Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — The United States has awarded BAE Systems a contract for law enforcement programs in at least two Middle East countries deemed dangerous for Americans. The State Department awarded BAE Systems a contract to support criminal justice and development programs in Iraq and Lebanon. BAE would provide the services under the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — A report by a former U.S. senior adviser said that President Barack Obama has changed the American security mission in the West Bank. The report, titled “How Obama Missed an Opportunity for Middle East Peace,” said Obama replaced U.S. security coordinator Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton with a general from Central […]
Wesley Pruden Barack Obama says he agrees with Abraham Lincoln (you could ask him) that America is “the exceptional nation,” a nation unique in a world of moral squalor, a beacon of hope for the “tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” But sometimes cold pragmatism demands the exceptional nation make exceptions. […]
Special to WorldTribune.com ABU DHABI — The United States has made Saudi Arabians the most welcome of all foreigners. Diplomats said the State Department has provided guidelines that make Saudis the most likely to receive a visa to the United States. They said the visa approval rate is 94 percent, with the review period reduced […]
Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — The United States has urged Iran’s leading opposition group to move out of its longtime base in Iraq. The United States has called on some 3,400 Iranian fighters and their families to leave Iraq’s Camp Ashraf. Officials said Iraq has prepared a temporary residence called Camp Hurriya, deemed habitable by […]
Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — The United States has shut its embassy in Syria and moved American staffers and their families out of the country. The State Department said it has ordered the suspension of all operations at the U.S. embassy in Damascus. The department, citing deteriorating security, said the regime of Syrian President Bashar […]
Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — The United States has acknowledged that the lion’s share of Libya’s shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles are gone. Officials said a State Department program to retrieve so-called man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) stolen from Libyan Army arsenals during the revolt in 2011 has been stalled. They said that after initial success in […]
John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — When the government of erstwhile U.S. ally Egypt shut down seventeen Western pro-democracy groups, trashed their Cairo offices, and slapped travel bans on some of their staff, political relations between Washington and Cairo hit a new and unexpected low. Just a year after a tumultuous political uprising topped the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com BAGHDAD — Iraq plans to block a U.S. program to deploy unmanned aerial vehicles for force protection missions. Officials said the government of Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki would veto a U.S. plan to acquire and operate scores of tactical UAVs to protect staffers of the American embassy in Baghdad. They said […]
Special to WorldTribune.com NICOSIA — For the first time, rebels have claimed the takeover of a Syrian town. The Free Syrian Army is said to have captured Zabadani, a town along the Syrian border with Lebanon. The opposition said the Syrian Army agreed to withdraw from Zabadani, about 30 kilometers from Damascus, as part of […]