January 26, 2006

by RICHARD A. OPPEL ERBIL, Jan. 25 — Kamal Sayid Qadir had just returned here from Austria in late October when two trusted former students invited him for coffee at the Hotel Avista.

 By ROBERT F. WORTH, BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 23 - A new judge was appointed Monday to take charge of the trial of Saddam Hussein and seven co-defendants, the latest twist in a legal process that has been plagued by unruliness and accusations of political influence.

THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ - The alliance America helped build appears set to create a religious, federal state, opposite of the secular, united Iraq that Washington seeks.

By Borzou Daragahi and Alissa J. Rubin - Times Staff Writers - From the Los Angeles Times

BAGHDAD — January 22, 2006 - They are the orphans of Iraqi history, grown up and remaking the country's political and social order. But the formidable alliance between the long-marginalized Shiite Muslims and Kurds, a union nurtured by Washington, now threatens to undermine U.S. goals in the new Iraq.

Saturday, January 21, 2006 - 12:00 AM
By Richard Boudreaux - Los Angeles Times

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The Shiite Muslim and Kurdish parties leading Iraq failed to win enough seats in last month's parliamentary election to form a new government on their own, complete returns showed Friday, setting the stage for U.S.-backed talks aimed at bringing Sunni Arabs and other minority parties into a broader ruling coalition.

Official Election Results Are Announced; Negotiations Begin on Ruling Coalition

 By Nelson Hernandez and Omar Fekeiki - Washington Post Staff Writers - Saturday, January 21, 2006; 2:08 AM

BAGHDAD, Jan. 20 -- Official election results released Friday showed that an alliance of Shiite Muslim religious parties will remain the largest bloc in Iraq's parliament but will have to reach out to other factions to form a coalition government in the weeks ahead.

20 January 2006

Iraq's Shia-led United Iraqi Alliance has won the country's parliamentary elections, but failed to obtain an absolute majority.

The alliance took 128 of the 275 seats - 10 short of an outright majority. Kurdish parties have 53 seats and the main Sunni Arab bloc 44.

Tuesday, January 3, 2006

Bahaeddin Adab, the founder of the reformist Kurdish United Front, says the front would not pursue separatist goals

TEHRAN - AFP - Thousands of ethnic Kurds in Iran, headed by a prominent former MP, have created a movement aimed at obtaining rights they say have been "neglected" by the Islamic Republic during the past 26 years.

ANKARA - Turkish Daily News
Tuesday, January 3, 2006

56 mayors in the Southeast face prosecution for their support of Roj TV

The Diyarbakır Prosecutor's Office has opened a criminal inquiry into a letter signed by 56 Democratic Society Party (DTP) mayors and sent to Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, asking him not to close down Roj TV, which broadcasts in Kurdish from Denmark.

 by Ahmed Janabi
Monday 2 January 2006 7:16 AM GMT

Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the Iraqi interim prime minister, has held a long closed-door meeting with Massoud Barzani, president of the Iraqi Kurdistan province, in Salah al-Din resort in northern Iraq.

Los Angeles Times

Published December 29, 2005