In December 2011, the last G.I. left Iraq, ending nine years of occupation. The Americans leave behind them a profoundly divided country, beset by violence and in the grip of a political crisis. Our reporters went to meet the Shiites and Sunnis to guage the tension between the two communities.
With US troops gone for good, will Iraq implode or muddle along? François Picard’s panel looks at the fallout from the deadliest day of sectarian violence in five months.
With US troops gone for good, will Iraq implode or muddle along? François Picard’s panel looks at the fallout from the deadliest day of sectarian violence in five months.
Doubts are being raised about the credibility of the Arab League mission in Syria. We look at coverage of papers in the US, Lebanon and Syria itself. Also, is Iraq on the brink of civil war? And will the New Year - the Chinese one - be auspicious for all? That's the focus for this look at the world's press, Thursday 29th December, 2011.
No sooner had the last American soldiers left Iraq than a major political crisis erupted, once again, along sectarian lines. Now the government coalition that took ten months to build is on the brink of collapse: the Sunni party is boycotting Parliament and a Shiite party loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr is calling for new elections. Can Iraq avoid breaking up?
No sooner had the last American soldiers left Iraq than a major political crisis erupted, once again, along sectarian lines. Now the government coalition that took ten months to build is on the brink of collapse: the Sunni party is boycotting Parliament and a Shiite party loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr is calling for new elections. Can Iraq avoid breaking up?
A wave of seemingly coordinated attacks swept through Baghdad's neighbourhoods on Thursday, leaving dozens dead and many more injured. This, in the wake of heightened sectarian tensions between Iraq's Sunni and Shiite communities, as the country's fraglile coalition government led by Nouri al-Maliki, threatens to implode. It's perhaps not the picture of stability the United States would like to portray just days after it withdrew its remaining troops.
No sooner have the last US troops returned home that Iraq’s bitter sectarian divide has come to a head. Is it the beginning of the end of multi-party rule or the necessary growing pains of democracy?
At a news conference on Wednesday in Baghdad, Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki threatened to replace ministers from the Sunni Muslim Iraqiya bloc if they continued their boycott of the parliament and unity cabinet.
Sectarian tensions are mounting in Iraq just days after US troops withdrew from the country. Iraqi officials have issued an arrest warrant for the Sunni Vice President, Tareq Al-Hashemi, for "terrorism" charges relating to alleged links to assassinations of government officials, last month in Baghdad. The Sunni majority Iraqiya bloc is boycotting Parliament, citing Nouri Al-Maliki's authoritarian tendancies and reluctance to share power.
