Gordon Brown marginalised in Iraq war run-up, says Clare Short (Times Online)
Gordon Brown was pre-occupied with other things during the run-up to the Iraq war and was neither for or against the conflict, a former Cabinet ally said today.
Eight Iraqi pilgrims wounded in three Baghdad blasts – Update (EARTHtimes.org)
Baghdad – At least eight Shiite Iraqi pilgrims were injured in a series of bomb blasts as they were leaving Baghdad on foot for the holy city of Karbala on Sunday, police said. Three bombs shook predominantly Shiite neighbourhoods in the Iraqi capita…
US Marines’ Iraq command ends; Biden in Baghdad (Park Hills Daily Journal)
RAMADI, Iraq (AP) The U.S. Marines marked the end of nearly seven years in Iraq on Saturday by handing the Army their command of Anbar province, once one of the war s fiercest battlefields but now a centerpiece of U.S.-Iraqi cooperation.
Defiant Blair says no regrets over Iraq war (Nine O’Clock)
LONDON – Former British prime minister Tony Blair said on Friday he had no regrets about the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, saying Saddam Hussein was a threat to the world who had to be disarmed or removed.
Suicide bomber kills two at restaurant in Iraq’s Samarra (The Daily Star Lebanon)
A suicide bomber detonated an explosives belt Saturday at a restaurant popular with Iraqi security forces in a city that was once a flash point for sectarian slaughter, killing at least two people, authorities said.The attack came the same day an Al-Qaeda front group in Iraq claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing Tuesday at Baghdad’s main crime lab that killed 22 people
Afghan, Iraq wars shape US military strategy (Middle East Online)
Pentagon s defense budget reflects focus on fighting Islamist extremists rather than conventional armies.
Former PM Blair offers justification for Iraq war (Brattleboro Reformer)
LONDON — An unrepentant Tony Blair defended his decision to join the United States in attacking Iraq, arguing Friday before a British panel investigating the war that the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks made the threat of weapons of mass destruction impossible to ignore.
Former PM Blair offers justification for Iraq war (Brattleboro Reformer)
LONDON — An unrepentant Tony Blair defended his decision to join the United States in attacking Iraq, arguing Friday before a British panel investigating the war that the Sept.
Short: Brown marginalised on Iraq (BBC News)
Gordon Brown was “marginalised” by Tony Blair in the build-up to the Iraq war, Clare Short says.
LUKOIL-led consortium, Iraq sign West Qurna 2 deal (Itar-Tass)
CAIRO, January 31 (Itar-Tass) — The LUKOIL-led consortium and Iraqi authorities have signed the final agreement on the development of West Qurna 2, a giant oil field in southern Iraq.
