Gates gives gentle prod to Iraqi govt.
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Defense Secretary Robert Gates gave the Iraqi government a gentle prod Tuesday to move faster toward political reconciliation during the American troop buildup in Baghdad.
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Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, secured cash and pledges of help from European Union leaders on Friday despite having described countries that opposed the U.S.-led war to oust former president Saddam Hussein as "spectators."
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The conference promoted the legitimacy of Iraq's government and got Iran and US talking.
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Iraq's government on Tuesday welcomed long-awaited testimony to Congress by the U.S. commander in Iraq and said it would have less need for foreign forces to carry out combat operations in the "near future".
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When Mohammad Ali-Hassan, the governor of Al-Muthanna Province in southern Iraq, visited Tokyo last week, he thanked Japan for the aid it has given to his province, where Ground Self-Defense Force troops have been deployed.
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Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki shrugged off U.S. doubts of his government's military and political progress on Saturday, saying Iraqi forces are capable and American troops can leave "any time they want."
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Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki walked a fine line Sunday: confronting his American backers over what he sees as violations of Iraq's sovereignty while stressing that his relations are rock solid with the country on whose support he still relies.
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President Bush on Monday applauded what he called a promising sign of political progress by Iraqi leaders who said they had found common ground on some issues standing in the way of reconciliation.
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The top U.N. envoy in Iraq on Monday welcomed recent improvements in security and tentative steps towards national reconciliation, urging all parties to maintain the positive momentum.
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Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates endorsed the concept of a pause in troop withdrawals from Iraq this summer.
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Snow, Powell and Iraqâs Finance Minister Adil Abdul al-Mahdi signed the agreement in a ceremony at the State Department. &#39;Second liberation&#39; Al-Mahdi thanked the US government and its people, describing
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Serial numbers and markings on explosives used in Iraq provide "pretty good" evidence that Iran is providing either weapons or technology for militants there, Defense Secretary Robert Gates asserted Friday.
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President Bush reported progress in Iraq Friday, after hearing Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki brief him on steps being taken by the government in Baghdad. "We appreciate the fact that he's beginning to meet the benchmarks that he set out for his people," Bush said.
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A delegation of five government ministers visited al-Sistani to thank him for his peace efforts.
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Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Sunday responded to critics in the U.S. Congress, saying his government had kept Iraq from plunging into sectarian civil war.
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The State Department acknowledged that the first American oil contract in Iraq is at cross purposes with the stated U.S. foreign policy of strengthening the countryâs central government.
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WASHINGTON - Offering a simple, "Thank you America," Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi declared Thursday that his country is succeeding in its effort to move past the war that ousted Saddam Hussein.    In an appearance that President Bush's advisers hoped would ease American voters' doubts about the troubled campaign in Iraq, Allawi told a joint meeting of Congress that despite struggles and setbacks, "the values of liberty and democracy" are taking hold there...