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The strange case of an Iraqi agent caught operating on American soil. His arrest may be the first of many. KHALED DUMEISI, a newspaper publisher in northern Illinois, was surprised when federal agents showed up at a modest condominium in suburban Chicago to arrest the man known to his colleagues in Iraqi intelligence as "Sirhan." He shouldn't have been shocked. First, the FBI, according to a complaint unsealed Wednesday in Illinois, had the goods on Sirhan. Among his offenses: supplying false press credentials for Iraqi intelligence agents; spying on Iraqi opposition leaders--at times, using a mini-camera implanted in the end...

<p>Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has blasted the United States for the arrest Thursday of an Iranian and called for his immediate release.</p> <p>The U.S. military said the detainee is a member of an elite Iranian unit that has been accused of training and equipping insurgents in Iraq, but Talabani said he is a civil servant who was on an official trade mission in Iraq's Kurdistan region.</p>

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein testified Wednesday for the first time at his trial, and the judge closed the court after the ex-dictator's speech calling for Iraqis to end sectarian violence and fight U.S. troops instead. Even as the judge repeatedly yelled at Saddam to stop making what he called political speeches, the deposed leader read from a prepared text, insisting he was still Iraq's president. "Let the (Iraqi) people unite and resist the invaders and their backers. Don't fight among yourselves," he said, praising the insurgency. "In my eyes, you are the resistance to the American invasion." Finally, Chief...

BAGHDAD, July 13 (KUNA) -- Iraqi president Jalal Talabani called on Wednesday for a speedy rebuilding of Iraqi forces capable of shouldering the responsibility of safeguarding the nation's security and stability. The fact that the Iraqi forces are ready will pave way for the departure of the US-led coalition forces, Talabani was quoted by a statement while meeting the Iraqi army chief of staff General BaBaker Zebari. Zebari briefed Tabalani about the process of the reconstruction of the armed forces to reach a very qualified level.

Iraq's new president Jalal Talabani has restated his support for a continued US and Australian military presence in Iraq, one day after large demonstrations by supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr demanded US troops leave the country. "I think we are in great need to have American and other allied forces in Iraq until we will be able to rebuild our military forces," Mr Talabani told CNN. Branding Sadr a "criminal" who should be arrested, Mr Talabani said he opposed setting a timetable for the US military's exit from the country. Mr Talabani, an Iraqi Kurd who was elected president...

Iraq's new president Jalal Talabani restated his support for a continued US military presence in Iraq, one day after large demonstrations by supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr demanded US troops leave the country. "I think we are in great need to have American and other allied forces in Iraq until we will be able to rebuild our military forces," Talabani told the CNN news program Late Edition. Branding Sadr a "criminal" who should be arrested, Talabani said he opposed setting a timetable for the US military's exit from the country. On Saturday, tens of thousands of Sadr's followers marched...

breaking on fox

Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawar is expecting up to two-thirds of eligible Iraqis to vote in Sunday's election, after earlier appearing to suggest that most would not cast their ballots. "I expect a majority, up to two-thirds of eligible Iraqis, to vote," said Yawar, a Sunni Arab. "Of the people who will not vote, the majority of them are scared of violence." In his earlier comments, Yawar said most Iraqis would not vote because they were frightened off by violence. He later said he meant that among Iraqis who would not vote, most would not participate due to fears of violence...

Ghazi Yawar, the interim Iraqi President, has given warning that instability could spawn an "Iraqi Hitler" if his country's citizens continue to feel humiliated and despondent like the Germans after their defeat in the First World War. In a series of media interviews on a trip to London, Iraq's political figurehead also criticised Washington for its disastrous decision to dismantle Iraq's security forces after its invasion last year - which paved the way for a breakdown of law and order. "We could have screened people out instead of screening them in and this could have saved us a lot of...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's interim president told George W. Bush at the White House Monday that the ``armies of darkness'' would not stop Iraqis voting next month, even though there is no let up in insurgents' efforts to wreck the election. The U.S. president renewed his vow, backed by an increase in American troop numbers in Iraq, to see the Jan. 30 vote succeed in the face of violence and discontent coming mainly from the Sunni Arab minority which dominated Iraq under Saddam Hussein. Bush urged Iraqis to brave the violence and cast a ballot. ``The capacity of these killers...

Chirac to Meet Iraqi President for Talks The Associated Press PARIS Aug. 28, 2004 — French President Jacques Chirac said that Iraq's interim president will travel to Paris early next month for talks on how France can best contribute to Iraq's reconstruction. Chirac told his nation's diplomats on Friday that France is prepared to make a serious commitment to help Iraq achieve stability and democratically elect its next leaders. "France is open to a dialogue with Iraqi authorities on all subjects the training of security forces, Iraqi debt all subjects that concern the rebuilding and the well-being of the Iraqi...

Whether Ahmed Chalabi or Iyad Alawi emerged as the interim Prime Minister of Iraq, liberals were going to be unhappy. Until the home of Iraqi National Congress director Ahmed Chalabi was raided by U.S. soldiers and Iraqi police, liberals hated him. They said he was a puppet of the Pentagon, that he fed the United States bad intelligence in order to promote war in Iraq, and that he was one of those dreaded “neocons” we keep hearing about. “Neocon pundits,” wrote David Olive in the Toronto Star, “see Ahmed Chalabi as America's best hope in post-war Iraq. But to many...

Ghazi Al-Yawar Sheikh Ghazi Ajeel Al-Yawar was announced yesterday as the first Iraqi President in post Saddam Iraq. I have to say that I have mixed feelings about Yawar. I found it a bit troubling that the head of the state is a tribal figure. Tribalism has been without doubt the most significant problem in Iraq (and the ME) for centuries, one that has been plaguing our urban societies and infecting them with a multitude of social diseases that have proven almost impossible to cure, problems that on the surface may seem to be dissipating from time to time, but...

Most Iraqis wary of nation's new government Robert Collier, Chronicle Staff Writer Wednesday, June 2, 2004 Although the new Iraqi interim government that took office Tuesday will not have full authority for another month, it already has the headaches of a formidable task -- gaining enough credibility among Iraqis to be able to exercise at least a minimum degree of power. After days of bruising, behind-the-scenes negotiations involving U.S. officials and U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, members of the Iraqi Governing Council -- the 25-member body viewed by a wide spectrum of Iraqis as American puppets -- emerged victorious in re-establishing...

Bush Buoyed By Naming of New Iraqi GovernmentBy Jeff GannonTalon NewsJune 2, 2004WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- President Bush held an impromptu press conference in the Rose Garden Tuesday to discuss the new interim government in Iraq. Earlier in the day U.N. Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi announced who would lead the nation when sovereignty is returned to Iraq on June 30.The deadline had been rapidly approaching with little apparent progress in deciding who would take over from Ambassador L. Paul Bremer and the Coalition Provisional Authority. However, the vetting process had been quietly taking place behind the scenes among the many...

<p>President Bush yesterday said he had nothing to do with the selection of Iraq's interim government and insisted that the new leaders are not puppets of the U.S. government, hours after congratulating some of them in personal telephone conversations.</p> <p>"I had no role in picking -- zero," Mr. Bush said in the Rose Garden. "It's going to be up to the leaders to prove their worth to the Iraqi citizens. In other words, the leaders are going to have to show the Iraqis that they're independent."</p>

<p>BAGHDAD -- Sunni Muslim Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer was named to be Iraq's interim president yesterday, a move welcomed by many Iraqis who see him as a strong tribal chief capable of leading the nation through elections early next year.</p>

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A senior Bush administration official Tuesday hailed the appointment of a new Iraqi government and said the Coalition Provisional Authority would remain sovereign until June 30 to help the new leadership phase in. The official, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, also confirmed that the Iraqi Governing Council, in office since July, had voted to dissolve effective immediately to allow the new government to begin taking over its responsibilities. He also said the new Cabinet would begin negotiations on the status U.S. and other coalition forces in Iraq after June 30 "fairly soon." The official said...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi leaders got their way over U.S. opposition on Tuesday to have tribal chief Ghazi Yawar appointed president after Washington's choice stepped aside in a face-saving arrangement between occupiers and occupied. As they met, a massive explosion nearby at the offices of a Kurdish political party just outside the U.S. Green Zone headquarters killed 25 people, police at the scene said. It was not clear what caused the blast. Widespread violence poses the greatest challenge to the interim government's efforts to organize Iraq's first free elections in the new year. After two days of bitter confrontation over...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Former Foreign Minister Adnan Pachachi was appointed as Iraq's new president Tuesday but turned down the post, an aide said. Governing Council President Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer was then named to the top post, a council member said. Nasser Kamel al-Chaderchi said al-Yawer accepted the post in a move to break the deadlock over selection of a new government to take power June 30, council member Nasser Kamel al-Chaderchi said. The Americans had favored Pachachi, 81, while most of the Governing Council backed al-Yawer. An aide to Pachachi, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the elderly figure...