Word: iraq
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...about four days, the most powerful armed factions in Iraq were girding for war. Fighting tribesmen from Anbar province were openly threatening violence against political rivals they accused of trying to steal the provincial elections by stuffing ballot boxes in the Jan. 31 vote. Iraqi security forces in Anbar braced for trouble, at one point imposing a curfew, an increasingly rare move these days. U.S. forces in the province watched the situation warily, wondering whether the relative calm Iraq has known for roughly the last year would unravel in a matter of days or even hours. "The levels of violence...
...Army sent him all over the world, including tours in Japan and Iraq. General David Petraeus, who served as Mellinger's boss during the draftee's final three months in Iraq in 2007, calls him "a national asset" who kept the top generals' aware of the peaks and valleys in battlefield morale. "We lost count of how many times his personal convoy was hit," Petraeus says. "Yet he never stopped driving the roads, walking patrols, and going on missions with our troopers." (Mellinger's 33-month Iraq tour was punctuated by 27 roadside bombings, including two that destroyed his vehicle...
...Last week, Moussavi appeared to take himself out of the running. Having served in the now defunct post of prime minister during the Iran-Iraq war, Moussavi is well-liked by Iranians from across the political spectrum because he is credited with having managed the Islamic Republic through its most difficult years. But one political analyst requesting anonymity suggested that Moussavi's reluctance to run is due to his uncertainty over the extent of authority he would enjoy in the presidency. During his time as prime minister, he is known to have had disagreements with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei...
...Maliki has used his tenure as Prime Minister to emerge as the preeminent political figure in Iraq, enjoying a groundswell of popularity following his government's largely successful efforts alongside U.S. forces to battle militias and insurgents throughout southern Iraq and Baghdad. Still, Allawi's party is pleased with its performance: Iraqi National Accord-backed candidates drew 13.9% of the votes to finish second in the northern Salahuddin province, while in Baghdad they won 8.6% of the initial returns - in fourth place, although with a share of the vote close to that of the lists that finished second and third...
...Iraq's provincial councils will elect regional governors and focus largely on local issues, but the election results were seen as an important bellwether of the national trend for next year's parliamentary election. And Allawi is hoping to grow his party's share of the vote. "We need to see a departure from sectarianism and the establishment of national institutions for this country, starting from the judiciary, and have, really, the rule of law prevail in Iraq," says Allawi, complaining of corruption and a Shi'ite sectarian bias in the al-Maliki government. But as much as Allawi...