Former UK prime minister Tony Blair is scheduled to appear for the second time before the Iraq Inquiry panel. David Botti reports.
via bbc.co.uk The chairman of the Iraq inquiry has said he is disappointed that Britain’s top civil servant has refused to authorise publication of notes sent by Tony Blair to President George Bush in the run up to war. Sir John Chilcot has said the documents are central to an…
via AssociatedPress A suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of police recruits on Tuesday, killing at least 45 people and undercutting Iraqi security efforts as the nation struggles to show it can protect itself without foreign help. (Jan. 18)
via www.bbc.co.uk The Mesopotamian Marshes in southern Iraq were once home to thousands of marsh Arabs, millions of birds – and rebels fighting against Saddam Hussein. In the 1990s he ordered his engineers to drain the land as a punishment, turning the land to dust. Now conservationist and environmental engineer Dr…
via The Telegraph Cpl Donald McMaster shows off the home the troops have made out of their new base. Cpl McMaster is helping to train the Afghan National Police and has previously recorded his arrival in Afghanistan and his farewell to his family. All members of 5 Scots have been equipped with…
via rferl.org The neighborhood of Aqibi Silo in central Kabul has had no running water for years. Children from the area skip school to carry water for their families — and sell it to their neighbors for a few afghanis. Produced by Sayedjan Sabawoon, RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan
via TheNewYorkTimes In Iraq’s northern mountains, the controversial Kurdistan Workers’ Party shows signs of adjusting its rhetoric in response to the political and economic changes in Turkey and Iraq. Is it enough?
via RussiaToday The US is pumping billions of dollars into regenerating Iraq. But with thousands there still living below the poverty line, many have yet to see any improvement in living standards. As RT’s Sebastian Myer reports, some are forced to live in dumping grounds, scavenging through waste just to…
via The Telegraph Uprooted from their main base, the men of Donald McMaster’s troop have to fend for themselves in a scrapyard in Helmand. Cpl McMaster is helping to train the Afghan National Police and has previously recorded his arrival in Afghanistan and his farewell to his family. All members of 5…
Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has called the US, UK and Israel ‘common enemies of Iraq’ during his first speech since returning from four years of self-imposed exile. Thousands of supporters gathered to hear him urge the rejection of what he called the US occupation. Sadr’s return from Iran comes a…