Author: Lara Jakes
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Obama: US sending 300 military advisers to Iraq
WASHINGTON (AP) — Inching back into a fight he tried to leave behind, President Barack Obama announced Thursday he was dispatching 300 U.S. military advisers to Iraq to help quell the rising insurgency in the crumbling nation. He also challenged Iraq’s embattled leader to create a more inclusive government or risk his country descending into…
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Obama: 275 US forces deploying to Iraq
WASHINGTON — The U.S. is urgently deploying several hundred armed troops in and around Iraq and considering sending an additional contingent of special forces soldiers as Baghdad struggles to repel a rampant insurgency, even as the White House insists anew that America will not be dragged into another war. President Barack Obama notified Congress Monday…
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Obama says Crimea separation vote would break law
President Barack Obama talks about the situation in Ukraine, Thursday, March 6, 2014, in the briefing room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) Manuel Balce Ceneta Secretary of State John Kerry arrives in Kiev, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 4, 2014. Kerry flew to Kiev to show U.S. support for the fledgling Ukraine…
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Obama sees narrower terror threat, defends drones
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama sought Thursday to advance the U.S. beyond the unrelenting war effort of the past dozen years, defining a narrower terror threat from smaller networks and homegrown extremists rather than the grandiose plots of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida. In a lengthy address at the National Defense University, Obama defended his…
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U.S. reviewing Iraq troop pullout pace
BAGHDAD — Worries over increased violence fueled by Iraq’s political instability have forced U.S. commanders to reconsider the pace of a major pullout this summer without overstepping a deadline to cut the military’s presence by nearly half by the end of August. More than two months after parliamentary elections, the next government has still not…
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U.S. clears second Navy SEAL in Iraqi abuse case
BAGHDAD — A U.S. military judge on Friday cleared a Navy SEAL of any wrongdoing in the alleged beating of an Iraqi prisoner suspected of masterminding the grisly 2004 killings of four American contractors. The Blackwater contractors’ burned bodies were dragged through the streets and two were hanged from a bridge over the Euphrates river…
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Navy SEAL cleared in Iraq abuse case
BAGHDAD — A U.S. Navy SEAL was cleared Thursday of charges he covered up the alleged beating of an Iraqi prisoner suspected of masterminding the grisly 2004 killings of four American security contractors. The Blackwater guards’ burned bodies were dragged through the streets, and two were hanged from a bridge over the Euphrates river in…
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Iraqi testifies he was beaten by U.S. troops
BAGHDAD — An Iraqi prisoner suspected of masterminding an attack that killed four American contractors testified Wednesday he was beaten by U.S. troops while hooded and tied to a chair in the opening day of a court-martial of a Navy SEAL. But defense witnesses for Petty Officer 1st Class Julio Huertas cast strong doubt on…
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Iraqi politics in disarray as U.S. withdrawal nears
UR, Iraq — With elections looming and the U.S. withdrawal of combat troops less than seven months away, political disarray is threatening Iraq’s future as well its past. A parliamentary logjam is holding up legislation touching everything from prison staff, border crossings and counterterrorism troops to an archaeological excavation in dire need of tourists. The…
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AP sources: Authorities had concerns about suspect
WASHINGTON • The Army psychiatrist suspected of carrying a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, had come to the attention of authorities six months ago because of Internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other threats, law enforcement officials said Thursday. The postings appeared to have been made by Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who was wounded…