Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki

Sadiya Khadem Rashid just needed a stamp. One stamp from Baghdad's city hall so she could receive $850 in compensation given to displaced Iraqis who return home. But before she could get there, the building was blown up. Recent bombings that hit government buildings in downtown Baghdad killed more than 250 people and wounded hundreds more. The blasts also had a wider effect: slowing down the government services Iraqis use on a daily basis. The bureaucratic snarl adds to the blow that the attacks inflicted on public confidence in Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ahead of national elections in January. Infuriated Iraqis have wondered how ... Read Full Story

Press freedom should not be bought at all, and never cheaply. Freedom has been fought for in blood, sear, tears and sacrifice. The US bought democracy for Iraq expensively. It lost treasure, it lost moral authority, it paid a dearer price than perhaps was warranted. However, that hard fought win is now under threat. The British newspaper the Guardian has just been fined $95,000 for running an article critical of Prime Minister Maliki. The Iraqi court deemed the article defamatory, though in reality that seems highly questionable. The decision was made despite testimony by three expert witnesses from the Iraqi journalists’ union. They all ... Read Full Story

President Barack Obama meets with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki (NOO'-ree ahl-MAHL'-ih-kee) in the Oval Office on Tuesday morning. Afterward, Obama holds a ceremony to honor recipients of a Presidential Unit Citation for actions in Vietnam. Eighty-six Army veterans of Troop A, First Squadron, 11th Armored Combat Regiment will be at the White House to receive the citation. In the afternoon, the president travels to New York, where he'll tour the headquarters of the city's Joint Terrorism Task Force. In the evening, Obama will attend two Democratic fundraisers. One is for Bill Owens, who's running for New York's 23rd Congressional District. The other benefits ... Read Full Story

An Iraqi court found the British newspaper, Guardian , guilty of defaming Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki by charging he was displaying authoritarian tendencies. The article in question was written by award-winning correspondent, Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, whose story quoted three unnamed members of the Iraqi National Intelligence Agency as saying the prime minister was beginning to run Iraqi affairs with an authoritarian hand. Ironically, the author of the article is an Iraqi citizen and the court ignored dozens of such articles written in the international media about the prime minister. The court also ignored advice from three independent experts from the Iraqi Journalists’ Union which regarded ... Read Full Story

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has met the radical Shiite group believed to have kidnapped five Britons two years ago after it said it had renounced violence, a government spokesman said on Sunday. "The government welcomes the statement by the League of the Righteous that it renounces violence and supports the political process and efforts to achieve national unity," Ali al-Dabbagh said on official Al-Iraqiya television. "We reached an agreement to resolve all problems, especially those regarding detainees who do not have Iraqi blood on their hands and against whom there is no evidence of having committed crimes," he said, adding that the meeting ... Read Full Story