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Acquisition In 2011 CE, the Sulaymaniyah (Slemani) Museum in Iraqi Kurdistan purchased a large number of clay tablets. After the dramatic fall of Saddam's regime on April 9, 2003 CE and the ransacking of the Iraq Museum as well as other museums, the Sulaymaniyah Museum (guided by the Council of Ministers of Iraqi Kurdistan) started an initiative, as part of an amnesty program. The museum paid smugglers to 'intercept' archaeological artefacts on their journey to other countries. No questions were asked about who was selling the relic or where it came from. The Sulaymaniyah Museum believed that this condition kept...

(CRIMINAL EVENT) KIDNAPPING RPT B CO 1-501 PIR : 0 INJ/DAM This apparently was one of the documents compliments of Bradly Manning's leaking. The timeline fits. Assigned in 2009 to an Army unit in Iraq as an intelligence analyst, Manning had access to classified databases. In early 2010 she leaked classified information to WikiLeaks and confided this to Adrian Lamo, an online acquaintance. Lamo informed Army Counterintelligence, and Manning was arrested in May that same year. The material included videos of the July 12, 2007 Baghdad airstrike, and the 2009 Granai airstrike in Afghanistan; 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables; and 500,000...

Although overshadowed by the clemency bestowed on Chelsea Manning, on Tuesday the news broke that President Obama was commuting the sentence of Oscar López Rivera. The push to release the terrorist had been a cause célèbre in Puerto Rico, the U.S. and Latin America for years. He counts among his supporters New York Mayor Bill de Blasio,

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has portrayed himself as a champion of a free press, but the U.S. Department of Justice’s decision to charge him with conspiring to hack government computers limits his ability to mount a vigorous free speech defense, some legal experts said.The charge unsealed in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia on Thursday said that in 2010 Assange agreed to help Chelsea Manning, a former U.S. Army intelligence analyst then known as Bradley Manning, crack a password to a U.S. government network. At the time, Manning had already given WikiLeaks classified information about U.S. war activities in both Afghanistan...

POSTED BY ED MORRISSEY Barack Obama has selected Gregory Craig as White House counsel, a move that will recall some controversial legal cases over the last few years. Craig has plenty of experience in politics as well as the courtroom, having served as Bill Clinton’s legal counsel during the impeachment hearings. Craig flipped from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama early in the primaries, and Obama has repaid his support — but Craig’s caseload will raise a few eyebrows: Gregory B. Craig, a well-known Washington lawyer who quarterbacked President Bill Clinton’s impeachment defense, has been chosen White House counsel by President-elect...

ERBIL - The French forces, who alongside the other US-led coalition forces, were combatting the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria, will withdraw from the region, French army spokesperson Patrick Steiger revealed on Thursday. Talking to reporters, Steiger pointed out that the war against IS has ended in both Iraq and Syria, for this reason, the French artilleries, which had been stationed at the borders between the two countries, will be pulled out of the region in the near future.

When Edward Snowden decided he wanted to release details about the NSA's intelligence operations to the public, he reached out to Laura Poitras, a 49-year-old film maker and political activist opposed to the war on terror. As the Washington Post noted on Monday, Poitras had "the odd distinction of sharing a byline in The Washington Post and in London’s Guardian newspaper last week on two blockbuster stories." snip But perhaps it isn't such a mystery why the U.S. government might want to question Poitras if you simply crack open John R. Bruning's 2006 book, The Devil's Sandbox: With the 2nd...

Recently Facebook and Twitter revealed they had removed a network of accounts linked to the Iranian government that attempted to launch online Disinformation campaign. Microsoft said it seized 99 websites used by Iranian hackers to steal sensitive information and launch other cyber attacks. The company said the group, which it has been tracking since 2013, has tried to snoop on activists, journalists, political dissidents, defense industry workers and others in the Middle East, including some who were “protesting oppressive regimes” in the region. Hackers did so by tricking people in those organizations to click on malicious links disguised to resemble...

A new bloc is emerging in the greater Middle East with the declared objectives of dominating the entire Arab world, confronting and containing the US and its allies; and controlling and benefiting from the entire hydro-carbon economy, from production to transportation. The leading members of the new bloc are Turkey, Iran, and Qatar; with Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan submitting to the new bloc. Russian experts call the new bloc “the Middle Eastern Entente”. The key to the success of the bloc is the emerging correlation of influence of the great powers in the af-termath of the wars in Syria...

President Trump on Saturday announced that Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, who is accused of war crimes in Iraq, will be moved to ‘less restrictive confinement’ -- apparently in response to a push by Republican lawmakers advocating for Gallagher. “In honor of his past service to our Country, Navy Seal #EddieGallagher will soon be moved to less restrictive confinement while he awaits his day in court. Process should move quickly!” Trump tweeted. Gallagher is facing premeditated murder and aggravated assault charges stemming from the alleged killing of an injured ISIS prisoner and alleged instances of him intentionally firing sniper rounds at...

President Donald Trump awarded a posthumous medal of honor to Army Staff Sgt. Travis Atkins, who died tackling a suicide bomber in Iraq nearly 12 years ago...

Trevor Atkins was 11 when his father, Army Staff Sgt. Travis Atkins, was killed while serving in Iraq a dozen years ago. On Wednesday President Trump will present the Medal of Honor to the Atkins family to recognize Travis for his heroism in saving fellow soldiers while losing his own life. “My true treasure is what people say about him,” Trevor tells an interviewer for an Army video tribute to Travis Atkins. “That’s what makes me the most proud.” Trevor has plenty of reason to feel proud lately. Earlier this month the White House announced that his father would...

In a PJ Media exclusive, the Iraqi native turned Navy SEAL interpreter and bestselling author who goes by the code name "Johnny Walker" told his story and made a huge announcement: he will receive his U.S. citizenship on Wednesday morning! At that time, he will also reveal his real name. (This article will be updated with that name when it becomes public.) "It's a big honor," Walker told PJ Media. He is looking forward to posting videos of the ceremony and predicted a beautiful moment where "people from different backgrounds and different religions" will be united by loyalty to the...

Iraq’s military chief said on Tuesday that the country plans to reopen a strategic border crossing with Syria (al Qaim - closed in 2013) in the coming days... Washington has expressed concern about Tehran’s ambitions to extend its weapons and military support to regional allies.

About 20,000 Iraqi refugees, including women and children, are expected to return to their hometowns in weeks under an agreement with the Federal Government of Iraq, a senior official of the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Monday. Over the past few weeks, thousands of people, many of whom were the wives and children of Islamic State members, either surrendered or were taken from the front lines in the battle against the extremist group in Syria. Due to the significant number of civilians, the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had to slow down their advance to liberate...

The Islamic State began as the Organisation of Monotheism and Jihad, created in 1999 by Jordanian career criminal Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Originally the group wanted to overthrow the Jordanian monarchy, but after the American invasion of Iraq, Zarqawi’s goal became igniting a sectarian war between Sunni and Shia Muslims in the Middle East. He went to Iraq in 2003 and launched what was at that time the most violent insurgency in the region’s history. Many name changes later, the late Zarqawi’s group was virtually defeated. In 2010, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi—the current emir—recruited former intelligence and military officers from Saddam Hussein’s...

Jerusalem (AFP) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel and Russia are to form a joint team to examine the withdrawal of foreign forces from Syria. Israel is seeking the removal of Iranian forces and has vowed to keep its main enemy from entrenching itself militarily in the neighbouring country. Netanyahu met Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday in Moscow to discuss Iran's presence in Syria. "I made it unequivocally clear that Israel will not allow the military entrenchment of Iran in Syria, and I also made it unequivocally clear that we would continue to take military action...

GERSHIN, Iraq — A group of Yazidi women and children reunited with their families in Iraq Saturday after five years of captivity at the hands of the Islamic State group, hugging and kissing relatives in emotional scenes that underscored their yearslong ordeal and that of their devastated community. Elated families met their loved ones at a rural truck stop on the road between Sinjar and Dohuk, tossing candy in the air like confetti, the women ululating with joy. The 18 returning children, aged 10 to 15, appeared weary and at times uneasy with the attention of the media and officials....

There are moments within investigative research when your jaw can stand agape as you recognize the scope of what you are reading or hearing. A brutally down-played audio of Secretary John Kerry is just such an occasion.(snip) This evidence within this single story would/should forever remove any credibility toward the U.S. foreign policy under President Obama. It also destroys the credibility of a large number of well known republicans. What the recording reveals is substantive: ♦ First, only regime change, the removal of Bashir Assad, in Syria was the goal for President Obama. This is admitted and outlined by Secretary...

DEIR AL-ZOR PROVINCE, Syria (Reuters) - Having joined Islamic State in Syria four years ago, the Algerian woman only abandoned the jihadists’ last scrap of besieged territory when her daughter was shot in the leg... (snip) Adnan Afrin, an SDF official, said the civilian convoys from Baghouz have included a growing number of surrendering militants. They are searched for bombs and mines before being allowed to go any further, he said. The SDF estimates about 30,000 people have left Baghouz. It aims to eliminate or force the surrender of remaining fighters, who, according to the SDF, have dug defensive tunnels....