Word: baghdad
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...impact of the current operations against al-Qaeda becomes apparent. The group has announced a new leader, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, which the U.S. believes is a pseudonym for Egyptian explosives expert Abu Ayyub al-Masri. Despite a large-scale presence of security forces on the streets of Baghdad and a ban on vehicle traffic during prayer time, a suicide bomber Friday killed more than ten people at a Shi'ite mosque...
...Life in Baghdad went on as usual - heavy traffic in sweltering heat, Kalashnikov-toting Iraqi police cruising the streets in flatbed trucks, the occasional crack of distant gunfire. In Kirkuk car bombs killed more than a dozen people. In the capital more bodies turned up in the streets...
...Indeed, Bush's visit comes a day in advance of what could be a more significant event: a Baghdad-wide counterinsurgent crackdown involving tens of thousands of Iraqi troops. Both that operation and the Bush visit are an attempt to capitalize on the momentum of the past week, including the long-delayed appointment of government ministers responsible for the country's military and police...
...American president's visit, of course, is mainly symbolic - there's little he did in Baghdad that he couldn't have done over a videoconference from Camp David, as his official schedule for the day had called for. But symbolism matters. It puts the President firmly behind new Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki at a moment when speculation in the U.S. has turned to whether the Washington will begin later this year to draw down troop levels...
...Putting tens of thousands of troops and police on the streets of Baghdad also makes a statement. But the new uniforms being issued to prevent insurgents from disguising themselves as cops and soldiers will help only until those uniforms are given away by sympathizers or sold on the black market. And for the new counterinsurgency initiative to stand a chance of producing lasting tangible results, it needs to be supported by serious reforms, especialy within the Interior Ministry, which Sunni politicians charge is infiltrated by militiamen loyal to Shi'ite political parties...