The three leading Democratic presidential candidates last night said in a televised debate that they could not predict the future challenges in Iraq and that they foresaw a continuing need for at least some troops there.
President Bush and Congress are headed toward another showdown on war spending, this time sparring over nearly $190 billion the Pentagon says is needed to keep combat in Iraq afloat for another year.
The leading Democratic White House hopefuls conceded Wednesday night they cannot guarantee to pull all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by the end of the next presidential term in 2013.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates raised concerns Wednesday about oversight of private security contractors in Iraq and sent a team to confer with US commanders after an incident that left 10 Iraqis dead.
BAGHDAD, Sept. 26 -- Insurgents are stepping up a campaign of violence across Iraq during the holy month of Ramadan, staging six car bomb attacks on Wednesday that killed at least 30 people and wounded dozens, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday he wants closer oversight of Pentagon contractors in Iraq and has dispatched a team there to review military procedures.
The Pentagon is investigating whether its commanders can properly police the thousands of security contractors in Iraq who are seen by civilians there as private armies acting with impunity.
Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards on Thursday criticized rival Hillary Clinton's position on ending the Iraq war at a debate as he sought to undercut Clinton's status as the campaign front-runner.
Blackwater USA has been involved in a far higher rate of shootings in Iraq than other security firms providing similar services to the State Department, officials say.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told Congress on Wednesday that he envisioned keeping five combat brigades in Iraq as a ?long-term presence.?