November 24, 2009

January election in Iraq? Doubtful

Hopes for a January election in Iraq faded Monday after Shiite Muslim and Kurdish legislators teamed up to vote for a new version of an election law that in effect takes seats away from Sunni Arabs and is almost certain to draw another veto from the country's Sunni vice president.

November 19, 2009

Iraq vice president vetoes new election law

One of Iraq's vice presidents vetoed the country's new election law Wednesday, throwing into fresh doubt the feasibility of holding crucial national balloting in January and possibly disrupting the withdrawal next year of U.S. troops.

November 10, 2009

Prominent member of Awakening movement arrested in Iraq

A Sunni paramilitary leader and budding politician who had been trying to avoid arrest on murder charges since the summer has been jailed by Iraqi security forces, authorities said Monday.

November 9, 2009

Iraq parliament passes election law

Iraq's bickering politicians finally agreed on a new election law Sunday, paving the way for crucial national balloting to take place in January and for the drawdown of U.S. troops to proceed as scheduled.

November 6, 2009

Exxon Mobil-led consortium to develop major Iraqi oil field

The Iraqi government Thursday signed a deal with a consortium led by U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. to develop a major oil field in southern Iraq, marking the first entry by an American-dominated group into Iraq's oil industry since it was nationalized in 1972.

November 5, 2009

U.S. keeps a low profile ahead of Iraq elections

As Iraqi lawmakers repeatedly miss deadlines for writing the new law urgently needed for elections to go ahead in January -- and for U.S. troops to go home -- America's diminishing role in the political process is very much in evidence.

November 3, 2009

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

U.S. concerned about Iraq election law delay

As the commander of U.S. ground forces in Iraq, Army Lt. Gen. Charles H. Jacoby Jr. will play a key role in making the assessments on which the U.S. military will base its final decision on whether to withdraw all combat forces from Iraq by August, the goal set by President Obama. After that, 50,000 U.S. troops will remain to help with training and logistics until the end of 2011.

October 27, 2009

Iraq beefs up security in Baghdad after bombings

The Iraqi government launched a massive security operation in Baghdad as Iraqis buried their dead Monday, a day after a pair of suicide attacks against government buildings killed dozens of people and exposed the fragility of Iraq's fledgling institutions.

October 26, 2009

Iraq car bombings kill 147

Twin suicide bombings in the heart of downtown Baghdad killed 147 people Sunday in an attack seen as an attempt to undermine Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's government at a time of rising political tensions over crucial national elections due in January.

October 26, 2009

Baghdad blasts: Bloodshed and mayhem

It was shortly after 10 a.m. when Baghdad provincial council member Mohammed Rubaie left his office with a bodyguard who needed a ride. They drove one block up Haifa Street, passing security checkpoints and the Mansour Melia hotel, home to many Iraqi politicians.

8:59 AM PDT, October 25, 2009

Explosions kill at least 147 in Baghdad's government center

Car bombs exploded in Baghdad this morning next to two key government buildings, killing at least 147 people and wounding more than 700. The explosions occurred as political leaders were preparing to meet to try to resolve a fierce dispute that could delay national elections, ranked as pivotal to Iraq's long-term stability.

September 25, 2009

16 prisoners escape in northern Iraq

In a daring escape, 16 prisoners, five of them awaiting execution, apparently crawled through a window of an Iraqi jail before fanning out in different directions, police and local officials said Thursday.

September 7, 2009

In Iraq, U.S. troops learn to cope with rejection

Air Force Staff Sgt. Daniel Raschke realized how much things had changed for U.S. troops in Iraq when his team was politely but firmly turned away from two Baghdad police stations -- by officers he had helped train.

6:34 AM PDT, August 26, 2009

Abdul Aziz Hakim dies at 59; powerful Iraqi political leader

Abdul Aziz Hakim, one of Iraq's most powerful political leaders and the head of one of its most prominent Shiite religious dynasties, died today in a Tehran hospital, his party's television channel reported.

April 5, 2009

Navy Lt. j.g. Francis L. Toner IV, 26, Westlake Village; killed by Afghan soldier

He was the person people always wanted to be around.

February 1, 2009

IRAQ ELECTIONS

In Kufa, some Shiites bemoan Sadr movement's diminished role

After voting, the young men stand cursing those they consider the hypocrites -- plundering Iraq's wealth; campaigning for office with tousled hair, 5 o'clock shadows and knockoff Italian suits.

December 30, 2008

Christine Maggiore, vocal skeptic of AIDS research, dies at 52

Until the end, Christine Maggiore remained defiant.

9:39 PM PST, November 19, 2008

Firefighter's stand saves homes of former neighbors in Sylmar's Oakridge Mobile Home Park

Some of Los Angeles County Fire Capt. David Yonan's happiest memories are of the two years he spent living with his then-wife at the Oakridge Mobile Home Park.

March 24, 2008

Air Force Staff Sergeant CHRISTOPHER S. FROST

A proud 'Combat Journalist'

Whenever I'm thundering over Iraq in a helicopter, I think of a colleague who died in a copter crash in Afghanistan years ago, and I pray that my aircraft makes it safely to the landing pad. From now on, I'll also think of Air Force Staff Sgt. Christopher S. Frost, who died in a helicopter crash in Iraq on March 3, six months after arriving here.

March 24, 2008

Marine Captain PATRICK M. RAPICAULT

Born French, died American

Capt. Patrick M. Rapicault, French by birth, fell in love with America and joined the U.S. military. He spoke in an accent that was a hybrid of French and Southern. His men gave him the affectionate nickname Frenchie.

March 24, 2008

Marine Lance Corporal GEORGE J. PAYTON

An easygoing youngster

In the first days of the Marine offensive on Fallouja in November 2004, Lance Cpl. George J. Payton of the 3-5 Marines wondered why his unit wasn't getting any action. The next day the unit was in a firefight and he told me he suddenly realized that in war, you could go from boredom to action in a flash.

March 24, 2008

U.S. toll in Iraq reaches 4,000

Four U.S. soldiers were killed when a bomb hit their vehicle in south Baghdad late Sunday, bringing the number of U.S. service members killed in the Iraq war to 4,000.

March 15, 2008

Iraqi Christians mourn archbishop

The Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Mosul, Paulos Faraj Rahho, was buried Friday, two weeks after he was kidnapped in the troubled northern city of Mosul.

February 12, 2008

Gates signals possible break in Iraq troop withdrawals

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Monday endorsed the idea of a pause in the American troop drawdown this summer, as bombers killed at least 22 Iraqis in attacks targeting U.S.-allied tribal leaders.

February 8, 2008

Attacks on Iraq volunteers rise

Attacks on Iraqi security volunteers, who are given much of the credit for reducing violence in their country, have doubled since October, the U.S. military said Thursday.

January 14, 2008

Iraqi political factions jointly pressure Kurds

Several Shiite and Sunni political factions united Sunday to pressure the Kurds over control of oil and the future of the Iraqi city of Kirkuk, which Kurdistan wishes to annex to its self-ruled region in the north.

3:23 AM PST, January 10, 2008

U.S. bombers target Al Qaeda in Iraq

U.S. bombers and fighter jets continued an aggressive attack on the southern outskirts of Baghdad this morning, unleashing 38 bombs in 10 minutes on suspected Al Qaeda in Iraq safe havens.

December 11, 2007

From the archives: Iraqi policewomen are told to surrender their weapons

The Iraqi government has ordered all policewomen to hand in their guns for redistribution to men or face having their pay withheld, thwarting a U.S. initiative to bring women into the nation's police force.

October 6, 2007

COLUMN ONE

A band of survivors returns from Iraq

As darkness fell and mortar rounds thudded in the distance, the soldiers of Attack Company's 3rd Platoon fired up a barbecue, mixed some marinade in a cut-off water bottle and slathered it on pork ribs with a paintbrush.

September 19, 2007

U.S. limits diplomats' travel in Iraq

-- The U.S. Embassy on Tuesday banned diplomats and other civilian government employees indefinitely from traveling by land outside the heavily protected Green Zone as American and Iraqi officials debated the legal status of foreign security contractors after a weekend shooting incident here in which eight civilians were reported killed.

September 14, 2007

Poll: Civilian toll in Iraq may top 1M

-- A car bomb blew up in the capital's Shiite Muslim neighborhood of Sadr City on Thursday, killing at least four people, as a new survey suggested that the civilian death toll from the war could be more than 1 million.