Charles Recknagel is standards editor for RFE/RL.
A new UN-sponsored report says some 100,000 Arabs have fled northern Iraq since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime in April. The flight of the Arabs -- many of whom were forcibly settled in northern Iraq by Saddam's regime in order to displace Kurds -- comes as some former Kurdish refugees now return to their homes.
The International Committee of the Red Cross says it is continuing to press Washington for a date to visit Saddam Hussein in detention. The former Iraqi president, held by U.S. forces at an undisclosed location in Iraq, was recently declared by Washington to be a prisoner of war. But his future legal status remains uncertain.
The UN may make recommendations as early as 20 February regarding how to form a sovereign Iraqi government. Meanwhile, earlier plans for the handover of power appear to be in disarray. Many members of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council say they no longer accept the original U.S. proposal for a caucus system and are suggesting a host of alternatives of their own. RFE/RL correspondent Charles Recknagel looks at the widening debate ahead of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's report.
The role of Shari'a law in a future Iraq has emerged as one of several key questions the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council is debating as it formulates a "Basic Law" to serve as the interim constitution for the country. RFE/RL speaks with Mahmud Uthman, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, to learn where the discussion stands.
As the UN prepares to give its opinion regarding how Washington should transfer power to a sovereign Iraqi government, there are increasing signs that direct elections will not be among the recommendations. RFE/RL looks at where the debate over forming Iraq's next government stands and some of the alternative approaches being discussed.
Afghanistan marks the 15th anniversary of the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the country on 15 February. Among the legacies of the Soviet invasion, and the factional conflicts that followed the defeat of Soviet forces, are the hundreds of thousands of land mines that still litter many parts of the countryside.
A letter seized by U.S. troops in Iraq is focusing new attention on a Jordanian-born Islamic extremist operating in Iraq. Washington says Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi is reaching out to Al-Qaeda for help in provoking violence between Iraq's Sunni and Shi'a in a new bid to force the U.S. out of the country.
Iran is denying it received nuclear technology from top Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, who recently said he had passed secrets to Tehran. The denial is the latest twist in a complex story of nuclear proliferation that centers on Khan but the details of which may never become fully clear.
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has emerged as a pivotal figure in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq by demanding direct elections prior to the formation of a sovereign government. Yet even as he dominates the headlines, al-Sistani remains a reclusive personality whose views on most subjects are poorly understood outside his community. To learn more about al-Sistani's vision of Iraq's political and religious future, RFE/RL spoke with Iraqi sociologist Faleh Jabar at the United States Institute of Peace.
A report in a Baghdad newspaper that Saddam Hussein used oil contracts to bribe some 270 top officials and opinion makers in dozens of countries is prompting choruses of denials from those accused. Much about the source of the information remains uncertain, and no charges have yet been filed in any court. But already there are calls in several European and Mideast countries for formal investigations.
The killings yesterday in Iraq of two employees of a U.S. news organization are raising anew the question of whether journalists and employees of NGOs operating in the country need armed guards. The incident comes as violence yesterday left at least 10 other people dead across Iraq, where U.S. officials have said attacks on coalition and associated targets are decreasing.
The West and the Islamic world are each taking a new interest in what the other thinks, as issues ranging from globalization to terrorism emphasize the close links between their futures. At the ongoing World Economic Forum, an annual gathering of top world leaders and thinkers, the topic received close scrutiny in a roundtable bringing together such diverse figures as Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, and former Saudi Intelligence Service head Prince Turki al-Faisal al-Saud.
Iraq's new post-Hussein dinar has been posting record highs against the U.S. dollar. The new currency appears to be riding a wave of speculative fever as investors buy up bulk amounts today in hopes the value of the new money will keep rising and they can sell the notes at profit later. But is there any reason to believe that gamble will pay off?
The success of any transformation of Iraq into a more democratic state depends in large part on moving from a centralized economy to a market system. But several initiatives originally planned for the U.S. occupation period -- such as privatization and price liberalization -- have had to be modified or put on hold due to concerns over Iraq's political stability.
Japan deployed an advance team to southeastern Iraq today as it prepares to send up to 600 soldiers to the country by late March. The troops, the first dispatched by Tokyo to a hostile region since World War II, are to support reconstruction and humanitarian projects.
U.S. officials say attacks on U.S. forces have declined in the wake of the capture of Saddam Hussein. But it remains unclear whether the former Iraqi leader's arrest last month marked a turning point in the fight against insurgents or merely brings a lull while anti-U.S. forces regroup. RFE/RL spoke with military analysts about the security situation.
U.S. officials in charge of reconstructing Iraq have just concluded a conference in Jordan attended by hundreds of foreign and Iraqi businessmen intent on winning contracts. RFE/RL correspondent Charles Recknagel reports that the three-day conference emphasized opportunities in Iraq as the U.S. prepares to spend some $18 billion on reconstruction projects in the next few years.
A call for early elections in Iraq by one of the country's most influential Shi'a leaders, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, is complicating Washington's plans for transferring power to a sovereign Iraqi government by the end of June. But al-Sistani himself remains a mysterious figure for U.S. officials, refusing to speak directly with them and communicating with them only through intermediaries. RFE/RL looks at the cleric's role in post-Hussein Iraq and why he appears to be growing more powerful with time.
Washington is reported to be urging Iraqi Kurdish leaders to compromise on their demands for a fully autonomous state in the north of the country and aspirations to control revenues from the oil-rich region of Kirkuk. The U.S. message comes as the Kurdish initiatives are causing increasing tensions in Iraq in the run-up to Washington's handover of political power to a sovereign government at the end of June.
Prague, 8 January 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Two weeks after an earthquake destroyed Iran's southeastern city of Bam, killing at least 30,000 people, relief workers face the massive task of housing survivors in tent encampments until the city can be rebuilt. Brendan Paddy, a spokesman for the international charity Save the Children, is in Bam helping to distribute blankets and stoves to homeless residents and to provide for needy children. Paddy spoke today from Bam with RFE/RL. The interview coincides with an expected appeal from the UN today to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to help with the reconstruction of the city.
Load more
