Word: iraq
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...More ominously, Yemen's social and economic problems have created a vacuum for al-Qaeda to fill. Squeezed out of Iraq and Afghanistan, al-Qaeda operatives have regrouped in Yemen's lawless mountain regions east of Sana'a and have merged with al-Qaeda's Saudi branch to form al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Led by Naser Abdel-Karim Wahishi and Saeed Ali Shehri, a Guantánamo detainee who was released in 2007, AQAP may constitute 200 core members supported by thousands of locals. Terrorism experts worry that with a firm footing in Yemen, al-Qaeda...
...Obama Administration, for its part, needs a resumption of talks because it has declared Israeli-Palestinian peace a foreign policy priority and has made it a centerpiece of the President's outreach to the Muslim world - which remains an important political component of the Administration's efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan and against al-Qaeda in Pakistan and Yemen. Although it failed to get Netanyahu's agreement to a complete settlement freeze, its leverage over Abbas may be sufficient to cajole him back to the table. But it's far from clear how the proposed two years of negotiations...
...Iraq: By negotiating a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the Iraqi government shortly before leaving office, Bush made Obama's job a lot easier - because that agreement sets a cast-iron deadline for withdrawing all U.S. troops. Obama may press for an earlier drawdown to free up resources for Afghanistan, but even if he doesn't, the SOFA requires that all U.S. troops be out of Iraq by the end of 2011. Iraq remains far from stable, and the Obama Administration is working through diplomatic channels to cajole the Iraqis into managing their ethnic and sectarian political struggles...
...Afghanistan in response to its first attack on U.S. soil remains a tough challenge, the terrorist network has been left on the defensive by years of intelligence and police work that have systematically rolled up or killed many of its key leaders. (Unfortunately, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have provided plenty of willing recruits for what remains of the organization.) Obama has tried to transform relations between the U.S. and the Muslim world through a dialogue outreach that he began with his Cairo speech last spring, but the realities of Iraq, Afghanistan and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have hampered...
...youths, but this is the quickest option, the fastest way to get out of Yap," says Larry Raigetal, who directs the island's Department of Youth and Civic Services and has two nephews and three cousins in the U.S. military, including one who was shot in the stomach in Iraq. "Yap doesn't have to fight this war," he adds. (See pictures of 100 years of the U.S. Army Reserve...