top news - "iraq"

A much-delayed iraq war funding bill sailed through the House on Thursday.

Democrats succeed in adding billions for expanded GI Bill with education benefits for military veterans, enhanced unemployment benefits for Americans

In southern iraq, Iraqi security forces have launched a fresh campaign against Shiite militias loyal to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The troops met no resistance as they entered the city of Amara, a hub for smugglers bringing weapons in from Iran.

Weapons caches are turning up with increasing frequency in public places in iraq ? from a bakery to a fish farm ? as recent security gains embolden more civilians to come forward with tips, U.S. and Iraqi military officials say. Full Story

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday accused the United States of plotting to kidnap and assassinate him during a visit to iraq, state media reported. Full Story

The House voted to offer military veterans what amounts to a free college education in a package that finances the war in iraq through the end of President Bush's term.

In March 2003, Zeinab Taleb-Jedi was a middle-aged widow who found herself trapped in a cold, dusty bunker in iraq as invading U.S. forces began blowing up buildings and inflicting casualties all around her.'The noise was overwhelming and frightening,' the Iran-born U.S. citizen said in a statement recounting the air raids around Camp Ashraf, a stronghold for Iranian exiles about 60 miles north of Baghdad. 'The attacks terrified me.'Taleb-Jedi, 52, escaped serious harm. But more than five years later, she remains stuck in legal limbo in New York, facing federal terrorism charges labeling her a leader of a militant group advocating the violent overthrow of the Iranian government.

A long-delayed iraq war funding bill sailed through the House on Thursday, along with historic increases in college aid for returning troops and help for the unemployed and Midwestern flood victims.

BAGHDAD, June 19 -- iraq is preparing to award contracts to several Western energy companies to help develop its vast oil resources, allowing them to consolidate their positions in a country that has seemed less threatening in recent months as security has improved.

In a pair of bipartisan votes, the House yesterday approved $162 billion to continue the wars in iraq and Afghanistan well into 2009 and a separate measure that would allow veterans returning from those battlefields to receive increased education benefits.