2007 Is Deadliest Year for U.S. Troops in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Nov. Six — Six American soldiers were killed in three separate onslaughts in on Monday, the military said Tuesday, taking the figure of deceases this twelvemonth to 852. The toll do 2007 the deadliest twelvemonth of the warfare for United States troops. Multimedia

Military functionaries announced the find of a mass grave retention 22 organic structures in a rural country North of Falluja. They also said that nine Iranians being held in Republic Of Iraq would soon be released, including two of the five who were detained during a January foray of a consulate business office in Erbil.

Five of the American soldiers died in two wayside bomb onslaughts on Monday near Kirkuk, said Rear Adm. Gregory Xiii Smith, manager of the communication theory division of the Multinational Force-Iraq, the formal name for the United States-led forces.

A 6th soldier died Monday during armed combat trading operations in Anbar Province, according to a military statement.

The deceases occurred only a few years after the military proclaimed a steep driblet in the charge per unit of American deceases this year. In October, 38 American service members died in Iraq, the last monthly run since March 2006, according to the (), Associate in Nursing independent Web land site that paths military deaths. November's total, if the current gait continues, would be higher, but still below the war's norm of 69 American military deceases per month.

Despite the decline, American commanding officers acknowledged that 2007 would be far deadlier than the second-worst year, 2004, when 849 Americans died, many of them in major conflicts for control of insurrectionist fastnesses like Falluja.

Military functionaries impute the addition this twelvemonth to an expanded troop presence during the so-called surge, which swelled the American military unit to more than than than 165,000 military personnel in Iraq, and sent units of measurement out of big alkalis and into more unsafe communities.

Commanders postulate that despite the cost in footing of lives lost, the scheme have improved security in the state and created a "tactical momentum" that could stabilise Republic Of Iraq permanently.

The pending release of the Iranians may reflect American blessing of some marks that Islamic Republic Of Islamic Republic Of Iran is cooperating with the United States' demand that it stem the flowing of stuffs into Republic Of Republic Of Iraq used to make deathly wayside bombs known as explosively formed projectiles, or E.F.P.'s.

Admiral Ian Smith said that the E.F.P. constituents establish recently during forays "do not look to have got arrived here in Iraq after those pledges were made," suggesting that Iran have limited trafficking of the arm parts across the boundary line after promising to make so.

American commanding officers have got got stopped short of declaring that Islamic Republic Of Iran have in fact complied with the United States' demands, and Admiral Ian Smith on Tuesday described the program to let go of nine Persian captives not as a diplomatic reward, but rather as the perfunctory end to a criminal investigation.

"These people have no continuing value, nor make they present a additional menace to Iraki security," he said.

Admiral Ian Smith did not state why the two Iranians who were among five captured in January at an Persian Consulate business office in Erbil had been held for nine months, after Islamic Republic Of Iran insisted that they were harmless authorities workers. The military did not place any other Iranians who were released or still being held.

Iraqi functionaries welcomed the proclamation of the prisoners' release. Elijah Muhammad al-Haj Hamud, Iraq's deputy sheriff foreign minister, said the release would "improve the dealings between" Iraq, Islamic Republic Of Islamic Republic Of Islamic Republic Of Iran and the United States before another unit of ammunition of planned meetings on security.

"We desire good dealings with Iran and for Iran to avoid conducting any actions inside Iraq," he said. "At the same time, the Iraki authorities is acute to keep its human relationship with its first and strongest ally, the United States of America."

Violence against Iraqis continued Tuesday. The mass grave was establish Saturday during a joint American-Iraqi operation in the Tharthar Lake area, a bare rural part near the land site of another grave, holding 25 bodies, that was establish less than a calendar month ago.

Local police force functionaries said the organic structures had been dumped in and around an abandoned building.

"Some were buried in wells, and some were left in suite used as prisons," said a police force military officer who helped clear the graves. "These cadavers are portion of what we anticipate to happen more than of in the future."

Just south of Kirkuk, the police force said that clangs with Iraki and American military units on Tuesday left four gunmen dead. In a separate attack, gunmen killed the city manager of a little small town about 30 statute miles south of Kirkuk, and hurt his son, as they drove to a neighbour town.

A member of the government council in Mosul was assassinated in a vicinity on the city's outskirts, the government said, and six police force military officers died when they were ambushed while drive to work.

In Baghdad, the police force establish four dead bodies: two east of the Tigris River River, and two to the west. A wayside bomb exploded near an American patrol near Zawra Park in western Baghdad, and a 2nd bomb exploded in Karada, a cardinal Bagdad neighborhood, an Inside Ministry functionary said. The functionary said it was ill-defined if there were any casualties.

South of the capital, in Latifiya, a bomb set for a joint Iraqi-American ft patrol killed one Iraki soldier. North of Hilla, the government establish the organic structure of a adult male in his 20s floating in a little river. He had been stabbed to death.

Ahmad Fadam contributed reporting from Baghdad, and Iraki employees of The New House Of York Times from Falluja, Kirkuk, Mosul and Hilla.

Think tank: Europe must steer Kosovo to independence or face renewed conflict

PRISTINA, Serbia: An international think tank said Tuesday that the European Union should support independence for Kosovo or risk plunging the region into violence.

New talks between ethnic Albanians and Serbia are likely to fail, the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank, said in a report, adding that the EU's failure to form a common position on Kosovo's independence would have "very disturbing consequences for Europe."

"If it is incapable once again, it would almost certainly lead to bloodshed and renewed regional chaos that would blow back into Central and Western Europe in the form of refugees and stronger organized crime networks," said Sabine Freizer of ICG.

Kosovo has been under United Nations and NATO control since 1999 after NATO's 78-day air war against Yugoslavia, waged to stop a crackdown on the province's separatist ethnic Albanians.

The report, titled "Breaking the Kosovo Stalemate: Europe's Responsibility," called upon the bloc to coordinate a unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders if talks between the two sides, slated to end by Dec. 10, do not result in an agreement.




Today in Europe

However, it urged Western diplomats to "restrain Kosovo Albanians from unilateral actions," fearing an unsupervised declaration of independence could prompt leaders in Kosovo's Serb-dominated north to respond with a separatist move of their own.

Envoys from United States, the European Union and Russia launched a 120-day effort to end the impasse over Kosovo after Russia's threat to block in the U.N. Security Council a Western-backed plan to grant the province internationally supervised independence.

The plan, drafted by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, would give broad rights to the Serb minority in Kosovo and proposes that the province separate from Serbia after a period of international supervision under EU leadership.

The 37-page report of the International Crisis Group urged the EU and U.S. to enforce the Ahtisaari plan, despite Russia's opposition to Kosovo's independence.

Ethnic Albanian leaders and Serbian officials are to hold the next round of talks with international envoys Aug. 30 in Vienna, Austria. Both sides have expressed doubt that an agreement can be reached.

Hashim Thaci, an ethnic Albanian negotiator, said Tuesday the province's leaders "will be very clear, cooperative and determined that Kosovo's independence be official and recognized very soon by the U.S., EU and that Russia should not in any way be allowed to unilaterally prevent this."

Kosovo's leaders insist on independence from Serbia following the 1998-99 conflict that left 10,000 dead in the face of an onslaught from Serbian forces. Serbia considers the territory an integral part of the country.

"If Kosovo explodes because the independence issue is mishandled, the regional risks would include that eight years worth of international resources and prestige dedicated to managing the crisis would be lost," the report said.

"The genie of ethnic conflict would be let loose again."

Amid Friction, Plans for U.S.-Iran Talks on Iraq

CAIRO, May 13 — The diplomatic tussle between and the United States intensified Sunday as leaders from both countries toured Middle Eastern capitals seeking to shore up relationships, even as signs of new cooperation over emerged between them.

Iran’s president, , arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday afternoon, the first trip there by an Iranian leader since the country’s founding in 1971, seeking to improve a strategic trade partnership just as Vice President landed in Cairo as part of a Middle East tour meant to mollify America’s regional allies and strengthen support against Iran.

The visits occurred as officials from both countries announced that Ryan C. Crocker, the American ambassador to Iraq, would meet with his Iranian counterpart in Baghdad in coming weeks to discuss Iraqi security efforts and cooperation between the countries.

In the Emirates’ capital, Abu Dhabi, Mr. Ahmadinejad met with Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan, the president, and with Dubai’s ruler, Sheik Muhammad bin Rahid al-Maktoum, the Emirates’ vice president, seeking to emphasize the importance of Iran’s relationship with the Emirates, the official Iranian news agency IRNA reported.

“We consider progress and prosperity of the U.A.E. as our own,” Mr. Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.

But the Emirates’ leaders sought to ease the confrontation between the United States and Iran. Sheik Khalifa told Mr. Ahmadinejad that the Emirates sought the “elimination of the causes of tension in the Middle East,” especially in the Persian Gulf, the Emirates’ official news agency WAM reported.

“He is on a damage-control mission,” said Abdel Khaliq Abdallah, a professor of political science at United Arab Emirates University, referring to Mr. Ahmadinejad. “So maybe it’s about time for us to be as frank as possible that we really think he and Iran are playing a dangerous game with the world community.”

Later Sunday, Mr. Ahmadinejad went to Dubai, where he met with members of the Iranian Business Council, an Iranian trade group, and members of the Iranian community. Dubai is home to more than 500,000 Iranians who rely on the emirate as a focal point for trade and travel.

Speaking to several hundred people, many of them flag-waving Iranians, in a highly unusual political gathering held in a soccer stadium, he called for America to leave the region, The Associated Press reported. “The nations of the region can no longer take you forcing yourself on them,” he was quoted as saying.

At almost the same time, Mr. Cheney landed in Cairo for three hours of talks with President and top military officials to discuss Iraq as well as Iran’s growing regional influence. The vice president made no public comment after his visit here, part of a swing through the Middle East that included visits to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and an American warship in the Persian Gulf.

Mr. Mubarak’s spokesman said Mr. Cheney had “focused especially on the situation in Iraq and the gulf, the security arrangements of the gulf and the relation with the Iranian nuclear program.”

Despite the growing tensions between the United States and Iran, the announcement of planned talks on Iraq brought new hope for cooperation to help stabilize Iraq. A previous plan for talks fell through.

“Following consultations between Iranian and Iraqi officials, Tehran has agreed to hold negotiations with Washington to relieve pain and suffering of the Iraqi people, support and strengthen the government of and stabilize security and peace in that country,” said Mohammad Ali Hosseini, the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, in comments reported by IRNA.

White House officials said the talks flowed from an effort by the two countries, including meetings on the margins of conferences on stabilizing Iraq that were held in Baghdad in March and in Cairo last week.

“The purpose is to try to make sure that the Iranians play a productive role in Iraq,” the White House spokesman, Gordon D. Johndroe, told reporters on Air Force One en route to Virginia. “This is an ongoing process of trying to make sure that Iraq’s neighbors, of which Iran is obviously a major one, play a constructive role.”

Michael Slackman reported from Cairo, and Hassan M. Fattah from Beirut, Lebanon. Nada El-Sawy contributed reporting from Dubai, and Sheryl Gay Stolberg from Air Force One.

Blair made Bush's ordeal in Iraq less lonely, but it cost him

WASHINGTON: The Iraq war has been a lonely quest for President George W. Bush, but it has been less so thanks to the unwavering backing of British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Blair is stepping down on June 27 after a decade in power, and no issue during his tenure is leaving a more indelible imprint than his no-apologies support for the U.S.-led war effort.

Bush seemed optimistic Thursday about the possibility of continuity on Iraq between Blair and his likely successor, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, the government's financial chief.

The president told reporters on Thursday that he believes Brown "understands the consequences of failure" in Iraq. As Bush sees it, a U.S. defeat would give a boost to terror everywhere.

Britain ranks second, after the United States, in terms of troops committed to Iraq. The British total is 7,100 but a reduction to 5,000 is planned for late this year.






Today in Americas

With Blair's announcement, Bush faces the final 19 months of his term in office without his closest ally and, as the president described him, "good friend."

The two appear to have a relaxed relationship. In Russia last year, unaware that a nearby microphone was on, Bush was heard to greet his colleague with a "Yo, Blair," leaving the prime minister embarrassed.

While there was shared anguish over the maelstrom in Iraq, neither leader has given any hint of regret over the venture. Both have paid a dear price politically, scoring under 30 percent in polls, the fallout from a war that is highly unpopular in both the United States and Britain.

Julianne Smith, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said there is no question that Blair's legacy "will suffer from the stain of Iraq."

Blair, she said, was content to "cozy up to the United States to the bitter end, refusing to look back and question his choice."

Charles Kupchan, of the Council on Foreign Relations, said Blair "leaves under a cloud, having lost the confidence of his own party and with the Conservatives well ahead in the polls."

A month ago, Brown met with Bush for the first time without Blair being present. The two men spoke for a half-hour after Bush dropped in on a meeting between Brown and U.S. national security adviser Stephen Hadley. Brown was in Washington for meetings at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

"I have found him to be an open and engaging person," Bush said, also describing him as an "easy-to-talk-to, good thinker."

On Iraq, Brown had promised to "spend what it takes" to disarm Saddam Hussein's Iraq. He is expected to keep British troops in Iraq for the near future, and to maintain Britain's strong relationship with America.

While Brown's ultimate course on Iraq is unclear, Europe has been generally projecting a friendlier image toward the United States. The latest concrete example is the recent election of Nicolas Sarkozy as president of France, which followed the accession in Germany of Chancellor Angela Merkel in late 2005.