The Homeland Security Department on Monday returned the 43-inch sword with an embellished blade and sheath with gold inlaid Arabic writing to the Iraqi ambassador.
Tag Archives: Saddam Hussein
Iran, Iraq have 'exceptional' security role: Ahmadinejad
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in Iraq on Thursday that Tehran and Baghdad have an “exceptional” role to play in the region’s security.
“The role of the two countries in the security of the region is exceptional,” Ahmadinejad told reporters in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, but without elaborating.
“We carry a joint message, which is a message of progress and stability and security, and also a message of peace,” Ahmadinejad said after talks with Iraqi Vice President Khudayr al-Khuzaie.
Ahmadinejad, whose term ends early next month, arrived in Iraq to a red carpet welcome.
He also met Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a statement on the premier’s website said.
Maliki said at the meeting that “Iraq supports peaceful solutions for all the problems in the region,” and told Ahmadinejad Iranian companies were welcome to take part in the reconstruction of Iraq, the statement said.
Ahmadinejad plans to visit the shrine of Imam Hussein in Karbala and that of Imam Ali in Najaf, two of the holiest sites in Shiite Islam, Maliki’s spokesman Ali Mussawi said.
Iraq and Iran fought a bloody 1980-88 war launched by now-executed dictator Saddam Hussein.
But the neighbours have drawn closer since Saddam’s overthrow by US-led forces in 2003, which ultimately paved the way for expanded Iranian influence in Iraq.
The United States has repeatedly said that Iran is using Iraqi airspace to supply arms to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, which is locked in a brutal civil war with rebels seeking his overthrow.
Iran has stood by its ally Assad in the more than two-year conflict, while Iraq has sought to publicly avoid backing either side.
Iran has also supplied weapons and training to Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah, which has entered the war on Assad’s behalf.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Iraq attacks make for deadly start to holy month
Ramadan this year is shaping up to be the deadliest in Iraq since a bloody insurgency and rampant sectarian killings pushed the country to the edge of civil war in the wake of the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.
Suicide attacks, car bombings and other violence have killed more than 160 Iraqis just seven days into the Islamic holy month. The death toll in the first week of Ramadan hasn’t been that high since 2007, intensifying fears that Iraq is slipping back into widespread chaos.
There seems to be little pattern in the range of targets, adding to the sense of unease in what is meant to be a month of spiritual growth and generosity.
Several of those killed over the past week died at a busy northern teashop while playing mehebis, a game where players hope to win sweets by guessing who among their opposing team is hiding a ring in their hands. Others were slain as they swam with friends, or as they shopped for festive evening dinners, or made their way home from mosques after late-night prayers.
Even for Iraqis who have grown used to hearing about random violence, day after day of double-digit death tolls makes for a worrying trend.
Many are choosing to stay home after breaking their dawn-to-dusk fast rather than venture out for festive family get-togethers and late-night cafe sessions, worrying they could be among the next victims.
“Al-Qaida and other terrorist groups … have a better ability to move around and attack targets whenever it suits them,” said Qais Hameed, an engineer and father of three from eastern Baghdad who quit going to a nearby coffee shop after breaking his daily fast. “This just shows that these terrorist groups are getting stronger while our security forces are getting weaker.”
The bloodshed during Ramadan is an extension of a surge of attacks that has been roiling Iraq since the spring. It follows months of rallies by Iraq’s minority Sunnis against the Shiite-led government over what they contend is second-class treatment and the unfair use of tough anti-terrorism measures against their sect.
The killings significantly picked up after Iraqi security forces launched a heavy-handed crackdown on a Sunni protest camp in the northern town of Hawija on April 23. A ferocious backlash followed the raid, with deadly bomb attacks and the return of sporadic gunbattles between insurgents and soldiers …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Iran's Ahmadinejad to visit Iraq
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is set to make a two-day visit this week to neighbouring Iraq, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s spokesman said on Sunday.
Ahmadinejad was invited by President Jalal Talabani, but will be hosted by Vice President Khudayr al-Khuzaie, as Talabani is abroad for medical treatment, Ali Mussawi said.
The outgoing Iranian president, who arrives on Thursday, will also meet Maliki, Mussawi said.
Ahmadinejad, whose term ends early next month, will visit the shrine of Imam Hussein in Karbala and that of Imam Ali in Najaf, two of the holiest sites in Shiite Islam, Mussawi said.
Iraq and Iran fought a bloody 1980-88 war launched by now-executed dictator Saddam Hussein, but have drawn closer since his overthrow by US-led forces in 2003, which ultimately paved the way for expanded Iranian influence in Iraq.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Bomb kills 19 in northern Iraqi city, officials say
A bomb struck a crowded coffee shop late Friday in the ethnically disputed northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, killing at least 19 and wounding more than two dozen in the latest in a string of bloody attacks pounding Iraq since the start of the holy month of Ramadan this week.
Iraq is being rocked by its deadliest and most sustained wave of bloodshed in half a decade. More than 2,600 people have been killed since the start of April, raising fears that the country is once again edging toward the brink of civil war a decade after Saddam Hussein was toppled in the U.S.-led invasion.
The blast exploded in the Classico Cafe in southern Kirkuk, 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad, as patrons were enjoying tea and water pipes hours after the sunset meal that breaks the daylong Ramadan fast, police said.
Kirkuk is home to a mix of Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen — all with competing claims to the oil-rich area. The Kurds want to incorporate it into their self-ruled region in Iraq’s north, but Arabs and Turkomen are opposed. Sunni Arab extremists, aiming to exacerbate ethnic tensions in the region, are believed to be behind frequent attacks in the area that pose a challenge to Iraq’s Shiite-dominated government.
In addition to those killed, the attack wounded 26, a police officer and a hospital official said. It brought to 24 the number of people killed in attacks in the country on Friday.
Hours before the Kirkuk attack, Sunni cleric Salah al-Nuaimi urged calm among Iraqis during a joint Sunni-Shiite sermon Friday in Baghdad aimed at easing sectarian tensions.
“Enough is enough,” al-Nuaimi told worshippers at a Baghdad mosque. “We all love Iraq, we are all Iraqis and we want to be united. We want to stop the bloodletting, and develop and build Iraq.”
Earlier in the day, a suicide car bomber struck a police patrol outside the northern city of Mosul, killing four policemen, a police officer and a medical official said. Mosul is 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of the Iraqi capital.
And outside the northern city of Tikrit, 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Baghdad, drive-by shooters armed with pistols fitted with silencers killed a senior police officer. The attack took place in the town Shirqat, a police officer said.
Officials also provided details of new attacks on Iraqi Shiites late the previous night.
In one of the attacks on Shiites, a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden motorcycle into a funeral tent for a Shiite family in the town of in Muqdadiyah, about 90 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad, officials said. The late Thursday evening explosion killed 13 people and wounded 24, the officials said.
All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to journalists.
In the northern town of Dujail, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Baghdad, a parked car bomb went off outside a Shiite mosque late on Thursday. As people gathered around the blast site, another bomb went off. That twin bombing killed at least 11 people and …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Column: Playing politics with crisis is inevitable
Hours after the Boston Marathon bombings, President Barack Obama gave the standard presidential line following a tragedy: “On days like this there are no Republicans or Democrats — we are Americans, united in concern for our fellow citizens.”
And, as usual, Republicans and Democrats alike quickly ignored his don’t-politicize-this plea.
This was inevitable.
Our leaders always play politics after catastrophe, whether made by man or Mother Nature. The Newtown shootings and Superstorm Sandy. The financial crisis and Hurricane Katrina. Our history is filled with moments when something big happens and elected officials maneuver quickly to take advantage of the changing public mindset — or at least the more intense media spotlight — on a specific issue.
Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt and Congress leveraged public angst over the Depression and a worldwide war in the 1930s to enact the New Deal, overhauling financial systems, funding public works projects and creating Social Security. Some three decades later, Lyndon B. Johnson and his Democrats seized on social unrest to pass the Great Society, anti-poverty and civil rights measures, education and transportation initiatives, Medicare and Medicaid.
During the 1980s, Ronald Reagan and his GOP used the moment of sky-high inflation and a growing Soviet threat to win support for boosting the military, trimming government and cutting taxes. And, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, Republican George W. Bush rallied a fearful America behind expanding the government‘s terrorist-tracking powers, streamlining intelligence gathering and toppling Saddam Hussein.
Most recently, when he took office amid the worst economic conditions in a generation, Obama saw an opportunity to advance an audacious agenda that included ending the costly war in Iraq, improving crumbling transportation arteries and overhauling the health care system. As his first chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, was fond of saying back then: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.”
A gray area exists in all cases.
To some people, politicians who press for new legislation after a tragedy are seizing the perfect time to make needed changes, using typically fleeting we-are-one moments to reach consensus on an issue that long had been languishing behind more pressing priorities or struggling to get the necessary votes. To other people, these politicians are exploiting a tragedy in a blatant attempt to enact their pet, partisan policies.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
Group tied to old guard could gain in Iraq unrest
As clashes this week raise fears of a destabilizing new eruption of sectarian fighting in Iraq, a shadowy militant group linked to the top fugitive from Saddam Hussein‘s regime could stand to gain by attracting new Sunni Muslim support.
The Army of the Men of the Naqshabandi Order depicts itself as a nationalist force defending Iraq‘s Sunni minority from Shiite rule and as an alternative to the extremist version of Islam championed by al-Qaida, whose branch here alienated many in the community during the height of the country’s sectarian bloodshed in the middle of the last decade.
The Naqshabandi Army boasted online that it contributed to the wave of violence that followed a government crackdown Tuesday on a Sunni protest site in the town of Hawija. The deadly clash there prompted assaults by Sunni gunmen in a string of towns and cities, mainly in the north. The violence has claimed more than 170 lives.
In a posting on its website, the group urged its fighters to prepare to storm Baghdad to confront “with an iron fist … the enemies of Arabism and Islam” — a reference to the Shiite-led government that many Sunnis believe is too closely allied with neighboring Shiite powerhouse Iran. While it says foreign diplomats are not its target, it warned that those who ally themselves with the government can expect no mercy.
It’s not just propaganda, say officials and analysts.
“The intelligence we have clearly indicates — beyond any doubt — that the Naqshabandi Army is involved in the recent clashes” in the north of the country, said Shiite lawmaker Hakim al-Zamili, who sits on parliament’s security and defense committee.
He told The Associated Press that the group is thought to have a cache of small and medium-sized arms, and is continuing to carry out attacks against army positions. “They are intensifying efforts to recruit more people and gather more weapons,” he said.
The group, believed to be made up largely of former officers and other former members of Saddam’s regime, occasionally claims responsibility for attacks on government security forces. Estimates of its size range from 1,000 to five times that.
It takes its name from the Naqshabandi order of Sufism, Islam’s mystical movement, which counts many followers in northern Iraq. The militant group touts its Sufi credentials, though it is unclear how many in its ranks
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
It’s ALL About OIL — Period!
By Dale-Dawson
A British think tank, Chatham House, has just released a report that confirms what many of us have always known (but environmental wackos refuse to believe.) The group says that biofuels harm the planet more than fossil fuels, and fossil fuels are a lot more cost effective.
What’s caused my blood to boil is that we (the sane conservative majority) have silently stood by for decades while the most extreme elements of the left have stayed in motion, fighting for their depraved cause. We may have thought that because we were right, we would eventually win the battle. That logic is as naïve as if David, when he was facing the towering Goliath, had not bent down to pick up some stones for his slingshot, passively assuming that God would make everything right.
IF we had fought these social terrorists decades ago, we would not have needed to go into Kuwait in 1991 when Saddam Hussein invaded the country and was determined to blow up their oil fields. HAD we had been energy independent then, we could have, perhaps, offered some humanitarian assistance (but little else.)
Thanks to the weakness of presidential administrations going back decades (obviously, both parties are to blame), we went into Kuwait (NOT for the noble reasons then stated) to prevent this nasty dictator (who hated us) from blowing up some real estate of another country that also had no love for the U.S.
The plain truth (I agree with the ‘anti-war’ groups on this point) is that it really was all about the oil. But the story in the liberal media should not have ended there. It was ‘all about oil’ because the agenda-driven environmentalists have blocked every effort here in America for American companies to tap into the vast resources of crude oil beneath the surface of many areas of the United States.
Had it not been for the ‘tree-hugger’ extremists, many U.S. soldiers who died in these senseless Middle East deployments would have been alive today, raising their families and going on with their American Dream.
I think these groups have a whole lot of blood on their hands, and for WHAT? Though they have disrupted a lot of progress in the United States, they have no factual data to justify or document the chaos they have caused for decades. With liberal/progressive ‘fanatics,’ it is always about “feelings,” not facts.
If administrations of both parties had pushed back decades ago, we would have a lot more troops still alive today, a lot more money in our national bank account (with a positive rather than a negative balance via savings from ‘wars’ and deployments that never happened), and a whole lot more jobs, thanks to fossil fuel extraction sites around the nation. We would also not now be thinking that $3.39 a gallon for gasoline is a real BARGAIN!
I think it might be time to start pushing back — before it is just plain TOO LATE!
ON TARGET NEWS
www.ontargetnews.com
Photo credit: terrellaftermath
Maggie's Critics Each Owe her $3,000
By Paul Roderick Gregory, Contributor England yesterday laid to rest former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher with pomp and circumstances not seen since the Queen Mom’s funeral of 2002. Thatcher’s detractors turned their backs to her passing coffin, held signs “Rest in Shame,” and pushed the song “Ding Dong the Wicked Witch is Dead” to the top of the charts. Margaret Thatcher’s enemies will never forgive her for breaking the unions’ stranglehold, for her support of budgetary discipline, her privatization of England’s decaying state companies, and for deregulation. Her detractors will not forgive her alliance with Ronald Reagan against the USSR’s evil empire. They will not forgive her support of the first war against Saddam Hussein. Thatcher’s detractors will never concede that she reversed England’s fifty years decline as the “sick man of Europe” and restored her country to the top ranks of world economic powers. When I began teaching comparative economics in 1970, I showed students that it was rare for countries to undergo dramatic changes in their relative economic position. The rise of Japan starting in the 1870s was one of the few exceptions of a rising economic power. England – at the turn of the 20th century the world’s richest economy — was the rare exception of a country in an economic tailspin relative to its neighbors. I taught a whole chapter about the “British disease” plagued by runaway unions, ineffective demand management, decaying state enterprises, and overregulation. The British disease was evident in the many anecdotes of British economic inefficiency, but it was even more apparent in the collapse of England’s relative economic position in Europe: In 1950, Germany and France’s per capita GDPs were between two third and three quarters of England’s. When Thatcher became Prime Minister in 1979, Germany and France were between ten and fifteen percent richer than England. In 1950, England was twice as affluent as Italy. By 1979, the two had essentially the same per capita income. The mighty England was reduced to being Italy! Notably, the Thatcher Revolution did not end with Thatcher. Thatcherism convinced the Labor Party to become New Labor. New Labor, unlike Old Labor, could win elections, and it continued the policies of Thatcher. After forty years of Thatcher and New Labor policies, England is again more affluent than rivals France and Germany, and it has left Italy behind in the dust. Over England’s half century of “British Disease,” various labor and Tory governments sought cures. None succeeded until Thatcher. I would challenge any economist to come up with an answer for the cure of the British disease other than the Thatcher reforms. Unless those who hate Mrs. Thatcher can come up with another reason for England’s recovery, they should admit that her policies have made them on average $3,000 better off each year based on the following calculation: In 1979, Germany and France’s combined GDP per capita was 14 percent higher than the UK. Under the favorable assumption that a UK without Thatcher could have maintained that deficit, its current GDP
From: http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2013/04/18/maggies-critics-each-owe-her-3000/
Iraq's Kurds to hold local elections in September
Iraqi Kurds will elect a new parliament and president for their oil-rich, self-ruled region on Sept. 21.
A government statement issued on Thursday says Masoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdish region, approved the date and called for transparent elections.
The vote for a new 111-seat National Assembly will be the third election in the three-province region since 2005.
Following the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, the Kurdish area was recognized as an autonomous region that is in many ways politically independent from Baghdad.
Since then, the two main Kurdish parties — the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Democratic Party of Kurdistan — have joined forces to rule the region.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/4V6_Z5u0IFQ/
Iraq national museum long way from public opening
In Iraq‘s national museum, home to some of the world’s most precious artifacts of ancient Mesopotamia, a caption beside a skeleton simply reads in English: “dated to very old time.”
And some of the museum’s most impressive pieces carry no labels at all — like a giant stone head lying on the ground that may or may not belong on a nearby empty pedestal labeled “Assyrian King Nimrod,” the Biblical tormentor of the patriarch Abraham.
Ten years after Iraq‘s national museum was looted and smashed by frenzied thieves during the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein, it’s still far from ready for a public re-opening. Work to overcome decades of neglect and the destruction of war has been hindered by power struggles, poorly-skilled staff and the persistent violence plaguing the country, said Bahaa Mayah, Iraq‘s most senior antiquities official.
“I wish that the great historical Baghdad would appear in her finest face and that the Iraq museum opens,” said Mayah, the head of antiquities in the Tourism and Antiquities Ministry.
“But our wishes crash against the unfortunate reality we live in.”
The museum was once the showcase for 7,000 years of history in Mesopotamia, birthplace of some of the first cities and one of the first writing systems — cuneiform — and home to a succession of major civilizations, including the Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian, through to a flourishing Islamic empire.
The museum was left a wreck the day after Baghdad fell to U.S. troops on April 10, 2003. Ancient clay scrolls and pottery littered the floor. Looters made off with everything from gold bowls and ritual funeral masks to elaborate headdresses. The U.S. was sharply criticized for not protecting the museum.
Because the museum’s inventory was never completed, it’s uncertain how many pieces were stolen, but the number is estimated at 15,000 pieces. More than a quarter have been retrieved, said Mayah, who has overseen the museum formally since 2012 but has been involved in its renovations for the past five years.
Renovations began soon after the museum was smashed up in 2003, starting with the basics, like computers, office furniture, air conditioning. By mid-2004, the museum was rewired for electricity and most basic repairs to its structure completed. Since then, the U.S. and Italian governments have helped renovate the halls.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/LOJEdzAU3Eg/
10-year anniversary of Baghdad fall to US forces
Ten years ago, a statue fell in Baghdad‘s Firdous Square. Joyful Iraqis helped by an American tank retriever pulled down their longtime dictator, cast as 16 feet of bronze. The scene broadcast live worldwide became an icon of the war, a symbol of final victory over Saddam Hussein.
But for the residents of the capital, it was only the beginning.
The toppling of the statue remains a potent symbol that has divided Iraqis ever since: Liberation for Shiites and Kurds, a loss for some Sunnis and grief among almost everybody over the years of death, destruction and occupation that followed the fall of Baghdad to U.S. forces on April 9, 2003.
“Ten years ago, I dreamed of better life,” said Rassol Hassan, 80, who witnessed the fall of the statue from his nearby barber shop. “Nothing has changed since then for me and many Iraqis, it has even gotten worse.”
In an opinion piece in the Washington Post, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the overwhelming majority of Iraqis agree that they are better off today than under Saddam’s brutal dictatorship.
“Iraqis will remain grateful for the U.S. role and for the losses sustained by military and civilian personnel that contributed in ending Hussein’s rule,” he said.
“Iraq is not a protectorate of the United States; it is a sovereign partner,” al-Maliki said in response to the contention that Iraq has become more pro-Iran than pro-West. “Partners do not always agree, but they consider and respect each other’s views. In that spirit, we ask the United States to consider Iraq‘s views on challenging issues, especially those of regional importance.”
In the past 10 years, Iraqis have seen the country’s power base shift from minority Arab Sunnis to majority Shiites, with Kurds gaining their own autonomous region.
“For Kurds there is no regret,” said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish legislator. “April 9 is a national liberation day for us.”
Ali al-Moussawi, a spokesman for Iraq‘s Shiite-led government, said “April 9 is a day of contradictions: We ended the oppression of Saddam” but began the American occupation. Still, he emphasized that Iraqis were looking forward.
“Our fight is . against terrorist groups that kill people and want to prevent them from tasting the freedom …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Maliki: Don't Worry America, Iraq Is Grateful
By Kevin Spak It’s been 10 years since Saddam Hussein‘s fall, and Nouri al-Maliki is using the occasion to set the record straight on US-Iraqi relations. In an op-ed in today’s Washington Post , the Iraqi prime minister assures Americans that Iraq is a “sovereign partner” for the US, and “will remain grateful for… …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home
Australia's Iraq war leader criticizes campaign
John Howard, the Australian prime minister who sent troops to support U.S. and British forces in the Iraq invasion a decade ago, has criticized U.S. handling of the bloody aftermath of dictator Saddam Hussein‘s overthrow.
In a speech in Sydney to mark the 10th anniversary of the fall of Baghdad on April 14, Howard on Tuesday said that disbanding the Iraqi Army “was a mistake” and that efforts to remove Hussein’s Baath Party from civil service “went too far.”
He says in a speech, released by his office, that the American interim administration that replaced Hussein “held sway for too long” and the U.S. cut troop levels too soon.
A staunch ally of U.S. President George W. Bush, Howard angered many Australians by sending 2,000 troops to invade Iraq.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Former World Bank president withdraws from Pennsylvania college commencement
The former president of the World Bank has withdrawn from a Pennsylvania college’s commencement following critical comments posted on a school newspaper forum.
Robert Zoellick, a 1975 alumnus of Swarthmore College, also declined to receive an honorary degree, according to an announcement by Swarthmore President Rebecca Chopp that was obtained and first reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer.
“I don’t want to disrupt what should be a special day for the graduates, their families, and friends,” Zoellick wrote in an email Chopp distributed on Friday. “Nor do I have an interest in participating in an unnecessarily controversial event.”
Chopp, in the email, praised Zoellick’s “knowledge of the global economy” with a vision of how it can address poverty, social equality and justice.
“He is a model for students who want to combine knowledge with service, ethics with outreach, and wisdom with a commitment to the wider world,” the email, which was obtained by FoxNews.com, continued. “Swarthmore is very proud to claim him as an alumnus and stands by its decision to award him the honorary degree.”
Zoellick, a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, served as the 11th president of the World Bank Group from 2007 to 2012. He has also worked as the executive vice president of Fannie Mae and a senior international adviser to Goldman Sachs.
During a forum hosted by the school’s newspaper, a user who identified themselves as Will L. took issue with Zoellick’s tenure at the three institutions and claimed his role helped “build an ideological foundation” for the Iraq war.
“His whole career has been built on one morally dubious enterprise after another,” the posting read.
In 1998, Zoellick, the newspaper notes, was among the members of the Project for the New American Century — a conservative think tank — who signed a letter urging President Bill Clinton to remove then-Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein from power because of an assumption that Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Donald Rumsfeld also signed the letter and would later lead the invasion of Iraq as President George W. Bush’s secretary of defense.
Other students generally defended the choice of Zoellick for June 2 commencement, the Inquirer reports.
Swarthmore College is a private university with roughly 1,500 students about 10 miles southwest of Philadelphia.
Click for more from the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
Kennedy joins Iranian exiles protesting in Sweden
Hundreds of supporters of an Iranian opposition group have rallied in Stockholm, denouncing the Islamic Republic‘s regime and urging the U.N. to better protect the group’s members in neighboring Iraq.
Former U.S. Congressman Patrick Kennedy was among the speakers Saturday at the demonstration in support of the Mujahedin-e Khalq, or MEK.
The crowd waved Iranian flags and chanted “down with Mullahs’ regime” before marching toward the Swedish Parliament.
The MEK fought alongside Saddam Hussein‘s forces in the Iran-Iraq war and until recently was listed by the U.S. as a terrorist organization. The group says it renounced violence in 2001.
The U.N. says more than 3,000 MEK members live at a former U.S. military base in Iraq. Iraq still considers MEK a terrorist group and wants it out of the country.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Gunmen raid newspaper offices in Baghdad
Iraqi officials say gunmen broke into the offices of four independent newspapers in Baghdad and stabbed and beat five employees there.
A police officer said on Monday that the assailants — some wearing military uniforms — also damaged computers and office furniture. They used baton and knives, but not their pistols.
The officer says an investigation is under way into the Sunday attack. A health official confirmed that five people were hurt. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Iraq is ranked among the most dangerous places in the world for journalists, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Hundreds of journalists were killed in the country since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
Saddam-linked legal adviser jailed for fraud
A flamboyant but unqualified lawyer whose clients included deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has been sentenced to 14 years in jail for fraud.
Giovanni Di Stefano was nicknamed “The Devil’s Advocate” for speaking on behalf of figures including Saddam, former Iraqi Vice President Tariq Aziz and British train robber Ronnie Biggs.
Prosecutors say he conned clients out of millions of pounds by operating as a lawyer when he had no legal qualifications and was not registered to practice in Britain or Italy, where he had offices.
He was convicted at London’s Southwark Crown Court this week of 25 charges, including deception, fraud and money laundering.
Passing sentence Thursday, Judge Alistair McCreath said Di Stefano had caused distress to many people, adding: “Your only concern was to line your own pockets.”
Kerry to press Iraq on flights to Syria during unannounced visit
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Iraq on an unannounced visit to urge Iraqi leaders to stop Iranian overflights of arms and fighters heading to Syria and to overcome sectarian differences that still threaten Iraqi stability 10 years after the American-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
Kerry arrives in Iraq on unannounced visit
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Iraq on an unannounced visit to urge Iraqi leaders to overcome sectarian differences that still threaten the country’s stability following the 10-year anniversary of the American-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.
Kerry flew into Baghdad on Saturday from Amman after accompanying President Barack Obama to Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan. Officials traveling with him said he would press Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other senior officials on democratic reforms and urge them to stop overflights of Iranian aircraft carrying military personnel and equipment to support the Syrian government as it battles rebels.
The overflights have been a source of contention between the U.S. and Iraq and Kerry will tell the Iraqis that letting them continue will threaten Iraq‘s stability.