Word: baghdad
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...response was rapid and the apologies numerous following the revelation that an American soldier had used a copy of the Koran for target practice, riddling the Islamic holy book with 14 bullets at a target range near Baghdad on May 9. Within days, top military brass held a ceremony apologizing for the incident and expressed their regret to Iraqi officials; President Bush called Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki personally to apologize. The Army said the soldier, who remains unnamed, was quickly disciplined and removed from Iraq. Meanwhile, Baghdad officials called for harsher punishment...
Residents of the impoverished and enormous Shi'ite warren in east Baghdad have been under siege since April, when Iraqi security forces backed by American troops began clashing in the area with fighters from the Mahdi Army militia led by cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. For weeks gun battles and air strikes came almost every day in Sadr City as soldiers and militiamen faced off in a stalemated battle at the edge of the district, which is the Mahdi Army's stronghold. A hastily arranged truce between Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Sadr halted the fighting last week. Under...
...Hussein and marks a victory in Maliki's ongoing efforts to face down the militias and insurgents opposed to his government. Iraqi forces plan to remain in Sadr City and have begun setting up a series of checkpoints across the district, much as they have in other areas of Baghdad. For his part, Sadr seems to have gained little in the near term with the pact beyond sparing Sadr City and his militia forces a long and destructive battle. But Mahdi Army fighters have retained much of their muscle nonetheless, since Sadr insisted that his militia still be allowed...
Water and electricity have long been scarce in Sadr City, which was one of the poorest areas of Baghdad even before the most recent fighting worsened the humanitarian situation there. Some residents have complained that the Mahdi Army's grip on Sadr City, where U.S. and Iraqi forces previously did not go, has left them struggling to get what little of the basic services are available in the area. "You can't just blame the government for the shortages of services," said Haithem Hamid, another Sadr City resident. "Most of the blame goes to the Mahdi Army, which controls...
...Pelosi's unpopularity, in many ways she got a nicer arrival treatment than the last senior female American official to appear in Baghdad, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Rice slipped into Iraq in January much the same way Pelosi did today - stealthily, with a terse confirmation by the U.S. embassy offering few details of the agenda. But within hours of Rice's arrival, TV news was crackling with word of it, and soon thereafter a volley of mortars fell on the Green Zone in an obvious message from Rice's detractors. No rockets or mortars were heard heading into...