top news - "iraq"

U.S. authorities on Wednesday identified the body of Jonathon Cote, a private security contractor who was abducted 17 months ago in iraq with four colleagues.

An Iraqi-american man who helped U.S. prosecutors win convictions against key figures accused of paying kickbacks to iraq in connection with the U.N. oil-for-food program was sentenced to three years' probation on Thursday.

AP - An Iraqi-american businessman who admitted helping Saddam Hussein's government in the oil-for-food scandal was fined $300,000 and sentenced to probation by a judge who said he provided substantial assistance to the U.S. government after his arrest.

Parties that walked out of iraq's government last year have agreed to rejoin, Prime minister Nouri al-Maliki said on Thursday, in what could amount to a long-awaited political breakthrough.

President Bush will nominate Gen. David Petraeus to be the head of Central Command, putting him in charge of the ongoing conflicts in both iraq and Afghanistan.

Former Iraqi Deputy Prime minister Tariq Aziz, the public face of Saddam Hussein's regime, will face trial next week over the execution of dozens of merchants in 1992, a prosecutor said on Thursday.

By promoting his top iraq commander, President Bush keeps the country on its war course and hands the next president a combat-tested commander who has relentlessly defended Bush's strategies.

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton served in iraq and was in charge of training the Iraqi military until 2004. In 2006, he called for then Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to resign.

Further evidence that the al-Qaeda/Saddam link was bogus will do little to change the distorted opinions of those who support the iraq occupation.

Nouri al-Maliki's office releases statement Thursday after prime minister met with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband