Iraq War

A powerful Shiite politician accused the Iraqi government and legislators of allowing "personal whims" to delay national unity, addressing thousands of worshippers who rallied Friday to commemorate the death of one of the most revered saints.

Up to 20 percent of U.S. troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan may have suffered mild concussions but were unaware of them and did not get treatment, an Army study released Thursday shows.

Iraqi police clashed with gunmen from a Shi'ite cult who staged a series of hit-and-run raids in two southern cities on Friday, security officials said. Witnesses...said at least four people may have been killed in the violence

At least two policemen were injured on Friday as violence flared in the Iraqi city of Basra, some 550 kilometres south of Baghdad, security sources said.

One of the grim legacies of the war in Iraq is the vast number of torture victims. One in five Iraqi refugees has been tortured or has suffered from other violence, according to data collected by United Nations in Syria.

Iraq's army and police could be ready to take over security in all 18 provinces by the end of this year as the U.S. military moves toward a less prominent role in the country, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

"We know that they continue to train Iraqi extremists in Iran, we know that they continue to pay some of these extremists," General Raymond Odierno told reporters here, referring to Iran.

As security conditions improve in Iraq, the U.S. should be able to reduce forces at a slow but consistent pace beyond this summer, but air support and ground troops likely will be needed for five to 10 years, a top military commander said Thursday.

President Bush on Thursday released $3.7 billion in emergency money that Congress requested to care for veterans, including those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Spc. John P. Sigsbee, 21, of Waterville, N.Y...assigned to the 1st Squadron, 32nd Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky...died Jan. 16 of wounds suffered in Balad, Iraq...

Two senior defense officials told a House committee today that Iraq's growing security forces should be able to take full responsibility for internal security sometime between early 2009 and 2012, but they declined to predict when...

A suicide bomber attacked a mosque in violent Diyala province northeast of Baghdad on Thursday, killing 11 people and wounding 15 as worshippers were beating their chests in observance of Shiite Islam's holiest holiday.

The old Iranian man with a grizzled face, carrying a pole from which a green flag honouring revered Imam Hussein flutters, looks startled when the top US general in Iraq stops for a chat.

Tens of thousands of pilgrims from across the Muslim world, dressed mostly in black, thronged the streets of Karbala in Iraq on Thursday, two days ahead of Shiite Islam's holiest day.

Tanya Towne says she lost everything in Iraq, starting with physical custody of her first child. Before Towne's 2004 deployment, a Montgomery County Family Court judge gave her son, Derrell Diffin, to her first husband because she was being sent...

U.S. soldiers killed six people, including two women, during raids against al Qaeda near the town of Jalawla, 120 km (70 miles) northeast of Baghdad in Diyala province, the U.S. military said.

Fort Campbell officials say three more soldiers from the post have been killed in Iraq, raising the total to six deaths in eight days. The Department of Defense said the soldiers were killed by small-arms fire while conducting operations yesterday...

A curfew will be slapped on Baghdad and 10 Iraqi provinces on Thursday for three days for Ashura, state television reported on Wednesday. All traffic will be closed from Thursday night in the southern provinces of Babylon, Basra, Diwaniya, Karbala...

The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday said Iraq's economy would expand significantly from the previous year's lows as long as the security situation allows for higher oil production and investment.

Iraq faces a period of economic growth and political progress, according to assessments by the International Monetary Fund and the UN. The IMF sees a 7% jump in growth in 2008 and a similar rise next year, and says oil revenues from buoyant...