocious, looming Goliath named Iraq. When he returned here in February to lead the U.S. war effort, he was shocked at how deeply sectarian violence had torn the country over the past year. He visited Baghdad neighborhoods where hundreds or even thousands of Iraqis had been killed or forced to move. "It's by far and away the most complex and challenging environment I've ever seen," Petraeus told U.S. News during an interview at his office--far worse than he encountered on his first two tours here as well as on earlier assignments in the Balkan, Haitian, and Central American conflicts.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's diplomatic mission to Moscow this week has lowered recent tensions between the United States and Russia, especially because it netted "a dedication on both sides to lower the rhetoric," a senior State Department official tells U.S. News.
AP - The White House and Congress failed to strike a deal Friday after exchanging competing offers on an Iraq war spending bill that Democrats said should set a date for U.S. troops to leave.
AP - The fragile coalition that produced this week's immigration deal risks being picked apart by forces across the political spectrum as the measure begins moving through Congress.
AP - Israeli warplanes pummeled Hamas targets Friday in a stepped-up campaign against militants firing rockets into southern Israel, while Palestinian factions battled with automatic weapons and grenades at a Gaza university.
Four people have been arrested in connection with the "honor killing" last month of a Kurdish teen that was captured on cellphone video, authorities tell CNN. Two of those arrested are relatives and police are also searching for the victim's cousin. Dua Khalil, 17, was dragged into a crowd in a headlock and stoned to death in Iraq's Nineveh province. The killing was videoed and broadcast around the world -- throwing 'honor killings' into the public eye.
One of three U.S. soldiers missing after a deadly Iraqi ambush had been chided by his comrades for being "the new guy" and another taught himself Arabic while in Iraq, their platoon commander recalled Friday.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was declared the winner of Tuesday's Republican presidential debate in South Carolina, largely for his smack down of Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who suggested that America's foreign policy contributed to the destruction on September 11, 2001.
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