Iraq

Some Iraqi officials are insisting that a controversial bomb detection device works, despite a BBC inquiry in which experts said the item was useless. Britain has banned exports of the ADE-651 and the director of the company selling them was arrested and bailed. But the device is still being used at checkpoints all over Baghdad. [...]

An Army Specialist has been thrown in jail, after being accused of making threats against other soldiers in a rap song. Iraq war veteran specialist Mark Hall was based at Fort Stewart, Georgia. He’s been in custody since December, charged with “conduct prejudicial to the good order and discipline of the Armed Forces” and for [...]

A federal judge dismissed manslaughter charges Thursday against five Blackwater security guards in the 2007 deaths of Iraqi civilians in a Baghad square, finding that prosecutors wrongly used the men’s own statements against them. The September 2007 shootout in Baghdad’s Nusoor Square left 17 Iraqis dead and two dozen wounded. The killings led Iraq’s government [...]

Nearly a week after a border dispute flared over a seized oil well, Iraq and Iran continued to pick at each other, but both nations signaled their intentions to resolve the spat. Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said late Tuesday that Iraqi lawmakers will attempt to review and analyze the 1975 Algiers Treaty and come [...]

Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) — Both Iraq and Iran stood their ground Saturday over the reported seizure of a southern Iraqi oil well by Iranian forces. Two days after Iraq said an Iranian “armed group” crossed the border into Iraq and seized the well, Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Labid Abawi said the occupation of well No. [...]

WASHINGTON — Militants in Iraq have used $26 off-the-shelf software to intercept live video feeds from U.S. Predator drones, potentially providing them with information they need to evade or monitor U.S. military operations. Senior defense and intelligence officials said Iranian-backed insurgents intercepted the video feeds by taking advantage of an unprotected communications link in some [...]

Iraq’s oil capacity could reach 12 million barrels per day (bpd) in six years, the country’s oil minister says. Hussein al-Shahristani told reporters in Baghdad that oil producers would not necessarily operate at full capacity, but would take into account demand. Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, has a capacity of 12.5m bpd. Earlier, [...]

Tony Blair is facing strong criticism after he said he would have gone to war in Iraq even if he had known there were not any weapons of mass destruction. The former prime minister said it was the “notion” of Saddam as a threat to the region which tilted him in favour of the invasion [...]

Soooooo you’re a tough guy now that Sadaam is 80 feet underground huh? You remind me of this dude I went to elementary school with. Since the teacher is there you wanna pick a fight with the other guy who you KNOW can beat you …except in this case, he’s dead…..smh Tony Blair….F*ck Outta Here.. [...]

The CIA has cancelled a contract with US private security firm Blackwater for its operatives to load bombs onto drone aircraft in Pakistan and Afghanistan. CIA Director Leon Panetta wanted such work to be done by the organisation’s own employees only, officials said. The New York Times revealed the existence of the secret contract with [...]

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s warning that further regulation would “impair” the economy is a “hoax,” according to Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas). Responding to Bernanke’s op-ed in The Washington Post this past weekend, in which the Federal Reserve chairman said that Paul’s bill to audit the Fed would harm the U.S. economy, the Texas congressman accused [...]

[vodpod id=Groupvideo.4056461&w=425&h=350&fv=contentId%3Dworld%2F2009%2F11%2F27%2Fjamjoom.iraq.big.move.cnn%26context%3D640x384_start_art%26domId%3Dcvp_1%26w%3D640%26h%3D384] Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) — The U.S. drawdown currently happening in Iraq is not just about service members, it also involves military equipment. Because there’s so much of it, packing it up and moving it out has become one of the most challenging missions. “It’s like any household, you know,” explained Army Col. C.J. [...]