Iraq News

BAGHDAD: The top US military officer in Iraq warned on Wednesday of attacks in the run-up to an expected January general election and said he would ask Washington to alter troop drawdown plans if necessary.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said it is too soon to set a timeline for shifting security duties from NATO-led troops to Afghan forces, as proposed by Britain.

An Iraqi official says Baghdad has contacted Tehran in a bid to secure the release of three Americans detained in Iran, but has received no reply.

In its largest reconstruction effort since the Marshall Plan , the United States government has spent $53 billion for relief and reconstruction in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, building tens of thousands of hospitals, water treatment plants, electricity substations, schools and bridges.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq is becoming more Iraqi and less dominated by foreigners as the insurgent group increasingly joins forces with Saddam Hussein's outlawed Ba'ath party, the commander of U.S. forces said today.

A top aide to Iraq's Shiite spiritual leader on Friday urged the country's fractious political blocs to resolve a crisis over a key election law that threatens to delay national polls planned for January.

The Justice Department intends to drop manslaughter and weapons charges against one of the Blackwater Worldwide security guards involved in a deadly 2007 Baghdad shooting, prosecutors said in court documents Friday.

MILWAUKEE - Detainees at a camp in Baghdad, Iraq have found a way to get under the skin of guard troops from Wisconsin.

Early Monday morning, men dressed in Iraqi Army uniforms killed at least 13 people, including a local cleric.

Melinda worries about Aiden when he's befriended by the ghost of a girl who died from leukemia.

Army Lt. Col. Dominic "Rocky" Baragona was killed in Iraq on the day he was going home.

The wives of four South African men abducted on the outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq, nearly three years ago have made an emotional plea for help to President Jacob Zuma.

Iraqi lawmakers will vote Saturday on how to break a deadlock over a key election law after a vice president vetoed the legislation, causing a crisis that could delay a national vote scheduled for January and affect the timetable for an American troop withdrawal.

The international security company formerly called Blackwater Worldwide is facing large government fines for unlicensed arms shipments to Iraq, as a key Congressional committee is asking for a separate investigation into whether the company bribed Iraqi officials.

The UN's special envoy to Iraq has said it will be a "Herculean task" to ensure basic standards are met before Iraq's planned national elections in January.

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

Asian Cup holders Iraq face being kicked out of world soccer after the country's football association was disbanded by a rival sports authority, governing body FIFA said on Tuesday.

More than six years after the U.S. invasion left Iraq's main zoo a wasteland of starving animals and deserted cages, the park in central Baghdad is enjoying a vigorous revival and needs to grow.

A car bomb exploded in a crowded market place in northern Kirkuk on Monday, killing at least six people and wounding six others, Iraqi police and hospital sources said.

An Iraqi police officer allows a heavily loaded car to pass a checkpoint in central Baghdad, Iraq, on Tuesday, Nov.