Word: baghdad
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...reality of Iraq today comes into focus. The "surge" - the Bush Administration?s term for the security crackdown in and around Baghdad - is based on the assumption that Iraqi security forces are competent to do basic jobs such as guarding important structures. That is meant to free Americans for high-risk tasks, such as disposing of roadside bombs. But even before Samarra, there was a growing body of evidence that Iraqis aren't ready or willing to perform their appointed tasks. What does that imply for the U.S. military operation and when it might end? Or for the development...
...American soldiers patrolling Baghdad's dangerous neighborhoods are under no illusions; many treat Iraqi soldiers and policemen with suspicion sometimes bordering on hostility. Higher up the chain of command, there are still optimists, but even they are growing more cautious. Lieut. General Martin Dempsey, the American general until recently responsible for training Iraqi forces, gave a guarded assessment of their quality not long ago, telling of absenteeism and desertion from the ranks, and the scarcity of officers. Most of the Iraqi battalions in the surge are woefully undermanned, he said. Nonetheless, Dempsey maintained that the Iraqis would be "capable...
...officials have suddenly become far more vocal than before about their unhappiness with the Iraqi government of Nouri al-Maliki. The White House has been criticizing him in public, and both the Centcom boss, Admiral William Fallon, and Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte made recent trips to Baghdad to tell al-Maliki he needs to quickly deliver some of the promised political deals on security and oil revenue with the various warring factions...
...Iraq." On Iran, I asked whether the Administration should consider negotiating directly with the ruling mullahs in Tehran, as Reagan did with the Soviets. "I think we should figure out a way to communicate," he says. "We've seen the beginning of that in the recent meeting in Baghdad. When you have two ambassadors meet in high-publicity setting it's not likely to produce much. But anyway, it's still meeting...
...situation in Iraq. Of particular concern in Rome is the destiny of the Christian minority in the country. Over the past week, a Catholic Chaldean priest and three deacons were killed in Mosul in northern Iraq, while another Chaldean priest and five parishioners have been abducted in Baghdad. Thousands of Christians are fleeing the war-ravaged country. However, for fear of risking a further deterioration of the situation facing Iraqi ethnic and religious minorities, few clerics are calling for immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops. Indeed, the official Vatican position is to support the Iraqi government. Nevertheless, the Vatican's official...