At the "make-or-break" stage of talks with the United States on the withdrawal of American troops in Iraq, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has swept aside his negotiating team and replaced it with three of his closest aides, a reshuffle that some officials involved in the discussions warn risks sabotaging the agreement. ...more

August 31, 2008

The U.S.-Iraqi deal on troop withdrawals, while not yet final, appears to mark the beginning of the end of a combat commitment that has cost more than 4,100 U.S. lives and at least $500 billion. ...more

August 23, 2008

The United States has agreed to remove combat troops from Iraqi cities by next June and from the rest of the country by the end of 2011 if conditions in Iraq remain relatively stable, according to Iraqi and U.S. officials involved in negotiating a security accord governing U.S. forces there. ...more

August 22, 2008

A suicide bomber in northern Iraq killed nine people on Friday, in the second attack in 24 hours on Shiite pilgrims traveling to Karbala to celebrate one of the holiest days in the Shiite calendar, the Iraqi police said. ...more

August 16, 2008

Iraq and the United States are near an agreement on all American combat troops leaving Iraq by October 2010, with the last soldiers out three years after that, two Iraqi officials told The Associated Press on Thursday. U.S. officials, however, insisted no dates had been agreed. ...more

August 8, 2008

As any military historian will testify, among the most difficult of maneuvers is the strategic retreat. Napoleon's retreat from Moscow, Lee's retreat to Appomattox and MacArthur's retreat from the Yalu come to mind. The British Empire abandoned India in 1947 - and a Muslim-Hindu bloodbath ensued. ...more

July 31, 2008

JORDAN - Jordan, Israel and Germany aren't normally known as swing states in a presidential campaign. But Barack Obama's off to a fast start in his attempt to change that with an election-season tour designed to show him as a potential commander in chief, equally comfortable sitting down - presidential style - with kings and other foreign leaders. ...more

July 22, 2008

The Iraqi government on Monday left little doubt that it favors a withdrawal plan for U.S. combat troops similar to what Sen. Barack Obama has proposed, providing Obama with a potentially powerful political boost on a day he spent in Iraq working to fortify his credibility as a wartime leader. ...more

July 22, 2008

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon's top military officer said Sunday a specific time frame for withdrawing U.S. combat troops from Iraq could jeopardize political and economic progress, leading to "dangerous consequences." ...more

July 20, 2008

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says U.S. troops should leave Iraq "as soon as possible," according to a magazine report, and he called presidential candidate Barack Obama's suggestion of 16 months "the right timeframe for a withdrawal." ...more

July 20, 2008