Charles Recknagel is standards editor for RFE/RL.
Prague, 15 March 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Spain's Socialist Party members are celebrating victory as the official vote count from yesterday's election shows they have ousted the conservative party of former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.
The United States is stepping up preparations to prosecute former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and other top members of his regimes for war crimes and crimes against humanity. This month, some 50 American lawyers, investigators and prosecutors began heading to Iraq to organize evidence and provide other technical support for a tribunal.
Prague, 12 March 2004 (RFE/RL) -- The editorial pages of the world's newspapers are filled with expressions of outrage, shock, and defiance over the terrorist bombings in Madrid which killed almost 200 people yesterday. Some commentators also debate whether U.S. plans to build democracy in Iraq and the Mideast are realistic.
U.S. officials are blaming a Jordanian extremist leader operating in Iraq for planning this week's deadly attacks on Shi'a celebrating their holy day of Ashura in Baghdad and Karbala. RFE/RL looks at the evidence against Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi and what his rising profile may mean for the war against terrorism.
The bomb attacks that killed more than 140 Shi'a in Iraq yesterday are sparking a fierce new debate over whether U.S.-led forces are able to provide adequate security in the country. RFE/RL looks at the row and whether it is likely to cause the coalition to change tactics.
Simultaneous attacks today on Shi'a devotees in Baghdad and Karbala killed more than 100 people, making this one of the bloodiest days in Iraq since the U.S. toppled Saddam Hussein last year. RFE/RL correspondent Charles Recknagel looks at possible motivations for the bombings and at why such attacks are so hard to prevent.
Iraq's U.S.-appointed Governing Council has agreed on an interim constitution. The document, known as the Transitional Administration Law, establishes an operating framework for the sovereign government due to take power by 30 June. RFE/RL looks at some of the issues the document resolves -- and some of those it does not.
IAEA head Muhammad el-Baradei (file photo) New revelations regarding the extent of the global black market in nuclear technology are raising concerns that international terrorist groups could have greater access to such materials than previously thought. In Part 2 of a two-part series, RFE/RL looks at the difficulties of putting nuclear black marketeers out of business.
Suspected nuclear facility in Iran New revelations regarding the extent of the global black market in nuclear technology are raising concerns that international terrorist groups could have greater access to such materials than previously thought. In Part 1 of a two-part series, RFE/RL looks at what is known about the network and the kinds of secrets being sold.
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.
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