Iraq’s unpaid Awakening Councils
Awakening Councils have been credited with bringing relative security to towns and cities in Iraq.
Local Sunni fighters opted to stop fighting US-led forces in 2006, and help them fight al-Qaeda instead.
They are still on patrol, but they haven’t been paid since the US handed over its command to the Iraqi government.
Al Jazeera’s Omar Al-Saleh gained rare access to the city of Samarra and sent this report.
Since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, there has been growing concern about what many in Iraq see as Tehran’s interference in their country.
Now, some Iraqis say they are watching Iran’s post-election events unfold with a degree of satisfaction, because they believe the root cause of the turmoil and internal conflict in their country is Iran.
Al Jazeera’s Hoda Abdel-Hamid reports from Irbil, in northern Iraq.
Iraqi security forces have arrested a 50-year-old woman accused of recruiting dozens of female suicide bombers.
In a video released by Baghdad security forces, she describes how she targeted vulnerable women, persuading them to kill themselves.
Al Jazeera’s Tarek Bazley reports.
The El Salvadorean president has made a farewell visit to the White House where George Bush, the US president, thanked Elias Saca for “supporting freedom in Iraq.” El Salvador is the only Latin American country to still have troops fighting there.
But with more than 80 per cent of the country opposed to the war, that alliance may well be coming to an end. Gabriel Elizondo reports from San Salvador.