2009/12/30: BBC: Iraq oil contract goes to Angola
The Angolan state-owned oil company, Sonangol, has signed two initial oilfield deals in Iraq.
The two, the Qayara and Najmah oilfields, are in Nineveh province, known as one of the most dangerous regions of the country.
There are frequent insurgencies there, as Sunni Islamic militants and al-Qaeda are both active.
2009/12/17: BBC: Iraq rebels 'hack into US drones'
Insurgents in Iraq have hacked into live video feeds from unmanned American drone aircraft, US media reports say.
Shia fighters are said to have used off-the-shelf software programs such as SkyGrabber to capture the footage.
The hacking was possible because the remotely flown planes have an unprotected communications link.
Obtaining such video feeds could provide insurgents with information about sites the military might be planning to target.
2009/12/16: BBC: Plea for stranded Iraq migrants
Hundreds of African and Asian migrants are stranded in Iraq without the funds to return home, the International Organisation for Migration says.
The Geneva-based body is urgently looking for $2.5m (£1.5m) to help up to 700 destitute migrants return home.
It says some migrants are forced to sign false employment contracts and have their passports confiscated, making them vulnerable to exploitation.
Migrants in Iraq often work as domestic helps and in security and construction.
Despite the violence in Iraq, thousands of migrants from Asia and Africa have arrived since the US-led invasion in 2003.
2009/12/12: BBC: Iraq eyes huge oil capacity rise
Iraq's oil capacity could reach 12 million barrels per day (bpd) in six years, the country's oil minister says.
Hussein al-Shahristani told reporters in Baghdad that oil producers would not necessarily operate at full capacity, but would take into account demand.
2009/12/11: BBC: Shell wins Iraq oil field rights
A joint venture between the UK's Shell and Malaysia's Petronas oil companies has won the right to develop Iraq's giant Majnoon oil field.
A total of 44 companies took part in a bid for 10 fields in the second such auction since the invasion in 2003.
Shell and Petronas beat a rival bid from France's Total and China's CNPC.
2009/12/11: CBC: Security fears limit Iraq oil bids -- Rights sold for only 2 of 8 fields
Iraq's bid to auction off oil exploration rights Friday showed companies are still reluctant to enter the country.
Only two of the eight fields on offer resulted in deals in the first day of the country's second oil auction this year. Five in regions still plagued by unrest were withdrawn and a sixth field drew only one bid.
[...]
Two consortiums won rights to two fields with combined reserves of about 13 billion barrels in the relatively stable south. Shell and Malaysia's state-run Petronas beat out France's Total SA and China National Petroleum Corp. to win the southern Majnoon field in the Basra region. With 12.58 billion barrels, it was the biggest field on auction.
2009/12/10: CBC: Al-Qaeda group claims Baghdad bombings
Al-Qaeda's umbrella group in Iraq claimed responsibility Thursday for co-ordinated Baghdad bombings this week that killed 127 people and wounded more than 500, warning of more strikes to come against the Iraqi government.
The group, known as the Islamic State of Iraq, said in a statement posted on the internet that the attacks in the Iraqi capital targeted the "bastions of evil and dens of apostates."
2009/12/08: CBC: Iraq blasts kill at least 103
A co-ordinated series of bomb blasts on Tuesday left at least 103 people dead and more than 197 wounded in Baghdad.
Three car bombs went off within minutes of each other, hitting the Iraqi Labour Ministry, a court complex and the new site of the Iraqi Finance Ministry.
2009/12/07: BBC: Officer urged Blair to delay war
A senior British officer has told the Iraq war inquiry he urged Tony Blair to delay the invasion of the country two days before the conflict.
Maj Gen Tim Cross, who liaised with the US on reconstruction efforts before the invasion, said planning for after the conflict was "woefully thin".
He said he briefed officials in the weeks before the war that Iraq could descend into chaos after the invasion.
UK officials have said Washington did not listen to warnings on the issue.
2009/12/03: CBC: U.S. assumed Britain would join Iraq war
United States officials assumed Britain would take part in a war in Iraq even without United Nations approval, the U.K. probe into the invasion heard on Thursday.
Adm. Michael Boyce, Britain's defence chief in the lead-up to the March 2003 invasion, said U.K. officials repeatedly suggested to their American counterparts that they needed to go through the UN and the British Parliament before committing troops.
But U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other American officials assumed Britain would be there, Boyce said Thursday.
2009/11/27: BBC: Iraq war 'legitimacy' questioned
The Iraq war was of "questionable legitimacy" even though it is unlikely to be proved illegal, a former senior diplomat has said.
Sir Jeremy Greenstock, the UK's ambassador to the UN in 2003, said the invasion did not have the backing of most UN members or the UK public.
But he said he believed the US and UK had "established" its legality and that it had never been challenged in court.
The inquiry is looking into the background to the 2003 invasion.
2009/11/27: CBC: Iraq war of 'questionable legitimacy': U.K. diplomat [former U.K. ambassador to the United Nations, Jeremy Greenstock]
The 2003 military invasion of Iraq was legal but of "questionable legitimacy" because it lacked international backing, Britain's former ambassador to the United Nations told an inquiry Friday.
Jeremy Greenstock testified before an inquiry in London examining Britain's role in the Iraq war that U.K. diplomats had tried to get a UN resolution sanctioning the military action prior to the invasion but the United States undermined their efforts.
"The United States was not proactively supportive of the U.K.'s efforts and seemed to be preparing for conflict whatever the U.K. decided to do," Greenstock wrote in a written statement to the inquiry.
2009/11/26: BBC: [Chilcot Inquiry] Bush 'hardened Blair Iraq stance'
Tony Blair's view on regime change in Iraq "tightened" after a private meeting with President Bush in 2002, the UK's former US ambassador has said.
Sir Christopher Meyer said no officials were at the Bush family ranch talks - but the next day Mr Blair mentioned regime change for the first time.
The ex-diplomat also said officials had been left "scrabbling" for evidence of WMD as US troops prepared for invasion.
He was giving evidence to the inquiry into the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
2009/11/26: CBC: [U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza] Rice raised Iraq hours after 911 attacks, [Chilcot] inquiry told
The U.S. secretary of state raised the issue of Iraq with the United Kingdom hours after the Sept. 11 attacks, Britain's former ambassador told an inquiry into the Iraq war Thursday.
Christopher Meyer, who served as then Prime Minister Tony Blair's envoy to Washington between 1997 and 2003, said he spoke with Condoleezza Rice on Sept. 11, 2001.
"She said there's no doubt this was an al-Qaeda operation, we are just looking to see if there could possibly be any connection with Saddam Hussein," he told the panel.
The comments are important because they suggest that the United States quickly tied the attacks with Saddam's regime. Years later, President George W. Bush's administration was forced to acknowledge that they could find no connection between Saddam and the attacks.
2009/11/23: BBC: 'No whitewash' from Iraq [Chilcot] inquiry
The man in charge of the inquiry examining events surrounding the Iraq war has said his committee will not produce a report that is a "whitewash".
Sir John Chilcot, a retired career civil servant, has promised to produce a "full and insightful" account.
Evidence from senior government figures will start on Tuesday and politicians, including former Prime Minister Tony Blair will be called early in 2010.
The report will not be released until after the General Election.
2009/11/21: Telegraph(UK): Iraq report: Secret papers reveal blunders and concealment
The "appalling" errors that contributed to Britain’s failure in Iraq are disclosed in the most detailed and damning set of leaks to emerge on the conflict.
On the eve of the Chilcot inquiry into Britain’s involvement in the 2003 invasion and its aftermath, The Sunday Telegraph has obtained hundreds of pages of secret Government reports on "lessons learnt" which shed new light on "significant shortcomings" at all levels.
They include full transcripts of extraordinarily frank classified interviews in which British Army commanders vent their frustration and anger with ministers and Whitehall officials.
The reports disclose that:
Tony Blair, the former prime minister, misled MPs and the public throughout 2002 when he claimed that Britain’s objective was "disarmament, not regime change" and that there had been no planning for military action. In fact, British military planning for a full invasion and regime change began in February 2002.
The need to conceal this from Parliament and all but "very small numbers" of officials "constrained" the planning process. The result was a "rushed"operation "lacking in coherence and resources" which caused "significant risk" to troops and "critical failure" in the post-war period.
2009/11/23: Guardian(UK): Chilcot inquiry: Healing the wounds of war
The prime minister planned his war while telling parliament he was doing no such thing, and the determination
to keep the reality hidden created difficulties for the army as it struggled to get soldiers the right kit.
The latest Iraq revelations in yesterday's Sunday Telegraph come as the Guardian is told how the failings
in post-war planning may constitute grounds to prosecute for breach of the Geneva convention.
2009/11/18: BBC: All quiet on Iraq's western front
According to the Iraqi government, Syria is responsible for 90% of the insurgent violence still wracking the country.
[...] But out here, near the northern end of that border, there is little evidence of any activity to support such accusations.
2009/11/18: BBC: Iraq VP vetoes new election law
One of Iraq's two vice-presidents [Tariq al-Hashemi] has vetoed part of the country's new election law, putting the parliamentary polls scheduled for January in doubt.
2009/11/18: CBC: Iraqi vote preparations halted
Preparations for a January national election in Iraq were halted Wednesday after Tariq al-Hashemi, Iraq's Sunni Arab vice-president, rejected a key provision of the country's election law.
Al-Hashemi is sending part of the law back to the Iraqi parliament for amendment. He wants more seats allocated to Iraqis who live abroad, the majority of whom are Sunni Arabs.
2009/11/13: CanWest: Ex-British PM Blair to face Iraq war inquiry
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair will face questioning next year about Britain's entry into the Iraq war from a committee that has heard the decision was illegal and based on deception, its chairperson said yesterday.
The order to send 45,000 British troops to take part in the 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein has always been controversial and led to massive anti-war protests in London.
During meetings with the inquiry committee held before the formal hearings begin, relatives of British soldiers killed during the conflict accused Blair of taking Britain into an illegal war and deceiving the public.
2009/11/11: CCurrents: The Plunder Of Iraq’s Oil
The awarding of development rights over the huge West Qurna oilfield in southern Iraq to Exxon-Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell last Thursday once again underscores the criminal character of the continuing US-led occupation. As the direct result of the Iraq war, major American and other transnational energy conglomerates are now gaining control over some the largest oilfields in the world.
2009/11/09: BBC: Soldiers 'hit and kicked' Mousa
A former British soldier has admitted for the first time that he saw two of his colleagues kicking and hitting an Iraqi prisoner shortly before he died.
Garry Reader told a public inquiry how, then a private, he had tried in vain to resuscitate Baha Mousa in 2003.
He said he had not told the truth previously, but did believe Cpl Donald Payne and Pte Aaron Cooper had caused Mr Mousa's death that September.
Mr Reader said he had been afraid speaking out would damage his career.
Mr Mousa and nine other civilians were arrested at a hotel in Basra in 2003 and taken into UK military custody.
The father-of-two died the following day, having suffered 93 separate injuries, including fractured ribs and a broken nose.
2009/11/08: Guardian(UK): Deal on Kirkuk sets stage for Iraqi elections
Iraqi legislators have finally agreed on a formula to include the bitterly contested city of Kirkuk in a national election in January, ending months of political wrangling and fears that the planned US troop pullout might be delayed.
However, the agreement struck in parliament tonight deals only with how to apportion votes in the semi-autonomous northern enclave, and did not tackle a decision on Kirkuk's fate.
The electoral deal sets a framework for the poll to be held, probably on 21 January instead of the original date of 16 January.
2009/11/05: BBC: Iraq in third overseas oil deal
Iraq has struck a deal with a consortium led by US oil giant Exxon Mobil, and including Royal Dutch Shell, to develop the West Qurna 1 oil field.
This is the second major deal the country's oil ministry has agreed with overseas oil firms this week.
The latest deal, which needs cabinet approval, is designed to boost oil production at the Qurna oil field from 280,000 to 2.1 million barrels a day.
Earlier this week, Iraq struck a similar deal with Italian firm ENI.
2009/10/29: BBC: Police arrested over Iraq bombing
Iraq has arrested more than 60 security force members, including 11 senior officers over Sunday's twin suicide bombing in the capital, Baghdad.
Those arrested include the commanders of 15 checkpoints near to where the attacks took place.
The attack, in which more than 150 people were killed and 500 injured, was the deadliest in Baghdad for two years.
Correspondents say the scale of the bombings raised new questions over the competence of Iraqi security forces.
2009/10/26: Guardian(UK): Iraq's Black Comedy
Iraq's 47 TV channels are lightening the nation's troubles with a sketch show featuring a ministry for explosions and a gameshow entitled Who Wants to Win the Oil?
2009/10/22: BBC: UK navy forces to return to Iraq
British naval personnel are to return to Iraq to train local forces, Armed Forces Minister Bill Rammell has said.
The announcement comes after politicians in Baghdad passed legislation allowing their return.
2009/10/20: BBC: US presence remains in divided Kirkuk
With just under three months to go until parliamentary elections in Iraq, attention is focusing on the disputed city of Kirkuk.
The area is divided, principally between Arabs and the Kurds, who have their own autonomous region in the north-east of the country.
Neither side can agree on who should control it, or indeed how to share the region's vast oil wealth.
2009/10/19: BBC: PKK 'surrender' tests Turkey plan
Eight Kurdish rebels have crossed into Turkey from Iraq to give themselves up in a sign of support for peace efforts.
The PKK militants left their refuge in the Qandil mountains and were joined by 26 other Kurds, including refugees from a camp in Iraq, before entering Turkey.
They were met near Silopi by a Turkish judge and five prosecutors to determine whether they had committed any crimes.
Turkey has been working on a peace plan to end a 25-year conflict with rebels who want autonomy in south-east Turkey.
2009/10/17: BBC: Iraq cabinet ratifies oil deals
Iraq's cabinet has ratified a deal with two foreign energy companies to develop the giant southern oilfield in Rumaila.
The contract with Britain's BP and CNPC of China is the first major deal with foreign firms to be signed since an international auction in June.
The project aims to almost triple output at the 17bn barrel field - increasing it by 2m barrels a day.
2009/10/16: CBC: Iraq suicide bomber kills 12 at mosque [in Tal Afar]
A suicide bomber opened fire on worshippers on Friday at a mosque in northern Iraq and then blew himself up, killing 12 people and injuring 65, officials said.
The attack occurred in the city of Tal Afar, about 60 kilometres northwest of Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province, the site of a number of attacks in the last year by Sunni-backed insurgents.
2009/10/16: Guardian(UK): Iraqi army confronted UK deportation officials on Baghdad plane
Army officer reportedly warned UK officials not to return Iraqis by force again, as UNHCR condemns removals to Baghdad
An Iraqi army officer boarded a flight full of deported asylum seekers at Baghdad airport and ordered British immigration officials not to send anyone back by force again, according to a refugee organisation that monitors expulsions.
The confrontation occurred yesterday when the first British deportation flight to Baghdad touched down carrying almost 40 Iraqis.
The officer, reportedly flanked by seven guards bearing Kalashnikovs, asked the refused asylum seekers whether they wanted to return and, according to the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR), declared: "Those of you who want to come back, you get off, the rest of you stay where you are."
Passengers who stayed on the plane, now back in Britain and being held in Brook House immigration detention centre, told the IFIR that "the [Iraqi officer told the] UK immigration officers to go away and not try to send people back by force again".
2009/10/11: BBC: Deadly bombings in central Iraq
Three blasts have rocked the Iraqi city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, killing at least 22 people and wounding 61, police have told the BBC.
A car packed with explosives ploughed into a concrete wall at the police headquarters. A motorcycle bomb then went off among the crowd that gathered.
The third blast, an apparent car bomb, went off outside a hospital.
2009/10/01: CNN: Odierno: May not be possible to declare victory in Iraq
U.S. Army Gen. Ray Odierno makes remark to reporters at Pentagon - About 123,000 U.S. troops in Iraq; could drop to 110,000 by January, he says - Odierno: Iraqi security forces recently seized caches of Iranian-made weapons
2009/09/30: Yahoo:Reuters: China, U.S. risk rifts in Middle East: former Chinese envoy
China and the United States risk deepening rifts over influence and oil in the Middle East, Beijing's former envoy to the region has said, urging his nation to bolster ties with Iran and other energy-exporting powers.
Sun Bigan was China's special envoy on the Middle East until March, and in a new essay he said U.S. President Barack Obama's effort to improve ties with Islamic states in the Middle East was a tactical shift that had not removed the potential for friction between Washington and Beijing in the region.
2009/09/21: BBC: UK army 'rotten', Iraq probe told
British soldiers who abused an Iraqi detainee who died in their custody were not just "a few bad apples", a public inquiry has been told.
There was "something rotten in the whole barrel", Rabinder Singh QC said.
Troops in Iraq routinely used banned interrogation methods they did not think were illegal, lawyers told the inquiry into the 2003 death.
2009/09/17: PhysOrg: Lessons for Obama in study of Bush efforts to 'frame' Iraq war
Wartime leaders have long sought to sway public opinion by "framing" bad news from the frontlines. They present inconvenient facts in an altered format in order to generate support for their policies. A new study from North Carolina State University shows that Bush administration attempts to "frame" casualties from the Iraq War bolstered support for the war effort among certain members of the U.S. public, but also produced a backlash that led to decreased tolerance for additional casualties and war spending among others.
2009/09/16: Guardian(UK): Largest of America's two prisons in Iraq to shut
The largest of America's two prisons in Iraq, Camp Bucca, will close by the weekend as the US military winds down the highly contentious detention programme it has run for the last six years. From next week only one US-run facility – Camp Cropper near Baghdad airport – will still be operating. That too is expected to close by the end of the year, leaving only 1,000 allegedly "hardcore" detainees in joint US and Iraqi hands.
2009/09/15: BBC: Attack on Baghdad as Biden visits
Several mortars or rockets have been fired into the fortified Green Zone of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, police say.
The attacks took place while United States Vice-President Joe Biden was visiting the city.
2009/09/15: CBC: Iraqi shoe thrower [Muntadhar al-Zeidi] alleges prison abuse -- Former reporter released from jail
The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at George W. Bush last December says he was abused while he was held in prison.
Muntadhar al-Zeidi was released from a Baghdad prison on Tuesday after serving nine months for hurling two shoes at the then U.S. president.
Al-Zeidi told reporters he was beaten, whipped and given electric shocks behind a building at the prison over a period of two days after he was taken into custody. Al-Zeidi did not provide further details about his claim but said he would be releasing the names of those who harmed him.
He added that he still fears for his life because of his action.
2009/09/04: BBC: Life for [Steven Green] US soldier's Iraq crimes
A former US soldier convicted of rape and murder while serving in Iraq will spend life in prison, a judge in the US state of Kentucky has confirmed.
Steven Green, 24, is to serve five consecutive life sentences for raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killing her and her family near Baghdad in 2006.
2009/09/02: BBC: Iraq bank raiders to be hanged
An Iraqi court has sentenced to death four security force members found guilty of taking part in a bank robbery in which eight guards were killed.
Gunmen stormed the state-owned Rafidin bank in July and made off with about $5m (£3m) worth of Iraqi dinars.
The guards at the bank in the Karrada district of Baghdad were found bound, gagged and shot in a basement, reports at the time of the raid said.
2009/08/31: BBC: Iraq seeks Serbian return of MiGs
The Iraqi authorities say they are negotiating the return of 19 fighter jets which were sent to the former Yugoslavia in the 1980s for repairs.
A defence ministry delegation has gone to Belgrade to discuss bringing the MiG-21s and 23s back into service.
A spokesman said the aircraft, whose existence had recently come to light, would be an important addition to Iraq's defence capability.
Two of the MiGs were ready for immediate use, a statement said. The statement did not specify how the discovery was made or what condition the other 17 aircraft were in.
2009/08/31: BBC: Iraq-Syria war of words escalates
Syria's president has hit back at Iraqi accusations that Syria supports deadly insurgent attacks in Iraq, calling the claims immoral and illogical.
President Bashar al-Assad was speaking as Turkey launched a diplomatic initiative to defuse a growing rift.
Iraq has accused Syria of hosting terrorist training camps and sheltering alleged masterminds of recent attacks.
France and Iran have also joined efforts to cool a row which threatens regional stability and co-operation.
2009/08/28: NYT: Message to Muslim World Gets a Critique
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has written a searing critique of government efforts at "strategic communication" with the Muslim world, saying that no amount of public relations will establish credibility if American behavior overseas is perceived as arrogant, uncaring or insulting.
The critique by the chairman, Adm. Mike Mullen, comes as the United States is widely believed to be losing ground in the war of ideas against extremist Islamist ideology. The issue is particularly relevant as the Obama administration orders fresh efforts to counter militant propaganda, part of its broader strategy to defeat the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"To put it simply, we need to worry a lot less about how to communicate our actions and much more about what our actions communicate," Admiral Mullen wrote in the critique, an essay to be published Friday by Joint Force Quarterly, an official military journal.
"I would argue that most strategic communication problems are not communication problems at all," he wrote. "They are policy and execution problems. Each time we fail to live up to our values or don’t follow up on a promise, we look more and more like the arrogant Americans the enemy claims we are."
2009/08/25: BBC: Iraq and Syria recall ambassadors
Iraq and Syria have both recalled their ambassadors in a deepening rift over claims Damascus was harbouring militants who bombed Baghdad.
Baghdad summoned its envoy home two days after airing a taped confession that linked two Syria-based Iraqi Baathists to a recent bombing campaign.
Hours later Damascus said it was bringing back its envoy in retaliation.
The two Arab neighbours only revived diplomatic links in 2006, after more than 20 years of mutual hostility.
2009/08/21: BBC: Seven charged over Iraq protest
Seven people have been charged with public order offences over disturbances at a parade in Bedfordshire for soldiers returning home from Iraq.
Anti-war protests erupted as soldiers from the 2nd Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment paraded through Luton town centre on 10 March.
The seven will appear at Luton Magistrates' Court on 16 September.
2009/08/21: BBC: Baghdad market struck by bombing
A bomb attached to a lorry has exploded at the entrance to a vegetable market in Baghdad, killing two, police say.
About 20 others were injured in the bombing in the mainly Sunni Dora area of the Iraqi capital.
2009/08/19: BBC: Blasts bring carnage to Baghdad
Truck bombs and a barrage of mortars have killed at least 95 people and wounded more than 500 in Baghdad, in the deadliest attacks in months.
One vehicle exploded outside the foreign ministry near the perimeter of the heavily guarded government Green Zone, leaving a huge crater.
Another blast went off close to the finance ministry building.
2009/08/19: CBC: Baghdad rocked by explosions
A series of explosions that targeted government and commercial buildings in Baghdad Wednesday left at least 86 people dead and more than 300 wounded, Iraqi officials said.
2009/08/10: CNN: Al Qaeda blamed for Iraq violence wave
Dozens dead, 231 wounded, houses destroyed from bombings - Series of bombings appears to target mostly day laborers -
Most of attacks scattered across Baghdad; two truck bombs reported in Mosul - Attacks fuel fears sectarian violence could re-ignite in Iraq
2009/08/10: Independent(UK): Kurdish faultline threatens to spark new war
The only thing keeping Arabs and Kurds from fighting is the glue of US occupation
It is called the "trigger line", a 300-mile long swathe of disputed territory in northern Iraq where Arab and Kurdish soldiers confront each other, and which risks turning into a battlefield. As the world has focused on the US troop withdrawal from Iraq, and the intensifying war in Afghanistan, Arabs and Kurds in Iraq have been getting closer to an all out war over control of the oil-rich lands stretching from the borders of Syria in the west to Iran in the east.
2009/08/07: CNN: Army: 'Insufficient evidence' of crime in soldier's electrocution
Army: Probe reveals "numerous entities ... breached their respective duties" - Pentagon report last month found failures by U.S. military and contractor KBR -
Family of Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, 24, is suing military contractor - Defense says nearly 14,000 deficiencies in gear and facilities have been fixed
2009/08/07: CNN: Attacks kill at least 42 in Iraq on Shiite religious holiday
Motorcycle bomb kills six in Sunni neighborhood of Baghdad - Blast near Shiite mosque kills at least 30 in Mosul -
Three attacks target Shiite pilgrims traveling through Iraqi capital - Friday was end of Shiite celebration of historic imam's birth
2009/08/02: BBC: Market in Iraq 'hit by car bomb'
A car bomb has exploded in a crowded market place in the town of Haditha in the western Iraqi province of Anbar, police say.
At least six people have been killed and many more injured.
2009/07/30: Guardian(UK): Shadowy gang trading captives for acceptance in Iraq
The group holding Peter Moore is recognised throughout the British government, as well as the Iraqi administration, as a hardline Shia Islamic body, known as the Righteous League. Over the past two years, the League has taken a lead role among the milieu of Shia militias in attacking the US military.
But late last year, the group's leaders approached the Iraqi Government seeking an active role in the post-occupation political process.
2009/07/29: BBC: Iran exiles 'killed in Iraq raid'
Seven Iranian dissidents have been killed during a raid by Iraqi security forces on their camp north of Baghdad, Iraqi police have said.
Eyewitnesses say Iraqi police have surrounded the People's Mujahideen of Iran (PMOI) camp and clashes are continuing inside.
2009/07/29: BBC: Ruling bloc wins Iraqi Kurd poll
Iraqi Kurdistan's two-party ruling alliance has won 57% of the vote in parliamentary elections, preliminary results show.
Masood Barzani was re-elected president of the autonomous region with 69.6% of the presidential vote.
The reformist Change movement won 23% in Saturday's elections, the official results show.
2009/07/25: BBC: Deadly blast hits Iraqi party HQ
A car bomb attack on the headquarters of a Sunni party in Iraq has killed at least four people and wounded at least 23 in the central city of Falluja.
The offices of Vice-President Tareq Hashemi's Islamic party were almost completely destroyed.
2009/07/20: BBC: Widow [Joanne Davies] sues [Global Strategies Group] over Iraq ambush death
A widow whose security consultant husband died during an ambush in Iraq has begun a High Court claim for about £300,000 compensation over his death.
Julian Davies, 39, was fatally wounded when he travelled on a three-vehicle convoy in Mosul, northern Iraq in 2004.
Lawyers acting for his widow Joanne, of Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, told the hearing in London Global Strategies failed in its "duty of care".
2009/07/19: BBC: Tensions rise over US Iraq role
There appear to be growing tensions between the US military and Iraqi security forces.
They have arisen over cooperation and the restrictions imposed on the movement of American forces in urban areas inside Iraq.
The Iraqi defence ministry has confirmed the limitations.
But reports suggest US commanders have been surprised and frustrated by the new rules, suggesting they could endanger the safety of their troops.
The agreement has been in place since American troops completed their withdrawal from Iraq's towns and cities.
2009/07/18: BBC: Blast targets Iraq tribal leader
A roadside bomb targeting a Sunni tribal leader has exploded near the Iraqi city of Falluja, wounding him and killing three other people.
Naeem Saleh al-Halbusi is a local leader of the Awakening Council that has been supporting American troops.
2009/07/13: Guardian(UK): Salmond to be investigated over attempt to impeach Blair
SNP leader charged taxpayer £790 for legal advice about impeaching the then-prime minister over Iraq war
A complaint that Alex Salmond wrongly used taxpayers' money in a bid to force Tony Blair from office over Iraq is to be studied by the Westminster standards commissioner, it was disclosed today.
The commissioner, John Lyon, has accepted a complaint from Labour peer Lord Foulkes, who accused Salmond of "outrageous" behaviour.
The attempt to force Blair from office over his handling of the war with Iraq was launched in 2004 by the SNP and Plaid Cymru in Westminster.
2009/07/12: CNN: Roadside bomb misses U.S. ambassador to Iraq
No embassy personnel hurt in roadside bombing in southern Iraq - Bomb targeted convoy of Chris Hill, U.S. ambassador to Iraq, embassy says - Attack comes two weeks after U.S. combat troops withdrew from Iraqi towns
2009/07/09: NYT: Kurds Defy Baghdad, Laying Claim to Land and Oil
With little notice and almost no public debate, Iraq’s Kurdish leaders are pushing ahead with a new constitution for their semiautonomous region, a step that has alarmed Iraqi and American officials who fear that the move poses a new threat to the country’s unity.
The new constitution, approved by Kurdistan’s parliament two weeks ago and scheduled for a referendum this year, underscores the level of mistrust and bad faith between the region and the central government in Baghdad. And it raises the question of whether a peaceful resolution of disputes between the two is possible, despite intensive cajoling by the United States.
The proposed constitution enshrines Kurdish claims to territories and the oil and gas beneath them. But these claims are disputed by both the federal government in Baghdad and ethnic groups on the ground, and were supposed to be resolved in talks begun quietly last month between the Iraqi and Kurdish governments, sponsored by the United Nations and backed by the United States. Instead, the Kurdish parliament pushed ahead and passed the constitution, partly as a message that it would resist pressure from the American and Iraqi governments to make concessions.
2009/07/09: DJID: The Dirty War
On Friday, June 12, Harith al-Obaidi, leader of the Iraqi Accordance Front, the largest Sunni bloc in the Iraqi Parliament, was shot dead outside a mosque just minutes after giving a sermon condemning the Maliki government for human rights abuses. Obaidi, who was a leader in the opposition movement against the government and had strong support among both Sunnis and the Shi’ite bloc loyal to the cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, was a long-time advocate for human rights and a staunch critic of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Only the day before, Obaidi had given a speech in parliament calling for the resignation of top government officials for their ties to human rights abuses in Iraq.
2009/07/10: OilChange: Kurds Stake Claim to their Oil Reserves
This was not meant to happen. In the post-invasion planning of Iraq it was meant to be the American and British oil companies that enjoyed the spoils of war and access to the country’s lucrative oil reserves.
But the Kurds keep putting a proverbial spanner in the works. Iraq’s Kurdish leaders adopted a new constitution two weeks ago, a step that has alarmed Bagdad and Washington. And the reason is: oil.
As the New York Times reports today: "The proposed constitution enshrines Kurdish claims to territories and the oil and gas beneath them. But these claims are disputed by both the federal government in Baghdad and ethnic groups on the ground, and were supposed to be resolved in talks begun quietly last month between the Iraqi and Kurdish governments, sponsored by the United Nations and backed by the United States."