Word: iraqi
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...nuclear-weapons program. The Israelis kept mum about their reasons for attacking the site, but the U.S. let it be known that the target was a secret nuclear reactor being built with North Korean assistance - a claim that was widely viewed through the prism of false U.S. claims about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and the Bush Administration's animus toward Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime over its support for Hizballah and Palestinian radical groups, as well as its failure to curb jihadist insurgents crossing into Iraq...
Still, the organizing principle of Iraqi politics remains ethnicity and sect, with all of the main players being those connected with some form of politically aligned military muscle and the prize being control over power and resources. As a result, elections tend to exacerbate rather than resolve tensions, and next year's races will likely see sharp political (and occasionally even military) battles between rival Shi'ite parties in the south and Baghdad; between Sunni and Shi'ite blocs in some parts north of Baghdad, such as Diyala province, as well as between the government (including the Sunni parties that...
Although the level of daily violence has dropped off markedly over the past year, there has been a steady uptick in recent weeks. The increased violence comes at a time of growing uncertainty in Iraq. On the medium-term outlook, American and Iraqi negotiators continue to bicker over the wording of a bilateral security agreement that will authorize the presence of U.S. troops after the U.N. mandate governing their mission expires at the end of this year. If an agreement is not reached, or a new U.N. mandate not issued, U.S. troops may be confined to their bases...
...down to 14 from its late 2007 peak of 20. But there is a limit to how quickly U.S. soldiers can depart the country while maintaining the current level of security. Although security has improved dramatically in many neighborhoods in Baghdad over the past year, the ability of the Iraqi security forces to act independently and effectively, while improved, remains inconsistent. Iraqi forces have yet to shift their focus from counterinsurgency operations to defending Iraq's borders. The Iraqi air force, for example, announced this week that it has ordered French- and American-made fighters, but its planned 32 squadrons...
...Iraqi government, for its part, has asked that all U.S. troops be pulled out of Iraqi cities by June 2009 and out of Iraq by 2012. That remains part of the Status of Forces draft agreement currently being renegotiated between Washington and Baghdad, to create a legal framework for the operation of U.S. troops in Iraq when their current mandate expires on January 1. Iraq's foreign minister, Hoshiyar Zebari, says he is confident that the Obama administration will not pull U.S. troops out of Iraq too quickly. Obama has agreed to "consult with the Iraqi government...