Summary: The political movement of Iraq’s best-known anti-American cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, is emerging as a major contender in the March 7, 2010 national elections, raising the specter that the next prime minister of Iraq could be openly hostile to the United States and friendly toward Iran. Further complicating the situation, Iraq’s main Sunni party has said it is dropping out of the elections. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on February 25, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that four U.S. soldiers and an Afghan civilian working for them were killed in southern Afghanistan when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb, while in Iraq two policemen opened fire on U.S. soldiers visiting a police station, killing an American soldier and an Iraqi interpreter, wounding three Americans, and raising concerns about insurgent infiltration among the ranks of Iraqi police.

  ::  Read Comments (0)

Summary: Cheered wildly by U.S. troops, President Barack Obama flew unannounced into Iraq and promptly declared it is time for Iraqis to “take responsibility for their country” after America’s commitment of six years and thousands of lives.

  ::  Read Comments (0)

Summary: At least 25 Iraqi interior ministry officials have been arrested, including several accused of planning a coup, according to newspaper reports. … The Iraqi government has accused U.S. forces of killing at least three Trade Ministry employees in a pre-dawn raid on ministry property in Baghdad. … Iraqi police say attackers have shot and beheaded Nahla Hussein al-Shaly, 37, leader of the women’s league of the Kurdish Communist Party, reportedly because she promoted women’s rights in Iraq.

  ::  Read Comments (0)