APS Diplomat Strategic Balance in the Middle East articles from April 2009

APS Diplomat Strategic Balance in the Middle East archives from April 2009

The Challenges Of Terrorism - Iraq, Part 44 - Security Risks As Money Dries Up.
April 13, 2009... A sharp decline in state income resulting from low oil prices means Iraq is having security problems which, if not checked, could cause escalation in terrorism and yet another Sunni-Shi'ite war. This time the threat is coming from money flowing...

The Bayji Train Station.
April 13, 2009... There is an interesting focus on the changing fortunes of the train station in Bayji, Iraq's industrial heartland in the northern province of Salahuddin, which might be considered a metaphor for the security situation in this fragile country....

US Troops May Stay Longer.
April 13, 2009... Under the SOFA, US combat troops must leave Iraq by August 2010, keeping behind an American force of up to 50,000 until end-2011. But in an interview published on April 10, the top US commander in Iraq, Army Lt-Gen Raymond Odierno, said...

Obama Visits.
April 13, 2009... President Obama on April 7 made an unannounced trip to Iraq, his first visit as US commander in chief to the site of one of the two wars he inherited and must now see through to an end. Reiterating his pledge to end a war he opposed from the...

Maleki's Overtures To Ba'thists & Douri's Message.(Nuri al-Maliki, 'Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri)
April 13, 2009... On the same day as Obama arrived in Iraq, Maleki's Shi'ite National Dialogue Minister Akram al-Hakim landed in Cairo to meet with former Ba'thists and ex-officers from the Iraqi army in exile. He had been sent to ask these elements to renounce...