Sunnis, Kurds, Shia Campaign in New Iraq Election | Newsweek Iraq War

Trust but Verify
8/19/2009 12:00:00 AM
Wednesday's massive truck bombings showed not only the sievelike state of the Iraqi defenses but, just as important, how quickly the government could lose the public's trust. In the past, leaders have been killed, military bases attacked, and even the Parliament bombed from inside (though not for a while). But these stood out as the most brazen blows to government installations. One bomb trashed the 10-story foreign ministry, just outside the Green Zone and on a road where Iraqi forces are permanently stationed—albeit arbitrary in their vigilance. Another truck did similar damage to the crucial finance ministry, which all other ministries rely on to pay employees or pave roads; it even brought down part of a highway overpass nearby.
A Troubled Pipeline
Owen Matthews 6/20/2009 12:00:00 AM
Nabucco, the natural-gas pipeline running from Central Asia to Austria via the Balkans and Turkey, has run into trouble from an unexpected quarter. The European Union hopes Nabucco will help break its dependence on Russian gas. However, since the project's inception, there have been nagging doubts that Caspian Sea countries will be able to provide enough gas to fill the pipeline at its source. Azerbaijan already peddles most of its gas to Turkey, while other Central Asian countries have recently pledged to sell their reserves to Russia's Gazprom. To remedy that shortfall, a consortium of gas companies from Austria, Hungary and the United Arab Emirates recently struck an $8 billion deal with Iraq's Kurds to source gas from their region, run it into the pipeline via Turkey and thus solve Nabucco's supply problems.
Iraq Steps Out of Iran’s Shadow
Larry Kaplow 6/6/2009 12:00:00 AM
Decades later, the memory still rankles Iraq's prime minister. Nuri al-Maliki was an exile in southern Iran at the time, running covert Iraqi networks against Saddam Hussein, and Iran and Iraq were at war. Maliki needed official Iranian clearance to enter the border area, but Maliki's Iranian handlers liked to make life difficult: one of them announced that a pass could be obtained only from another Iranian official, a 12-hour drive away in blustery winter weather. When the road-weary Maliki finally got there, his application was summarily rejected.
INTERNATIONAL
A New Iraq?
Lennox Samuels 2/5/2009 12:00:00 AM
For a man once viewed as an American patsy and an innocuous transitional figure in Iraq's chaotic politics, Nuri al-Maliki has come a long way. He was no one's first choice when he became prime minister in April 2006, but Maliki has hung onto the job and grown steadily in stature. On Thursday, the country's electoral commission announced that, with 90 percent of votes counted, his political coalition triumphed in nine of 14 provinces where elections were held six days ago.
IRAQ
After the ‘Surge’
Nisid Hajari 7/19/2008 12:00:00 AM
To see what peace looks like in Baghdad, go to the Karrada district. At dusk, Iraqi families picnic in a thin stretch of park recently built on the banks of the Tigris River. A couple of blocks away, along lively Sadoun Street, sidewalk restaurants flame-roast chickens on long spits and a crowd of teenagers spills out of a bright new juice shop. The al-Shamari family returned to Karrada from Damascus a year ago, and they say there haven't been any sectarian killings for a couple of months. But they don't want their real name used, for safety's sake. Their street is cordoned off by barbed wire and one of the low concrete barriers that are scattered across Baghdad like a child's spilled Lego blocks. In one corner of their manicured backyard they've dug a well to get water. They have a computer and a TV, but only two hours of city-provided electricity a day. And Karrada is probably the best-off neighborhood in Baghdad.
You're Fired (Again)
Michael Isikoff 5/15/2008 12:00:00 AM
Ahmed Chalabi, the one-time Pentagon favorite to lead a post-Saddam Iraq, has been removed from a top Iraqi government post over his continued contacts with suspected Iranian operatives, according to U.S. officials.