IRBIL — Any American assistance to the beleaguered government of Nouri al-Maliki to push back a jihadist-led Sunni Muslim insurgency needs to take into account the widespread suspicion of U.S. motives across Iraq’s sectarian divide, caution analysts.They say that almost whatever the Obama administration does to bolster Iraq’s Shia Muslim-dominated government, encourage a more inclusive replacement […]
President Obama, on Thursday afternoon, presented the nation’s highest military honor, the Medal of Honor to Cpl. William “Kyle” Carpenter in the Eat Room of the White House. 24-year-old Cpl Carpenter, along with Lance Cpl Nicholas Eufrazio, were assigned to a sandbag fortification atop a building in a small village in Helmand province on November […]
WASHINGTON — Even as President Obama defends his decision to trade five Taliban prisoners for one U.S. Army sergeant, there are early indications the American public is split over the controversy. A Fox News poll shows, in the first few days, 45 percent approved of the swap while 47 percent disapproved. Saturday’s exchange and the administration’s […]
In the White House Rose Garden on Tuesday, President Obama announced the plan to draw down the military forces in Afghanistan to 9,800 from its current level of 32,000 by the beginning of 2015. The president continued saying, “By the end of 2015 we will have reduced that presence by roughly half, and will have consolidated our […]
WASHINGTON — As tensions and turmoil escalate in Ukraine, America’s response to the crisis is becoming an increasingly contentious issue in Washington.Deadly clashes in Odessa point to a grim reality: with every passing day, Ukraine teeters closer to civil war between a pro-Western government in Kyiv and pro-Russian militias backed by Moscow.A new round of […]
SEOUL — President Barack Obama is in South Korea on the second leg of an Asian tour, where he gave a warning to North Korea against conducting a fourth nuclear test. In a newspaper interview with South Korea’sJoongAng Ilbo, released just before his arrival Friday, Obama said: “If North Korea were to make the mistake of engaging […]