Basra

Source: news.google.com --- 3 days ago
Los Angeles Times Drive in Basra by Iraqi Army Makes Gains New York Times - 51 minutes ago By STEPHEN FARRELL and AMMAR KARIM Basra, Iraq - Three hundred miles south of Baghdad, the oil-saturated city of Basra has been transformed by its own surge, now seven weeks old. Delicate Deal Helps Decrease Violence in Baghdad's Sadr City Enclave Washington Post US official: Too early to know Sadr City truce success CNN Los Angeles Times  - Christian Science Monitor  - BBC News  - International Herald Tribune all 3,295 news articles ...

Source: news.bbc.co.uk --- 6 days ago
Up to 20 rockets are fired at the British base at Basra airport, say police in the southern Iraqi city. ...

Source: www.nytimes.com --- 2 days ago
Three hundred miles south of Baghdad, Basra has been transformed by its own surge, now seven weeks old. ...

Source: mobile.reuters.com --- 6 days ago
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Militants fired rockets into a British forces base in Iraq's southern oil town of Basra on Thursday, killing two contractors and wounding four other civilians, the U.S. military said on Thursday. ...

Source: baghdadbureau.blogs.nytimes.com --- 1 day ago
Ammar Karim is an Iraqi employee of The New York Times. He recently returned from a four-day trip reporting on Iraq’s second-largest city. My family, my close friends and my fiancée told me not to go to Basra, saying, “We don’t want to hear about your death from a media report.” They begged me to give [...] ...

Source: www.guardian.co.uk --- 13 days ago
Petraeus, Browne and defence chiefs agree that British garrison helps 'political credence' with US ...

Source: blog.wired.com --- 2 days ago
For years, American leaders have been promising that Iraqi forces are just about ready to start leading attacks against insurgents -- only to have the soldiers act more like keystone kops than top-notch troops. You remember the mantra: "As they... ...

Source: www.iht.com --- 2 days ago
Out of the grip of the Shiite militias, residents begin to resume normal activities. ...

Source: www.military.com --- 2 days ago
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Source: www.independent.co.uk --- 6 days ago
Smoke and the crump of mortars drift from Pall Mall on the warm evening river breeze, following the eruption of Iraq-style hostilities at the customarily sedate Oxford and Cambridge Club. An awards ceremony to promote peace in the Middle East descended into unhelpful fist-throwing when the final gong, for "cutting edge" journalism from the region, went to a female Iraqi hack flown in especially from Basra. "The bloke presenting was Iraqi and starting arguing with someone in the audience," says Pandora's lass in the pearl necklace. "He called him a thug and a murderer because of a past association with Saddam's regime. The guest did not take this sitting down, it went right off. The host had to wind things up over the marquise au chocolat before blows landed." ...

Source: hotair.com --- 12 days ago
Reversing the retreat. ...

Source: www.sacbee.com --- 4 days ago
BAGHDAD – Relative calm settled over Basra, neighboring provinces and Baghdad on Monday as a cease-fire took hold after nearly a week of pitched fighting between the Mahdi Army militia of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and Iraqi government forces. Karim Kadim / Associated Press Four-year-old Ghazi Askar, injured in clashes Sunday between Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army and U.S.-backed government forces, remains hospitalized Monday in Baghdad's Sadr City slum. ...

Source: hotair.com --- 2 days ago
Gangland. ...

Source: hotair.com --- 1 day ago
Defeatism is a hard habit to break. ...

Source: www.upi.com --- 9 days ago
Basra, Iraq, May 5 (UPI) -- A senior British defense official in southern Iraq says the Iraqi troops operating in Basra are showing increased professionalism and maturity. ...

Source: www.weeklystandard.com --- 1 day ago
Reihan Salam has a typically thoughtful take on events in Basra . His bottom line: At first, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's decision to confront Moqtada al-Sadr's Iranian-backed militas looked like a major strategic misstep. Now it appears to have transformed Iraqi politics, potentially paving the way for real reconciliation between Sunni and Shia... Unfortunately, few Americans understand what Maliki has accomplished, and how much international assistance he needs to beat back foreign elements that aim to undermine Iraq's fragile democracy--which is, as far as neighboring governments are concerned (particularly those that begin with an "I" and end with an "n"), a profoundly subversive influence. Read the whole thing . ...

Source: www.washingtonmonthly.com --- 3 days ago
Basra UPDATE....So how are things going in Basra? According to the New York Times, not too badly:In a rare success, forces loyal to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki have largely quieted the city, to the initial surprise and growing delight... ...

Source: www.postchronicle.com --- 9 hours ago
The Iraqi city of Basra is more secure since the 1st Iraqi Army Quick Reaction Force fought its way into the city last month,... ...

Source: www.weeklystandard.com --- 2 days ago
In light of today's New York Times story on the success in Basra ("In a rare success, forces loyal to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki have largely quieted the city, to the initial surprise and growing delight of many inhabitants who only a month ago shuddered under deadly clashes between Iraqi troops and Shiite militias."), a little trip down defeatist lane: "I hope we don't hear any glorification of what happened in Basra,” House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi, 4/3/08. [I guess the NYT didn’t get the memo.] "Prime Minister Maliki's action in Basra once again demonstrated Prime Minister Maliki's incompetence." Senator Carl Levin, 4/9/08 "It is my understanding… that really Sadr won politically in terms of the confrontation in Basra." Senator Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, 4/8/08 "On the operation in Basra, which I continue to think was a very ill-thought out enterprise. This was not a broad-based enterprise against militias… And nor was it narrowly focused on the so-called special groups. It was -- let's call it what is was: It was another step in an internal Shiite civil war." Robert Malley, 4/8/08 Robert Malley, of course, was an Obama adviser at the time of that statement, though he was recently relieved of his campaign duties when it became clear that he'd been holding meetings with members of Hamas (organizing the endorsement?). One wonders, though, if this is the kind of analysis Obama will be relying on ...

Source: www.nysun.com --- 4 days ago
Ever since the prime minister of Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki, launched Operation Cavalry Charge in Basra on March 25, which has been going on there and elsewhere across Iraq, three important conclusions can be drawn: the Iraqi state and the Iraqi army can function on their own; an influential figure in Iraq, Muqtada al-Sadr, is much weaker than he was deemed to be; and Iran has bet on the wrong horse. As a result of being unable to rely on Mr. Sadr's organization, Iran would lose a menacing avenue... ...