Archive for the ‘Iraq’ Category

Trump inherits the Iraq War. But what will he do? – Washington Post

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On the 14th anniversary of the launch of an American-led invasion that reshaped the Middle East, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi metPresident Trump in the White House.

His visit was drowned out in the American news cycle by feverish coverage of hearings on Capitol Hill regarding Russian meddling in last year's election. Sensing the moment,Abadi gestured tothe national conversation, joking while sitting alongside Trump that he had nothing to do with wiretapping the then-candidate's phones. (Earlier in the day, FBI director James B. Comey had confirmed that his agency had found no evidence to support Trump's allegations about wiretapping.)

But the White House's relationship with the Iraqi government is hardly a laughing matter. As U.S.-backed forces and Iraqi government troops steadily take back the crucial northern city of Mosul from the Islamic State, attention is shifting to what happens once the battle is won. There are vexing challenges ahead: The weak Shiite-led government in Baghdad has yet to prove it has the ability to govern provinces where Sunnis comprise the majority; a movement for a referendum on an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq is gaining traction; a host of other regional powers, including Turkey and Iran, are also exerting influence on the ground in competing ways.

We are proving that Daesh can be eliminated, Abadi asserted Monday, referring to the jihadists of the Islamic State. He was speaking at the U.S. Institute of Peace,anagency of the government that the Trump administration plans to eliminate in its new proposed budget. Abadi offered a message of hope for his nation, arguing that things were looking up and that the country's fledgling democracy was successfully moving forward.

Still, critics, including human rights organizations, are concerned aboutthe effects of an entrenched and deepening sectarianism. Abadi's Shiite-dominated government remains distrusted in areas reclaimed from the Islamic State. KeyIranian-backed Shiite militias mobilized by Abadi's government to fight in the anti-Islamic State campaign have been accused of carrying out their own massacres of Sunnis deemed tohave collaborated with the extremist group.

A report to be aired by PBS Frontline on Tuesday details the mass disappearances of Sunni boys and men in a village outside of Baghdad once occupied by the Islamic State. Locals claim that the men were abducted by the Shiite fighters who had liberated the town from the jihadists. On a wider scale, as my colleagues have reported, the ineptitude of local officials and endemic graft among the police and judiciary in certain parts of Iraq have created room for Islamic State cells to return to provincial cities where they were only recently ousted.

We have inherited many problems, some of which are intrinsic in our society, Abadi admitted during his talk at the USIP.

It's uncertain how the Trump administration will reckon with any of theseproblems. Ever since the election campaign, Trump's messaging on Iraq has been confusing. On one hand, he consistently decried the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 (although it emerged thathe was for the war before he was against it) and signaled that he wanted a radical break from his party's history of engineering regime change and embarking on nation-building projects in the Middle East.

Butat the same time, Trumphas pushed for a more muscular approach to fighting the Islamic State and exhibited an alarming disregard for Iraqi sovereignty with his perplexing calls to take the nation's oil.

And then he decided to includeIraq onthe list of seven Muslim-majority countries in thetravelban to the United States. (A second executive order removed Iraq from the list and faces renewed legal challenges in the courts.)

President Trump has talked a lot about defeating the Islamic State but done virtually nothing to address Iraq itself, except to lump it in with other suspect states in a temporary travel ban, a move he ultimately reversed amid protests from his own commanders, who objected to treating an ally with the back of the hand, wrote Politico's Susan Glasser.

While the Obama administration deserves blame for sidestepping Iraqs political challenges, Mr.Trump has quickly exacerbated the trouble, noted a February editorial in The Washington Post.

The White House's proposed cuts to the State Department andits general apathy towardmultilateral diplomacy don't inspire observers with much confidence.

Trumps efforts to 'deconstruct'the non-Pentagon parts of the U.S. foreign policy apparatus as well as cuts to support for international institutions threatens to strip the United States of the tools required in Iraq and elsewhere, just when we need them most, wrote Jeff Prescott and Daniel Benaim, two former Obama administration officials, in Foreign Policy. Unless we plan another occupation of Iraq (or genuinely and absurdly seek to 'take the oil') it is a reality that as the fighting stops our military will step aside and the State Department, USAID, the IMF, and the U.N. will have to take over.

And the situation on the ground is incredibly complex. Beyond rising Kurdish nationalist aspirationsand the difficulty ofreintegrating Sunni parts of Iraq, Glasser pointed out that Iraq'sleaderalso has to deal with Baghdad's turbulent politics.

Abadi, who faces reelection next year, has much to worry about from within his own Shiite political party as well as from the former prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, widely seen as still waiting in the wings for Abadi to stumble, Glasser wrote.

Trump has criticized his predecessors for gifting Iraq to Iran. But theTrump administration's antagonism toward Iran couldalienate Abadi and other prominent Iraqi Shiites in Baghdad.

Using Iraq as a battleground as part of a broader strategy to counter Iran would also ignore the foundation of Americas presence there as the invited guest of the Iraqi government,Prescott and Benaimwrote. "As much as Iraq needs us, we also need Iraq, particularly as we pursue persistent threats against the homeland including as a hub for the continued fight against the Islamic State in Syria."

In Washington, Abadi sought to show that his government is capable of being a solid partner to the United States. But the underlying tensions were not far from the surface.

We have to work with others. We have to build bridges, Abadi remarked at the close of his USIP talk. He ended with another joke at Trump's expense: Otherwise, what do you do? You build walls?

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Trump inherits the Iraq War. But what will he do? - Washington Post

No decision on keeping NZ troops in Iraq – Newstalk ZB

The Prime Minister says no discussions have been held on a possible extension of a New Zealand Defence Force training mission in Iraq.

Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee has just completed a secret visit to Kiwi forces currently stationed at Camp Taji, where they have been training the Iraqi army combatting the Islamic State in key cities like Mosul.

Brownlee wants to see New Zealand soldiers move into an intelligence role, and believes they could have a future mission in helping rebuild Iraq and fix the conditions that allowed the Islamic State to establish itself.

Asked if the mission may be further extended, Prime Minister Bill English said it hasn't been discussed.

"I'll be getting advice from the defence minister and the chief of defence," English said. "We're pleased with the role New Zealand troops are playing there - it does look like they're making progress and we're pleased we've been able to contribute."

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No decision on keeping NZ troops in Iraq - Newstalk ZB

Trump makes up with Iraq’s leader after travel-ban snub – Charlotte Observer


Reuters
Trump makes up with Iraq's leader after travel-ban snub
Charlotte Observer
President Donald Trump welcomed Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al Abadi to the White House on Monday to talk about the fight against the Islamic State and to smooth over any lingering hurt feelings about the administration's original decision to include ...
Iraq's Abadi says he wins Trump's assurances of more US supportReuters
Trump Bashes Predecessors' Iraq Strategies in Abadi MeetingBloomberg
Trump, al-Abadi and Iraq's futureHuffington Post
Washington Times -Business Insider
all 61 news articles »

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Trump makes up with Iraq's leader after travel-ban snub - Charlotte Observer

26 Pictures From The Early Days Of The Iraq War – BuzzFeed News

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Oleg Nikishin / Getty Images

An Iraqi man holds a flag during a march in defiance of US threats to invade Iraq, on Feb. 4, 2003, in the city of Mosul. Thousands of men and women in military fatigues and carrying assault rifles chanted, No peace, no surrender.

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Joe Raedle / Getty Images

Lt. Col. Rickey Grabowski addresses the US Marines of Task Force Tarawa in the northern desert of Kuwait at Camp Shoup on March 19, 2003, the day before their move north to invade Iraq.

ID: 10733140

Pool / Getty Images

President George W. Bush meets with US House leaders to brief them on his upcoming speech on Iraq, at the White House on March 17, 2003. From left to right: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, US House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Bush, and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. Bush had given Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein 48 hours to flee the country or face invasion.

ID: 10733146

Ramzi Haidar / AFP / Getty Images

Smoke covers the presidential palace compound in Baghdad on March 21, 2003, during a massive US-led air raid on the Iraqi capital. The invasion plunged the country into a deadly insurgency despite a sweeping political transformation.

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Marco Di Lauro / Getty Images

US missiles hit Baghdad on March 21, 2003.

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Patrick Baz / AFP / Getty Images

Iraqis carry an injured employee at the al-Salhiya telecommunications center after it was hit by a missile during a coalition air raid in Baghdad.

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Eric Feferberg / AFP / Getty Images

US Marines from the 2nd Battalion, 8th Regiment, wake up in a mud field after heavy sandstorms early in the morning of March 26, 2003, in Nasiriyah, about 300 kilometers south of Baghdad.

ID: 10733607

Joe Raedle / Getty Images

A US Marine from Task Force Tarawa patrols a wheat field in search of enemy combatants or stockpiles of weapons on March 31, 2003, in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah, site of one of the bloodiest battles so far of the war.

ID: 10733717

Getty Images

A man is taken out of an ambulance at a hospital after a weapons cache exploded injuring dozens of people on April 14, 2003, in a part of Baghdad. While parts of the capital were still reeling from fighting and looting, other parts of the city began to show signs of normalcy as people rode buses, shopped in markets, and went on with everyday life.

ID: 10733566

Ramzi Haidar / AFP / Getty Images

Fifteen-year-old Ali Isamil is comforted by his grandmother in a Baghdad hospital on April 3, 2003. Ismail suffered fourth-degree burns and had both arms amputated as a result of the coalition bombing of the Diala bridge area, which killed six members of his family.

ID: 10733402

Scott Nelson / Getty Images

US Army 3rd Division 3-7 Infantry Lt. Mike Washburn (kneeling), from Yorktown, Virginia, orders an Iraqi woman to the ground so she can be searched during a search and destroy mission March 27, 2003, near the town of An Najaf, Iraq. The 3rd Infantry Division continued to push further north into Iraq but were hampered by pro-Saddam militiamen carrying out ambushes and attacks using small arms and rocket-propelled grenades.

ID: 10733344

Odd Andersen / AFP / Getty Images

US soldiers arrest a suspected Iraqi soldier at a checkpoint in the southern Iraqi port of Umm Qasr on April 5, 2003.

ID: 10733620

Cris Bouroncle / AFP / Getty Images

US Marines from the 2nd Battalion, 8th Regiment, emerge from a building on March 25, 2003, during the takeover of a hospital allegedly used for military purposes by Iraqi forces at the outskirts of the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah.

ID: 10733659

Odd Andersen / AFP / Getty Images

British soldiers advance toward central Basra April 7, 2003.

ID: 10733644

Sean Smith / Getty Images

A dead body is abandoned on a table outside a hospital in Baghdad on April 11, 2003. Lack of water and electricity and poor security left the Baghdad hospital system in a state of collapse after the US invasion.

ID: 10733257

Alex Wong / Getty Images

Callie Gates (left) of Boston and Amelia Rutter of Minneapolis sing during an anti-war candlelight vigil at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC on March 16, 2003, the same day President George W. Bush met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar for a summit on Iraq.

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Photofusion / Getty Images

A vigil outside English Parliament during an Iraq debate and vote by MPs in London on March 18, 2003.

ID: 10733300

Greg Wood / AFP / Getty Images

Workers begin to clean up a No War slogan painted on the Concert Hall sail of the Sydney Opera House on March 18, 2003. Two anti-war protesters were arrested after they scaled the building to paint the slogan, which remained clearly visible as Australian Prime Minister John Howard announced his countrys decision to commit to a US-led invasion of Iraq.

ID: 10733132

Getty Images

Iraqi National Museum Deputy Director Mushin Hasan holds his head in his hands as he sits on destroyed artifacts in Baghdad on April 13, 2003, after the museum had been severely looted in recent days.

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Romeo Gacad / AFP / Getty Images

US Army Sgt. Craig Zentkovich photographs a pink bedroom at Saddam Husseins presidential palace on April 13, 2003.

ID: 10733413

Patrick Baz / AFP / Getty Images

A US Army Ranger displays gold- and silver-plated Kalashnikov rifles belonging to Uday, the eldest late son of Saddam Hussein, found at his mothers residence in Baghdads main presidential place on April 16, 2003.

ID: 10733421

Rick Loomis / Getty Images

A US Army solider attempts to pet a cheetah after it and several other animals were left behind when members of the Iraqi regime fled the Presidential Palace complex area during the US invasion. Most of the animals appeared to be undernourished and in poor health.

ID: 10733543

Chris Hondros / Getty Images

A US Marine pulls down a poster of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on March 21, 2003, in Safwan, Iraq. Chaos reigned in southern Iraq as coalition troops continued their offensive to remove Iraqs leader from power.

ID: 10733177

Ramzi Haidar / AFP / Getty Images

A US Marine covers the face of Iraqi President Saddam Husseins statue with the US flag in Baghdads al-Fardous square on April 9, 2003. The toppling of the statue was immediately seized on as symbolizing the overthrow of one of the worlds most notorious despots.

ID: 10733383

Getty Images

On April 7, 2003, US Marines carry the body of Marine Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez, one of the first Americans killed in the US-led Operation Iraqi Freedom on March 21. Gutierrez came to the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant from his native Guatemala and was posthumously made a citizen of the US.

ID: 10733625

Stephen Jaffe / AFP / Getty Images

President George W. Bush addresses the nation aboard the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, before a large Mission Accomplished banner, on May 1, 2003.

ID: 10733050

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26 Pictures From The Early Days Of The Iraq War - BuzzFeed News

Car Bomb Kills 23 in Iraq’s Capital – Voice of America

A car bomb has killed at least 23 people and wounded 45 more in Baghdad's southwestern Amil neighborhood, Iraqi officials said.

No one has claimed responsibility for the Monday evening attack, but Islamic State has carried out similar attacks in Baghdad and other cities as their hold on Mosul weakens.

The blast happened at 1600 UTC, a busy time in a business district of Baghdad.

Islamic State militants have suffered a string of defeats over the past two years, losing more than 60 percent of the territory they once held in the country. Iraqi forces, backed by the US-led international coalition, are now closing in on retaking Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city.

The militarized Federal Police say they are about 500 meters from al-Nuri mosque, where Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made a rare public appearance in July 2014, announcing a self-styled caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

The attack comes as U.S. President Donald Trump is to meet Monday with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in Washington for talks that are likely to include the ongoing offensive to recapture the key northern city of Mosul from Islamic State militants.

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Car Bomb Kills 23 in Iraq's Capital - Voice of America