BAGHDAD: Twenty-nine Iraqis, including eight Kurdish policemen, were killed and three more US soldiers have been killed Friday in separate incidents of violence in Iraq.

A 54-year-old former paratrooper with an honours degree in diplomacy has taken over the toughest job in the US military, assuming control of the coalition in Iraq at a ceremony in one of Saddam Hussein’s former palaces.

A war against Iran will further exasperate the instability of the region and compromise the security of the United States, at home and abroad. It might also be the end of American military adventurism in the region for some time, but at a price so heavy, so unbearable, says Ramzy …