Maliki

The terror trial of Iraq's fugitive vice president accused of running death squads started Tuesday in Baghdad with witnesses testifying how their relatives were killed in attacks that the authorities have linked to the country's top Sunni official. Tariq al-Hashemi was not in court for the opening of the proceedings that were already twice delayed. Al-Hashemi, who is currently in Turkey, has denied the allegation he orchestrated attacks against Shiite pilgrims and government officials, saying the charges against him are politically motivated and that he would not receive a fair...

The terror trial of Iraq's fugitive vice president accused of running death squads started Tuesday in Baghdad with witnesses testifying how their relatives were killed in attacks that the authorities have linked to the country's top Sunni official. Tariq al-Hashemi was not in court for the opening of the proceedings that were already twice delayed. Al-Hashemi, who is currently in Turkey, has denied the allegation he orchestrated attacks against Shiite pilgrims and government officials, saying the charges against him are politically motivated and that he would not receive a fair...

BAGHDAD -- Iraq's Shi'ite prime minister carried an appeal for unity to Saddam Hussein's hometown yesterday and told Sunni tribal chieftains that all Iraqis must join to crush Al Qaeda in Iraq and extremist Shi'ite militias "to save our coming generations. " Nouri al-Maliki's bold sojourn into Tikrit -- a city once pampered by Hussein, its favorite son -- underlined the prime minister's determination to save his paralyzed government from collapse and prevent further disillusionment in Washington as voices grow for a troop withdrawal plan.

BAGHDAD - Leaders from nearly all of Iraq's top political blocs called Saturday for a solution to a crisis pitting the Shi'ite-led government against Sunnis and Kurds, saying the dispute threatens the country's national interests. The statement came after three days of meetings that brought together senior Sunni, Kurdish, and even Shi'ite politicians disgruntled with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki - who was not represented at the talks in Irbil, the capital of Iraq's northern Kurdish region.

BAGHDAD - The prime minister vowed yesterday to seek punishment for the Blackwater guards accused of killing 17 people at a busy Baghdad intersection after US courts dropped the case in a decision that outraged many Iraqis. Nouri al-Maliki’s comments were his first public reaction since a US judge threw out the case against the five Blackwater guards last week. The guards were accused of an unprovoked attack that left 17 dead. The killings in 2007 inflamed anti-American sentiment and solidified many Iraqis’ image of US security contractors as above the law. “We have done what is...

BAGHDAD -- Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said his government will send envoys to neighboring countries to pave the way for a regional conference on ending Iraq's rampant violence, which yesterday killed more than 40 people. The Shi'ite leader appeared to back down from previous opposition to handing neighboring nations a say in Iraqi affairs but stressed that he wants the conference to be held in Iraq and while his government would welcome help, it would not tolerate interference.

BAGHDAD - Iraq's prime minister declared yesterday that national reconciliation was moving forward despite the embarrassing collapse of a deal to hold provincial elections and a warning of possible escalating Shi'ite feuds over the failure. It was a day of charged rhetoric - heightened by a flurry of political drama. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who is part of the nation's Shi'ite majority, spoke from one of the sect's holiest sites - the shrine of Imam Hussein, 50 miles south of Baghdad.

BAGHDAD — Hopes that Iraq’s parliament could convene this week fell apart yesterday as the country stumbled into its fifth month with no new government and the prime minister hitting a brick wall with his nominal Shi’ite allies, some of whom deeply oppose his staying in his post. The heads of the main political blocs met yesterday in the latest attempt to find common ground, but with no resolution on filling top posts in sight, they decided to delay the next session for two weeks, said the acting parliament speaker, Fouad Massoum.

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s prime minister called for new provincial elections yesterday after antigovernment protests that killed 14 people last week in a demonstration of the simmering anger many Iraqis feel at an administration they say fails to provide basic services. Nouri al-Maliki told a reporters he would ask the Parliament to pass a law allowing for the early elections for the councils that rule Iraq’s 18 provinces and said the move was a response to the people’s demands for change.

WASHINGTON - The prime minister of Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki, says an Iraqi officer was wrong to order American soldiers detained after they killed three Iraqis while going after insurgents. In an interview published yesterday in The Washington Post, Maliki said the Iraqi officer was “out of line’’ and “did not understand the agreement’’ that governs the US military since the withdrawal last month of US combat forces from Iraqi cities. Maliki said he called Baghdad and “made clear that they understand that this demand of handing over the people who...

From his final hideout in the briny deep, Osama bin Laden has clarified what is wrong with the way foreign policy is addressed in the US presidential campaign. His seized documents tell us that bin Laden had ordered the assassination of President Obama, whom he condemned as "the head of infidelity. " But as we know, the boss of all al Qaeda bosses was rubbed out on orders from the White House, and so was Ilyas Kashmiri, the capo who was supposed to carry out the hit on Obama. Yet Mitt Romney has insisted on portraying Obama as a chief executive who goes around the world apologizing for America.

BASRA, Iraq — Followers of the anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr demanded on Monday better living conditions in Iraq on the ninth anniversary of the US-led invasion of their country. Iraqis have struggled with high unemployment, corruption, and an infrastructure degraded by years of sanctions, war, and economic neglect. As the violence across the country has abated, economic development has become a key concern for many Iraqis. Sheik Assad al-Nasiri said that Sadrists want the government to step up with better-paying jobs, public services, and to fight...

BAGHDAD - Iraq's Parliament reconvened yesterday after Sunni-backed lawmakers ended their boycott to protest alleged persecution of Sunni officials, a development that could restore some stability in the war-ravaged country. Last month the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc banned lawmakers and government ministers from Parliament and Cabinet sessions after the Shi'ite-led government issued an arrest warrant against the Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi on terrorism charges. The boycott brought government work to a standstill and plunged the country into a political crisis...

BAGHDAD - Iraq's prime minister called yesterday for unity and greater political stability to ensure the country's security after the end of the American military presence. Speaking at a televised celebration in Baghdad, Nouri al-Maliki warned Iraqis against "excessive joy" over the departure of American troops, saying the country's security situation remains perilous. The last US combat soldiers exited on Dec. 18. Maliki called on all Iraqis to unite in the interest of the nation and stressed that Iraq needs stability if it hopes to remain secure and rebuild.

BAGHDAD - A powerful political bloc led by the anti-US cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called yesterday to dissolve the Iraqi Parliament and to hold early elections, a potentially fatal blow to a power-sharing government that has teetered on collapse since US troops withdrew a little more than a week ago. In a statement posted on its website, the Sadrists said scrapping the current government was the only way to steer Iraq out of a deepening political crisis...

BAGHDAD - A series of explosions ripped through Iraq's capital yesterday, in an ominous turn for a country already reeling from a deepening political and sectarian crisis that erupted after the departure of the US military. It was Baghdad's deadliest day in more than a year. The attacks began at 6:30 a.m. and transformed the morning commute into a bloodbath. Car bombs and improvised explosives destroyed schools, markets, and apartments. An ambulance packed with explosives incinerated a government office.

BAGHDAD — New documents detailing alleged prisoner abuse by Iraqi security officials prompted fresh doubts yesterday about Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s bid to remain in power for a second term. The trove of nearly 400,000 WikiLeaks papers details US military reports of alleged abuse by Iraqi security forces — some of which happened after Maliki became prime minister in May 2006. They were released as Maliki scrambles to keep his job, nearly seven months after national elections failed to produce a clear winner.

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Shi’ite prime minister said yesterday that the Sunni-backed political coalition that is headed by his archrival and won the most seats in last month’s parliamentary election must be included in the country’s new government. The comments from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, in an interview aired yesterday, appear to offer an olive branch to former premier Ayad Allawi and his secular Iraqiya bloc as well as the Sunnis who overwhelmingly supported his rival.

BAGHDAD — Iraq's prime minister threatened yesterday to abandon an American-backed power-sharing government created a year ago, throwing the country's fragile democracy into further turmoil just days after the departure of US troops. In a nearly 90-minute news conference aired on state television, Nouri al-Maliki defied his rivals and pushed back on all fronts in Iraq's burgeoning political crisis, threatening to release investigatory files that he claimed show his opponents have been involved in terrorism.