U.S. Department of State

Designation of Kata'ib Hizballah as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (7/2/09)
On June 24, 2009 Deputy Secretary of State James B. Steinberg designated Kata’ib Hizballah (KH) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended (INA). Deputy Secretary Steinberg also designated KH under section 1(b) of Executive Order 13224, as amended. -More

Situation in Iraq
Secretary Clinton (June 29): "We’ve had some horrific bombings and the loss of hundreds of lives. But our assessment is that the Iraqis are ready, willing, and able to step up to this. And as I’ve said, we will continue our presence there; we’re not pulling wholesale out. We will continue our presence there as we fulfill the requirements under the SOFA, and we stand ready to assist them if necessary." -Full Text
Amb. Hill (June 29): "The Iraqis truly understand that if Iraq is to develop it needs to do more to exploit its oil reserves so I think that what's going on. Iraq has understood that with existing technology with existing capital they can only go so far in terms of exploiting their oil and they need to do a lot more and so they look forward to signing on to cooperative relationships with international oil companies." -Full Text

U.S.-Iraq Security Agreement
Amb. Rice (June 19): "Rooted in our shared strategic interests with the Government of Iraq, heartened by the heroic service of thousands of brave Americans and many others, and mindful of the future of millions of Iraqis, the United States remains deeply committed to Iraq." -Full Text