Word: iraq
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Prospects for a formal pact between Baghdad and Washington on the long-term U.S. military presence in Iraq dimmed in July, when U.S. officials originally hoped to ink a deal. A number of issues complicated negotiations on the agreement, which is meant to replace the existing U.N. mandate giving legal cover for U.S. troops in Iraq. In Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi negotiators have struggled over questions such as immunity for U.S. troops and contractors and whether American forces would be allowed to arrest and detain Iraqi nationals. U.S. and Iraqi officials have repeatedly said a deal was near. Other reports...
...stall in the talks on a long-term pact came as U.S. leaders began suggesting they were ready to consider a significant drawdown of U.S. troops in Iraq, where violence has dropped significantly since the beginning of the year. Sadr appears to have grown impatient with the deadlock, which prevents any movement on the central demand of his armed movement: U.S. withdrawal. The offer by Sadr, easily the nimblest player in the politics of violence practiced in Iraq, has effectively seated him at the negotiating table with the Americans despite his having broken with the government of Iraqi Prime Minister...
Whether Sadr's apparent pressure move will work remains uncertain. But U.S. military officials are likely to take it seriously. The U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, has kept up a dialogue with key figures from Sadr's ranks, and U.S. officials in Baghdad have repeatedly spoken hopefully about Sadr's plans to transform his movement into more of a humanitarian organization. Even while Maliki's government clashed in the streets of southern Iraq and Baghdad with Sadr's fighters earlier this year, American officials did not call for Sadr's capture or destruction but were openly holding...
...deals are likely anytime soon, however. Much of Iraq's political establishment will be effectively checked out for roughly the next two months, meaning any big decisions by the Iraqi government are unlikely. In Washington, President Bush is eager to formalize a deal, which would not have to be approved by lawmakers unlike in Iraq. But any big decisions about troop levels will come after Petraeus makes his final recommendations on the U.S. military presence in September, shortly before he takes on a new job as head of the U.S. forces across the Middle East. That leaves American and Iraqi...
...Tuvalu, a South Pacific nation whose very existence is threatened by global warming. China's flagbearer Yao Ming, at 2.29 m (7 ft. 6 in.) the Games' tallest Olympian, loped along the same path as 1.43 m (4 ft. 8 in.) American gymnast Shawn Johnson. Four athletes from Iraq, which in July had been banned briefly from the Games because of a tiff with the International Olympic Committee, got one of the night's biggest cheers, after the hosts. Even China's historical rival Japan received polite applause. The Olympics may be composed of nations, but its spirit transcends nationalism...