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# Bush ponders Iraq withdrawal
- URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/bush-ponders-iraq-withdrawal/
- Published: 2007-07-09T14:07:55.000Z
- Updated: 2019-02-14T22:56:39.000Z
- Author: terrorism.openDemocracy Terrorism.opendemocracy
- Tags: #en, #Migrated, #Import 2026-04-09 19:37

**White House ponders withdrawal from Iraq**

Facing a collapse of support within the Republican party, the Bush administration is nearing the announcement of a plan to begin a [**phased withdrawal of US troops**](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/09/washington/09prexy.html?ex=1341633600&en=074c5ec7326a3c5b&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&ref=opendemocracy.net) from hotspots within Iraq. Such a strategic about-face would comply with the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group report, the analysis the administration soundly rejected last December.

Iraqi officials have voiced concern over the [**consequences**](http://wap.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L09156977.htm?ref=opendemocracy.net) of a rushed US withdrawal from their country.

**Lal Masjid on the brink**

Pakistani officials are convinced that al-Qaida-affiliated radicals have deposed the leadership of the besieged [**Red Mosque**](http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/7E1CD836-48F4-4C70-B213-8DEEB862645A.htm?ref=opendemocracy.net) in Islamabad, and are preparing to raid the complex in a bid to end the week-long stand-off. 

On Sunday, a [**senior military official**](http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/81360221-21F1-4EC9-A84E-7EC4215D26AB.htm?ref=opendemocracy.net) was killed, as commandos blasted holes into the mosque compound's perimeter walls.

Thousands of "tribesmen" in the Bajaur district of Pakistan's northwestern tribal areas joined a rally decrying the siege of the mosque, threatening [**retaliation**](http://www.dawn.com/2007/07/09/rss.htm?ref=opendemocracy.net#13).

Afghan intelligence claims that Pakistani security forces have captured [**four senior Taliban commanders**](http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D247F279-7354-4F0C-A128-D7B162D1E6EC.htm?ref=opendemocracy.net) in the border town of Quetta.

[**Three Chinese engineers**](http://www.thehindu.com/2007/07/09/stories/2007070957900100.htm?ref=opendemocracy.net) working in the northern city of Peshawar were shot by militants. Earlier, militants at the mosque seized 7 Chinese in Islamabad accused of running a "vice den".

**Al-Qaida threatens Iran**

The umbrella militant al-Qaida-linked group Islamic State in Iraq has threatened to [**"wage war"**](http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D1B901E0-A9E5-4D3A-937B-7B5262BBE82C.htm?ref=opendemocracy.net) on Iran should Tehran continue to back Iraqi Shia militias. Washington has long accused Iran of the same offence, a charge Tehran continues to deny.

**Arab League to visit Israel**

The Arab League will send their first delegation to Israel in a bid to push the [**Arab Peace Initiative**](http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/6B85ADE2-4D03-4E90-9AF7-8D1790278D34.htm?ref=opendemocracy.net)forward. Israel has [**freed 250 Fatah prisoners**](http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/6D3D1213-C5E4-4BA9-819D-47FFC01154DB.htm?ref=opendemocracy.net) to strengthen the hand of the Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority.

**UK bomb plot investigation continues**

Explore the conspiracies and connections surrounding the London-Glasgow bomb plots in this [**graphic map**](http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/files/terror-4-jul.jpg?ref=opendemocracy.net).

The director of Interpol has slammed British security forces for conducting only 50 checks per month of immigrants against a [**terrorist suspects database**](http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2121808,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront&ref=opendemocracy.net). France conducts 700,000 such tests per month.

A London court has found three men connected to the failed bomb attacks of [**21 July, 2005**](http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/uk%5Fnews/6284350.stm?ref=opendemocracy.net) guilty of plotting to carry out the attacks.

**Switzerland next?**

The centre-right Counterterrorism blog wonders whether [**Switzerland**](http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/07/switzerland%5Fnext%5Ftarget.php?ref=opendemocracy.net) will be the next target of Islamist terrorism.

[**Human Rights Watch**](http://hrw.org/backgrounder/eca/switzerland0607/?ref=opendemocracy.net) exchanges letters with Swiss leaders warning them to uphold international legal standards and not abet the recent American practice of "extraordinary rendition".

**Algiers: cultural capital**

Sonja Zekri visits Algiers and explores what remains of a vibrant artistic city buffeted by [**terror and authoritarianism**](http://www.signandsight.com/features/1415.html?ref=opendemocracy.net). 

**Mogadishu market comes under repeated attack**

The open-air [**Bakara market**](http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking%5Fnews/breaking%5Fnews%5F%5Fafrica/&articleid=313389&ref=opendemocracy.net) in Mogadishu sustained a second attack by militants in so many days, with five grenade blasts around the market and "indiscriminate" firing by Somali government troops.