Top news - Iraq latest news

The latest episode of the department of Veterans Affairs' callous denial of veterans' suffering is a continuation of a long tradition.

The U.S. military touts the relative security of Anbar — once one of the most restive areas in Iraq — after working with tribal sheiks to combat al-Qaida. But the rise of the sheiks has set off a new political conflict, and tensions still simmer beneath the surface. Last week, a bomber blew himself up at a sheiks council meeting, highlighting the problems of infiltration in the ranks.

AP - Syria has returned a marble artifact to Iraq that was stolen from one of the country's archaeological sites.

AP - A federal judge in Riverside, Calif., has ordered two Marines released from jail despite their refusal to testify before a grand jury investigating the alleged killing of Iraqi detainees in 2004.

AFP - Large crowds of Shiites on Friday denounced the security pact Baghdad is negotiating with Washington for a long-term US military presence in violence-wracked Iraq.

AP - Gunmen on a motorcycle assassinated an official of Iraq's biggest Shiite party Friday in the southern city of Basra, police said.

McClatchy Newspapers - BAGHDAD--The U.S. military in Iraq celebrated the Fourth of July with what it billed as "the largest reenlistment ceremony ever held," and 1,215 soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen raised their hands and re-pledged allegiance to America.

Across Iraq, America's Independence Day was a normal work day for most U.S. troops. But the military threw in a taste of home at larger bases with ribs, corn on the cob and red, white and blue cake.

Some Iraq government officials accused Kanan Makiya of looting, when he gave Baathist documents to the Hoover Institution for safe keeping. He says that because the records rate Iraqis according to their loyalty to Saddam Hussein, it's too dangerous to leave them in Iraq.