A soldier's tale: Wounded in Iraq, struggling for a life

Staff Sgt. Victor Dominguez was a gifted Army Ranger two years ago when the Bradley Fighting Vehicle he commanded rolled over a roadside bomb in Iraq's Diyala province. Now, out of the Army and facing years more plastic surgery, Dominguez is finding that good days may mean nothing more than playing game of ball with his son. | 07/12/08 23:55:09 By - Nicholas Spangler

2 kidnapped U.S. soldiers found dead in Iraqi desert

The remains of the two soldiers were found after a U.S.-captured suspect led soldiers to their location. Spc. Alex R. Jimenez, 25, and Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, 19, were members of the 10th Mountain Division whose observation post was overrun in the early morning hours of May 12, 2007. Four other U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter were killed in the attack. | 07/11/08 18:00:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef and Sahar al-Issa

Father who joined after sniper killed son deploys to Iraq

In a few days, Francisco Martinez will land in Iraq. When Martinez steps off the airplane, he will be in the country that took his only son, a 20-year-old skateboarder and budding graphic artist whose loss is felt every single day of his father's life. | 07/11/08 07:38:09 By - Chris Vaughn

U.S. commander in Kirkuk lowers profile, raises popularity

For the past 11 months Col. David Paschal has back-slapped, noogied and high-fived his soldiers. He's been kissed on both cheeks by local Iraqis, and he's upbraided or atta-boyed his counterparts in the Iraqi army and police. He's sent his gunfighters after the "bad guys." He's balanced that with a reconciliation program for about 350 former insurgents, a six-step process that's becoming something of a model for other provinces. | 07/07/08 16:14:00 By - Mike Tharp

U.S. military in Iraq celebrates the 4th with reenlistments

One thousands two hundred and fifteen soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen raised their hands and re-upped in what was called the largest re-enlistment ceremony ever. Gen. David Petraeus administered the oath amid John Phillip Sousa marches. Patriotism — and big reenlistment bonuses — drove the fervor. | 07/04/08 16:41:00 By - Mike Tharp

After 42 months in Iraq, soldier still feels guilty he's not there

As Command Sgt. Maj. Philip Johndrow was getting off the airplane at the end of his third tour in Iraq, his wife, Vickie, simply said: "We have to talk." Johndrow had served 42 months, about three-fourths of the Iraq war, on the ground, more combat time than almost any other American soldier. | 07/04/08 06:00:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

U.S., Iraq narrow differences over forces pact, Iraq says

Iraq's foreign minister said Wednesday that the wide gap between Iraq and the United States over the future of U.S. forces in Iraq had narrowed after the American side had shown "excellent flexibility" on some key issues that had threatened to derail or postpone the accord. | 07/02/08 18:34:00 By - Mike Tharp

Alcohol is flowing again in Baghdad

Iraqis no longer have to settle just for thick Turkish coffee, cardamom-laced tea, strawberry-flavored milk or bottled water to quench their summertime thirst. Beer and alcoholic beverages are readily available once again. There are no bars outside the American-controlled Green Zone and parts of Kurdish territory in northern Iraq, for booze is sold retail only. But more shop owners are reopening behind iron gates. | 07/01/08 15:38:00 By - Laith Hammoudi

In Maliki's hometown, grief and questions after deadly U.S. raid

U.S. troops who Friday struck the town of Janaja, Iraq, where Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki grew up, killed a cousin who was serving as Maliki's sister's bodyguard, family members at the bodyguard's funeral said Sunday. U.S. officials acknowledged that "a local security guard" was killed, but did not identify him or explain why American forces had been operating so close to Maliki's sister's house. | 06/29/08 16:11:00 By - Qassim Zein and Hannah Allam

Crisis grows in Iraq over U.S. raid that killed Maliki relative

A U.S. Special Forces counterterrorism unit conducted the raid apparently without telling Iraqi officials even though the U.S. had handed control of security in Karbala province to Iraq forces in October 2007. Iraqis said the raid, which killed a relative of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, deepened their reluctance over Iraqi-U.S. talks on a continued U.S. presence in Iraq. | 06/28/08 19:29:01 By - Hannah Allam

Iraqi officials outraged by U.S. raid in prime minister's hometown

Outraged Iraqi officials demanded an investigation into an early morning U.S. military raid Friday near the birthplace of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, saying the operation violated the terms of the handover of Karbala province to Iraqi security forces. An Iraqi killed in the operation reportedly was a relative of the U.S.-backed prime minister. | 06/27/08 18:05:09 By - Hannah Allam

3 Marines among dead in attack on Iraqi tribal leaders

An explosion ripped through a gathering of U.S military officials and allied Sunni Muslim tribesmen Thursday, killing three Marines, two interpreters and 20 Iraqis in the rural western town of Karmah, U.S. and Iraqi authorities said. | 06/26/08 12:14:16 By - Hannah Allam and Jamal Naji

Blast kills 11, including 4 Americans, in Sadr City building

The explosion struck a municipal building in Baghdad's Sadr City just as the local council was about to select a chairman. Among the four Americans killed was a civilian who was part of a team advising local officials. It was the third incident in two days of violence involving members of local town councils. | 06/24/08 07:58:12 By - Hannah Allam

U.S.-allied Iraqi politician kills 2 U.S. troops, wounds 4

A U.S.-allied Iraqi council member sprayed American troops with gunfire Monday, killing two soldiers and wounding three and an interpreter, Iraqi authorities and witnesses said. The attack occurred minutes after they emerged from a weekly joint meeting on reconstruction. | 06/23/08 10:28:00 By - Mohammed al Dulaimy and Hannah Allam

Iraqis' drubbing of U.S. troops shows who rules the soccer field

A soccer game on a dirt field between two amateur teams — one made up of U.S. soldiers, the other, local Iraqis — may not seem like a big deal in the scope of the wider war. But the recent match between members of the 87th Infantry's 1st battalion and several young men from the Sons of Iraq meant much more than the Iraqis' 9-0 victory. For one, the U.S. side wasn't wearing body armor. | 06/22/08 14:35:00 By - Mike Tharp

Haditha victims' kin outraged as Marines go free

Khadija Hassan still shrouds her body in black, nearly three years after the deaths of her four sons. They were killed on Nov. 19, 2005, along with 20 other people in the deadliest documented case of U.S. troops killing civilians since the Vietnam War. Eight Marines were charged in the case, but in the intervening years, criminal charges have been dismissed against six. A seventh Marine was acquitted. The residents of Haditha, after being told they could depend on U.S. justice, feel betrayed. | 06/21/08 15:38:00 By - Leila Fadel

New Iraqi operation against militants produces scant resistance

Iraqi security forces met little resistance Thursday on Day 1 of the government's crackdown in the southern city of Amarah as they sought to disarm gunmen loyal to the militant Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al Sadr. Iraqi defense officials said there were no casualties or gun battles as military and national police units easily spread through northern Amarah, a mostly Shiite oil and agricultural city that borders Iran and for decades has served as a smuggling hub. | 06/19/08 19:47:16 By - Hannah Allam and Ali al Basri

Vehicle bombing in crowded Baghdad marketplace kills 51

The explosion struck in Hurriyah, a Baghdad neighborhood that is now predominantly Shiite Muslim after some of the worst ethnic cleansing in the last two years. Still, U.S. officials blamed Shiite rebels, not Sunni insurgents, for the attack, which also wounded another 75 in the deadliest bombing in the capital in months. | 06/17/08 17:46:17 By - Hannah Allam

U.S., Iraqi forces claim big weapons cache

BAGHDAD -- In a weekend blitz that U.S. military officials said "severely degrades" the capability of Iraqi insurgents, American and Iraq troops seized one "huge" and three smaller weapons and munitions caches in Baghdad. | 06/15/08 16:50:00 By - Mike Tharp

Sadr plots new steps to gain influence in Iraq's fall voting

BAGHDAD-- Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr, foe of the United States' presence in Iraq, announced a strategy Sunday for influencing Iraq's fall elections, including backing independents, technocrats and tribal figures. | 06/15/08 14:51:00 By - Mike Tharp

Maliki raises possibility that Iraq might ask U.S. to leave

The Iraqi prime minister said Iraq won't sign a status of forces agreement with the United States if that agreement infringes on Iraq's sovereign rights. His statement came as radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr announced he'll create a special branch of his militia authorized to attack American troops. | 06/13/08 19:38:36 By - Leila Fadel and Mike Tharp

Maliki says talks over U.S. troop presence at an impasse

Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki said talks with the U.S. on a Status of Forces Agreement "have reached an impasse" but that they are continuing. Meanwhile, Muqtada al Sadr said he was creating an armed contingent that would be authorized to attack American troops. | 06/13/08 10:38:20 By - Mike Tharp

Kidnapped, threatened, Iraqi doctor won't abandon post

With his British residency and comfortable savings, Dr. Muthaffar Kurukchi could leave Iraq, joining more than 15,000 Iraqi medical professionals who've fled the country since the war began. But he's determined to stay, and every morning, he shows up at the private hospital he runs, smiling and bespectacled, and he works his way through 60 wounded patients before 4 p.m. | 06/12/08 16:01:00 By - Hannah Allam

N. Carolina unit's tear-filled return ends tough Iraq tour

The 1132nd Military Police Company's deployment to Iraq was the deadliest deployment by any North Carolina National Guard company since World War II. When its men and women returned home Tuesday, the crowd and the soldiers themselves bawled in an emotional outpouring rare for a homecoming. | 06/11/08 14:57:50 By - Jay Price

U.S. security talks with Iraq in trouble in Baghdad and D.C.

A proposed U.S.-Iraqi security agreement that would set the conditions for a defense alliance and long-term U.S. troop presence appears increasingly in trouble, facing growing resistance from the Iraqi government, bipartisan opposition in Congress and strong questioning from Barack Obama. | 06/10/08 19:26:00 By - Leila Fadel and Warren P. Strobel

U.S. seeking 58 bases in Iraq, Shiite lawmakers say

The Iraqi government rejected the proposal during talks on a Status of Forces Agreement that would allow the U.S. to stay in Iraq after its U.N. mandate expires at the end of the year. Another U.S. demand the Iraqis say was rejected would let the U.S. decide when a hostile act had been committed against Iraq. Lawmakers said they feared it would trap them in a war between Iran and the U.S. | 06/09/08 19:13:00 By - Leila Fadel

Does a calmer Iraq mean that U.S. troops can come home?

Real peace has hardly broken out, and the improved security environment may be fleeting. But recent substantial gains by the Iraqi army, flagging insurgent violence and civilians reclaiming a sense of confidence have produced expectations that are higher than at any time since 2003 and has some asking whether it doesn't mean American troops can go home. | 06/08/08 06:00:00 By - Mike Tharp

Blackwater opens San Diego training center

A new counterterrorism training facility operated by military security contractor Blackwater Worldwide echoed with the grunts of Navy sailors, a day after a federal judge ordered the city to let classes begin. | 06/06/08 08:37:41 By - Allison Hoffman

Did Iranian agents dupe Pentagon officials?

Pentagon counterintelligence investigators in 2003 urged a comprehensive probe into whether Iran might have used a small group of defense officials' contacts with an Iranian exile to influence U.S. policy toward Iraq and Iran. But a senior aide to then-defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld shut the investigation down, and there was no followup. The counterintelligence investigators' suspicions were revealed in a Senate Intelligence Committee report released Thursday. | 06/05/08 19:49:11 By - John Walcott

Iraqi fishermen risk death to pursue livelihood

Since the U.S. invasion, at least 15 fisherman have been killed and tens more have been wounded along the Shatt al Arab, territory that's been disputed since the time of the Persian and the Ottoman empires and a flashpoint for war during Saddam Hussein's reign. | 06/05/08 16:37:00 By - Leila Fadel

United Arab Emirates to be first Gulf state to appoint ambassador to Iraq

The United Arab Emirates will be the first Gulf Arab nation to open an embassy in Iraq since the war and subsequent American occupation began five years ago, its foreign minister announced Thursday. | 06/05/08 15:55:00 By - Leila Fadel

Restaurateur defies Baghdad bombers

American restaurateurs gripe about how much fat comes with their free-range chickens. Or how there's been a run on their Pinot Noir. Or how a diner won't get off her cell phone. At the Al Sa'ah restaurant in Baghdad, manager Anwar Mohammed deals with a whole different set of problems. | 06/03/08 16:32:00 By - Jenan Hussein

As violence drops, some ponder faster Iraq troop withdrawals

Violence against civilians and U.S. and Iraqi military forces dropped to some of the lowest levels of the war in May even as Iraqi troops are leading offensives in three major cities. So far this month, 20 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq. If that number holds through Saturday, May will have the lowest death toll since February 2004. | 05/30/08 19:33:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

Iraqi officials worry about security deal with U.S.

Thousands of followers of militant Muqtada al Sadr peacefully took to the streets Friday following his call to protest a bilateral pact that would govern the economic, security and political relationship between Iraq and the United States. | 05/30/08 16:58:00 By - Leila Fadel

Army suicides rise again despite new focus by military

A study found a "significant relationship" between the risk of suicide to the number of days a soldier serves in Iraq and Afghanistan. About one-quarter died while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, the report found. | 05/29/08 20:52:22 By - Nancy A. Youssef

More Sunnis joining Iraq's National Police

Some 800 Sunni Muslims are among 2,000 newly trained recruits in the Iraqi National Police, a force that a Pentagon report a year ago called a brutal organization infiltrated by Shiite militias and even death squads. | 05/29/08 16:46:00 By - Mike Tharp

U.S. reassigns Marine for passing out Bible verses to Muslims

The U.S. military confirmed Thursday that a Marine in Fallujah passed out coins with Gospel verses on them to Sunni Muslims, a military spokesman in the Iraqi city said. The man was immediately removed from duty and reassigned. | 05/29/08 12:43:44 By - Leila Fadel and Jamal Naji

Iraqis claim Marines are pushing Christianity in Fallujah

Residents said some Marines at the western entrance to their city have been passing out coins imprinted with a Gospel verse in what they call a "humiliating" attempt to convert them to Christianity. The U.S. military said it is investigating the claims. Such proselytizing would violate military regulations. | 05/28/08 20:00:00 By - Jamal Naji and Leila Fadel

Bush wants $600 million for Iraq police, but cuts aid to U.S. cops

The White House earlier this year proposed slashing the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program, which helps local law enforcement officials deal with violent crime and serious offenders, to $200 million in the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. In 2002, the year before the Iraq war, the program received $900 million. | 05/27/08 17:33:02 By - David Lightman

Iraqi Olympic Committee again at center of sports dispute

Last Tuesday, the Iraqi government dissolved the country's Olympic committee, accusing it of corruption. On Monday, the organization that governs international soccer suspended Iraq for government interference in sport. It's just the latest problem for athletes in a country where the Olympic committee head and 30 others were kidnapped in 2006 and never heard from again. | 05/26/08 16:42:00 By - Mohammed al Dulaimy and Leila Fadel

Violence still taking toll on Baghdad education

| 05/26/08 16:05:00 By - Raviya H. Ismail and Sahar Issa

Poll finds low opinion of military medical care

WASHINGTON — A majority of Americans believe that wounded troops don't receive high quality medical care in military and Veteran's Administration hospitals, according to a new Harvard School of Public Health poll. | 05/25/08 00:15:00 By - Federica Narancio

U.S. and Iraq forces raided Shiite areas during prayers

U.S. and Iraqi forces detained nearly 200 people during operations that targeted two predominantly Shiite Muslim neighborhoods during Friday prayer services. The timing of the searches between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on the Muslim sabbath carried heavy symbolism for Shiites, who were forbidden to pray in public during the rule of Saddam Hussein. | 05/24/08 18:19:00 By - Raviya H. Ismail

Basra sings again as Iraqi army patrols the streets

For the past three years, musicians have lived in fear in Basra, Iraq's second largest city. Shiite Islamist groups enforced their version of morality with grenades, guns and closed fists. But the Islamists are now in hiding, thanks to a government offensive, and musicians are celebrating in a city known as "the mother of the lute." | 05/24/08 17:44:00 By - Leila Fadel

In Iraq, a Marine's best friend is a dog with 42 teeth

Although getting bitten or attacked by their partners is an occupational hazard, Marines on the al Asad airbase northwest of Baghdad say theirs is the most coveted job in the military. After all, they're paired up with what Westerners — although not all Muslims — consider man's best friend. | 05/23/08 16:11:33 By - Raviya H. Ismail

Iraq's ports thriving, now that the government's in charge

Since government troops seized control of southern Iraq's three ports, through which the government, commodities producers, and private companies import and export products, including food rations, extortion and looting has dropped. | 05/22/08 19:06:14 By - Leila Fadel

Petraeus says he'll call for troop withdrawals from Iraq

Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, told Congress Thursday the security situation in Iraq continues to improve. But he also said Iraqis are unlikely to be able to hold provincial elections in October, as planned, and probably won't hold that vote until November. | 05/22/08 18:17:57 By - Nancy A. Youssef

Gunfire takes the lives of two more Iraqi journalists

Two Iraqi journalists were killed in separate incidents in Baghdad and in the restive Diyala province, a Baghdad watchdog group for journalists said Thursday. This brings the number of media employees killed since the beginning of the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 to 237. Of those, 215 were Iraqi. | 05/22/08 16:32:00 By - Raviya H. Ismail

California veteran, wounded in Iraq, recalls long road back

Three years ago, Derek McGinnis balanced himself on his one leg and cradled his infant son while mom rested. In that moment, McGinnis knew he'd triumphed over near death and a traumatic injury because he did what dads do. | 05/22/08 16:17:57 By -

Bush defends Iraq war before troops at Fort Bragg (video)

President Bush offered a rousing defense of the war in Iraq today, telling soldiers at Fort Bragg that early withdrawal would "jeopardize the safety of future generations." | 05/22/08 13:45:10 By -

Petraeus says he'll call for more Iraq troop withdrawals

Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, told Congress Thursday he expects to announce further troop withdrawals this fall because the security situation there continues to improve. But he also described the Iraqi government as politically stalled, saying U.S. hopes that critical provincial elections will be held Oct. 1 won't be fulfilled. | 05/22/08 15:05:47 By - Nancy A. Youssef

Republican senators revise their version of veterans education bill

Republican Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina cribbed a few details Wednesday from a Democratic colleague for their version of the GI Bill, which helps pay for college for military veterans. | 05/21/08 20:22:52 By - Barbara Barrett

VA opposes much of bill to improve care for women veterans

A top VA official admitted during a Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing that the agency may not be prepared for the anticipated influx of women veterans. Still, the agency opposes provisions that include requiring mental health workers be trained to deal with female sexual trauma. | 05/21/08 19:08:41 By - Les Blumenthal

Wars can wound soldiers' sex lives, too

Wounds and mental disabilities of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan can mess up their sex lives, too, health experts said Wednesday. But those wounds often go untreated because the topic is taboo and has gone unstudied. | 05/21/08 18:20:35 By - Federica Narancio

Iraqi troops welcomed in Sadr City for first time

Iraqi security forces entered Baghdad's Sadr City in large numbers on Tuesday for the first time since followers of anti-American cleric Muqtada al Sadr agreed two weeks ago to allow them in. No U.S. troops accompanied the Iraqi forces. The agreement specifically bars them. | 05/20/08 13:46:00 By - Raviya H. Ismail

U.S. announces deployment of seven combat brigades to Iraq

The Defense Department announced Monday that it will send seven combat brigades to Iraq by the end of the year, suggesting that the Pentagon is planning to maintain its troop levels in Iraq through next year. | 05/19/08 16:56:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

U.S. removes soldier from Iraq after he defaces Quran

U.S. military officials, fearing a backlash as a result of the desecration, moved quickly to resolve the case after Iraqi police found the desecrated book May 11 at a shooting range in western Baghdad. They briefed tribal leaders on their investigation and expressed regret for the damage to the holy book. | 05/18/08 15:32:00 By - Raviya H. Ismail

Doughnuts and coffee come to the Green Zone in Baghdad

An idea was born one Thursday night to the hum of the generator and in the midst of weeks of heavy rocket attacks launched by militias outside the walls of Baghdad's Green Zone: coffee and doughnuts. | 05/16/08 17:15:00 By - Leila Fadel

Sanchez on Iraq errors: Don't blame me, I was just a general

To hear retired Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez explain it, the mistakes of the Iraq war that happened while he was in command there weren't his fault. Not Abu Ghraib, not the birth of the insurgency, not the decision to let rebel cleric Muqtada al Sadr survive. Sanchez was a soldier, and according to him, a general's job is to give advice. What the civilian leaders decide after that is out of a general's hands. | 05/16/08 16:50:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

Money for Fort Benning hospital in Iraq supplemental bill

WASHINGTON -- Tucked into the hotly debated Iraq war emergency spending bill is roughly $1 billion for four of the nation's aging military health facilities -- places that some Democratic House leaders have said do not meet current standards for medical care and need immediate attention in order to prevent the types of problems that faced Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. | 05/15/08 22:29:32 By - Halimah Abdullah

Iranian embassy employees shot in Baghdad

As the Iranian men pulled into a Shiite area in Baghdad on the way to the shrine, two men on a motorbike pulled up to the vehicle and riddled their car with bullets, Iranian and Iraqi officials said. | 05/15/08 19:44:00 By - Leila Fadel

U.S. again cuts off Chalabi, this time over rivalry with Maliki

U.S. military and diplomatic officials in Baghdad have cut off contact with controversial Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi, a former Pentagon favorite, because of his increasingly strained relationship with U.S.-backed Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, U.S. officials in Baghdad and Washington told McClatchy. | 05/15/08 17:48:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef, Leila Fadel and Warren P. Strobel

McCain predicts victory, with most troops out of Iraq by 2013

McCain has been under attack for weeks by Democrats and liberal interest groups for his remarks that U.S. troops could be in Iraq for 100 years or more. Thursday was the first time he put a timetable on when he thinks most U.S. troops will be out of Iraq if he is elected president. | 05/15/08 14:18:47 By - Matt Stearns

Khalid Sheik Mohammed gets June 5 court date

The chief judge of the Guantánamo Bay war court has set June 5 for the first court appearances of alleged 9/11 architect Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators. | 05/14/08 17:12:38 By - Carol Rosenberg

Magistrate in Alaska backs soldier on discharge request

Pfc. Michael Barnes, a paratrooper based at Fort Richardson, Alaska, asked to be discharged as a conscientious objector because he was disturbed by what he saw in Iraq. The Army said no. But U.S. Magistrate John D. Roberts concluded that the Army had failed to show "any basis in fact" to support its decision. The Army has till Friday to appeal. | 05/14/08 08:36:46 By - George Bryson

Sadr City residents fear a cease-fire means more violence

After six weeks of fighting, the signs of battle are common in Sadr City. Wires snaked out of potholes and from underneath tires — signs of past or future roadside bombs. Abandoned pickup trucks, destroyed by airstrikes, littered the streets, and pock marks from bullets or shrapnel scarred the houses. Residents wondered if an agreement really means peace. | 05/11/08 18:04:00 By - Leila Fadel

In big concession, militia agrees to let Iraqi troops into Sadr City

The agreement would end six weeks of fighting and mark the first time Sadr City has been under government control since Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003. On Friday, 15 people were killed and 112 were injured in fighting, officials at the neighborhood's two major hospitals said. | 05/09/08 22:47:25 By - Leila Fadel

U.S. soldier fulfills his mission of getting Iraqi girl new legs

BAGHDAD — Staff Sgt. Luis Falcon, 38, was patrolling the streets of Baqouba, north of Baghdad, when he saw Shahad Abbas. The 11-year-old girl was in a large decrepit wheelchair, and the stumps of her legs where her calves should have been were crusted with dried blood. | 05/09/08 17:53:47 By - Leila Fadel

Iraqi military orders Sadr City residents to evacuate

The military's call could indicate the possibility of stepped-up military operations. Five hundred tents are to be set up on two soccer fields to accommodate the evacuees. Sadr City has been the scene of intense combat for 40 days. | 05/08/08 17:47:00 By - Leila Fadel

Charity work shows another side to Sadr's movement in Iraq

In Iraq's Sadr City, fiery cleric Muqtada al Sadr plays the role of humanitarian-in-chief — gifting money to families of the dead and injured, resettling displaced families free of charge and, every month, helping to feed tens of thousands of Sadr City's most impoverished people. Sadr offers the funds for any victim of American weapons in Sadr City. | 05/08/08 17:19:00 By - Shashank Bengali

Judge threatens to suspend Guantanamo terror trial

A military judge in the trial of Canadian captive Omar Khadr threatened Thursday to suspend the terror trial unless the prison camp releases a detailed log of Khadr's treatment in more than five years of detention as an alleged al Qaeda terrorist. | 05/08/08 14:24:17 By - Carol Rosenberg

Iraq asks U.S., Iran to stop accusing and start talking

After months of stalled talks between the United States and Iran, the Iraqi government said it was time for the two nations to stop trading accusations and come to the table. | 05/07/08 17:00:00 By - Leila Fadel

Iraq has all but given up on bringing U.S., Iran together

The Iraqi foreign minister said his government has proposed four dates for another meeting between Iranian and U.S. diplomats, but that the overtures have been rejected. "I don’t think we will succeed," he said. | 05/07/08 14:53:49 By - Leila Fadel

Drama fills Guantanamo war court but sound remains off

The Pentagon took its new $12 million war court complex at Guantanamo out for a test run Wednesday with the arraignment of an alleged al Qaeda propagandist — and the state-of-the-art facility failed. Spectators could see that the judge, prosecutors and defendant were talking and gesturing, but what was going on couldn't be heard. | 05/07/08 12:14:27 By - Carol Rosenberg

2 soldiers' deaths in Iraq raise doubts about MRAP vehicle

The deaths of two U.S. soldiers in western Baghdad last week have sparked concerns that Iraqi insurgents have developed a new weapon capable of striking what the U.S. military considers its most explosive-resistant vehicle. | 05/05/08 18:18:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

Baghdad park is an oasis from conflict

There's a place in Baghdad, amid the snarled checkpoints and mazes of blast walls and general anxiety, where families still gather for picnics, teenage boys kick around soccer balls, young couples canoodle furtively under trees and children bury their faces in cotton candy. | 05/05/08 15:43:00 By - Shashank Bengali and Laith Hammoudi

Iraq backs off allegations that Iran is behind violence

The government said Sunday that a committee has been formed to find "tangible information" about Iran's intervention in Iraq rather than "information based on speculation." It seemed to signal a retreat from U.S. officials' assertions that Iran is behind the increase in violence. | 05/04/08 16:43:00 By - Leila Fadel and Shashank Bengali

Kentucky Derby traditions are transplanted to Iraq

First Lt. Jessicah Garrett, of the Kentucky National Guard 138th Fires Brigade, was charged with bringing the Kentucky Derby to Iraq — and she was holding steadfast to the famed sporting event's traditions. The pinnacle of Saturday's festivities were the mock horse races — no running, only galloping allowed. | 05/03/08 15:31:54 By - Raviya H. Ismail

Baghdad hospital damaged by U.S. missile, dozens injured

A major hospital in Baghdad's Sadr City slum was damaged Saturday when an American military strike targeted a militia command center just a few yards away, the U.S. military said. After six weeks of heavy combat, the U.S. military is facing growing criticism over what residents describe as mounting civilian casualties. | 05/03/08 00:52:00 By - Shashank Bengali

Iraqi area peaceful; residents want more

Residents credit the recent security gains in Madain district to when U.S.-backed Iraqi forces entered in December and to the formation of an "awakening council," a U.S.-allied Sunni armed group that's charged with fighting al Qaida in Iraq. Now all the area needs is better services, residents say: cleaner water, regular electricity, better-equipped hospitals and schools. And the recent signs of safety are meant to persuade the central government to provide just that. | 05/02/08 16:36:00 By - Raviya H. Ismail and Jinan Hussein

Iraqi lawmakers press Iran to end support for militias

In an unusual initiative, five Iraqi lawmakers on Thursday presented intelligence photos and other evidence to the Iranian government that Tehran is arming and training Shiite Muslim militias in Iraq, and they demanded that it stop, senior Iraqi government officials said. | 05/01/08 18:30:00 By - Shashank Bengali

Gates: Lull in Iraq over as U.S. deaths reach 7-month high

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on Tuesday acknowledged that a seven-month lull in U.S. troops deaths in Iraq has come to an end and blamed the bloodshed on Shiite Muslim militiamen who have bombarded the Green Zone and key parts of Baghdad with rockets and mortar rounds. | 04/29/08 23:19:21 By - Nancy A. Youssef

Airline's bankruptcy strands U.S. troops in Middle East

The abrupt collapse of ATA Airlines has left an untold number of U.S. soldiers, sailors and Marines stuck in Iraqi and Afghan airports while they await a ride home. Some face travel delays of up to a week, military officials acknowledge. | 04/29/08 17:52:00 By - Michael Doyle

U.S. troops kill 28 in 4-hour Baghdad battle

The fighting began with an insurgent ambush in Sadr City, where U.S. and Iraqi troops have been unable to subdue Shiite Muslim militias after weeks of fighting. Six Americans were wounded. | 04/29/08 15:57:00 By - Raviya H. Ismail and Shashank Bengali

U.S. troops kill 45 in Iraq clashes

The U.S. military said Monday that it had killed 45 militants in two days of fierce fighting in northeast Baghdad, signaling that some Shiite Muslim extremists are defying hardline Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr's call for a cease-fire against Iraqi troops. | 04/28/08 17:05:00 By - Shashank Bengali

Iranian outmaneuvers U.S. in Iraq

Iranian Brig. Gen. Qassem Suleimani has ensured the election of pro-Iranian politicians, met frequently with Iraqi leaders, and backed Shiite elements in the Iraqi security forces. His behind-the-scenes role illustrates how President Bush's decision to topple Saddam Hussein enabled Iran to extend its influence in Iraq. | 04/28/08 15:52:00 By - Hannah Allam, Jonathan S. Landay and Warren P. Strobel

General is a national hero in Iran

Reports of Qassem Suleimani's early life differ, and one U.S. counterterrorism official acknowledged that Washington's information about him is "sketchy." | 04/28/08 15:50:00 By - McClatchy Newspapers

Iraqi museum celebrates return of stolen artifacts

The Iraqi National Museum on Sunday celebrated the return of some 700 artifacts that were looted following the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 and surfaced recently in neighboring Syria. | 04/27/08 13:29:00 By - Shashank Bengali

Iraqi political leaders protest U.S. siege of Sadr City

About 50 leaders representing a variety of Iraqi political blocs took to Baghdad's Sadr City on Sunday, a stronghold of fiery religious leader Muqtada al Sadr, to protest the U.S.-led siege of that area. | 04/27/08 13:44:00 By - Hussein Kadhim and Raviya H. Ismail

Sadr changes his tune, calls Iraqi forces 'brothers'

Shiite Muslim leader Muqtada al Sadr, who a week ago threatened "open-ended war" against Iraq's U.S.-backed government, on Friday called on his followers to halt their attacks on Iraqi security forces and to concentrate instead on ending the U.S. occupation of Iraq. | 04/25/08 16:36:00 By - Raviya H. Ismail

Challenges abound for Iraqi Olympic hopefuls

Nearly a year ago, a sniper shot at Olympic hopeful Dana Hussein as she ran around one of the few jogging tracks in Baghdad. Another time, she and her coach narrowly avoided driving into an ambush and sure death at a checkpoint in the city. | 04/24/08 14:32:00 By - Steve Lannen

New military leaders appointed for Iraq, Middle East

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on Wednesday promoted his two top Iraq commanders to lead U.S. military operations throughout the Middle East. | 04/23/08 15:28:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

Iraqi leader calls on neighbors to forgive Iraq's debts

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki criticized neighboring countries Tuesday as not doing enough to help Iraq root out militancy and pledged to continue his campaign against rogue Shiite Muslim militias. | 04/22/08 17:40:00 By - Raviya H. Ismail

Rice praises Maliki after Sadr calls for an open ended war

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in an unannounced visit to Baghdad Sunday, praised Iraq's prime minister for launching an offensive against a rival militia that threatens to escalate into a civil war among Iraq's Shiite Muslims. | 04/20/08 17:18:00 By - Raviya Ismail

Sadr threatens unending 'war' in Iraq if attacks don't end

Renegade cleric Muqtada al Sadr called his threat a "final warning" to the Iraqi government. The Iraqi military continued its two-front attack against Sadr's Mahdi Army on Saturday, retaking government buildings in Basra while waging fierce gun battles in Sadr City. | 04/19/08 17:37:38 By - Raviya H. Ismail

GIs in Sadr City caught between warring Iraqi sides

Three weeks after U.S. troops were ordered into the sprawling Shiite Muslim slum of Sadr City to stop rockets from raining down on the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad's Green Zone, they're caught in crossfire between Shiite militiamen and the mostly Shiite Iraqi army. | 04/18/08 15:27:00 By - Leila Fadel

Pentagon institute calls Iraq war 'a major debacle' with outcome 'in doubt'

The report, released by the National Defense University, raises fresh doubts about President Bush's projections of a U.S. victory in Iraq just a week after Bush announced that he was suspending U.S. troop reductions. | 04/17/08 20:38:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay and John Walcott

Bomb kills at least 60 at Iraqi funeral

At least 45 people died Thursday at a bombing targeting the funeral of two Sunni Muslim tribesmen that were part of a council fighting against al Qaida in Iraq, according to Iraqi police. The bombing, which took place in a town northeast of Baghdad, comes just a day after the slaying of the two brothers Wednesday. Iraqi police said about 50 people were injured in the attack. | 04/17/08 07:46:04 By - Raviya H. Ismail

Suicide bomber attacks funeral in tiny Iraqi village, killing 60

A suicide bomber wearing a vest packed with explosives walked into a funeral tent and blew himself up amid a crowd of men and boys gathered to mourn two slain tribesmen who fought in a U.S.-backed militia against al Qaida in Iraq. | 04/17/08 18:22:00 By - Raviya H. Ismail

Bombs kill at least 60 in Iraq as fears mount of more to come

A spate of explosions across Iraq killed at least 60 people Tuesday and resurrected fears that the security gains that the U.S. has been touting are now unraveling. | 04/15/08 18:40:00 By - Raviya H. Ismail and Nancy A. Youssef

New U.S. Embassy in Baghdad ready — six months late

The heavily fortified complex, the United States' biggest embassy, will provide working and living quarters for more than 1,000 U.S. diplomats and military personnel, many of whom have been posted on the grounds of a former palace of late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. | 04/14/08 18:58:00 By - Warren P. Strobel

Iraqi troops free British hostage held by militants

Richard Butler, a photographer who was on assignment for CBS, appeared to be in good condition in Iraqi television footage that showed him smiling broadly as jubilant Iraqi officials embraced him and celebrated the rescue, a sorely needed morale boost for the country's beleaguered security forces. | 04/14/08 09:58:00 By - Hannah Allam

United States blamed for assassination of Sadr aide

Followers of the renegade cleric Muqtada al Sadr chanted anti-American slogans and vowed revenge for the assassination Friday of Sadr's top aide in Najaf, where outrage over the killing threatens to spiral into the second deadly uprising in southern Iraq in a month. | 04/11/08 18:40:00 By - Qassim Zein and Hannah Allam

Low-power air conditioners are hot items in Baghdad

Khalida Waleed has no idea who designed the new low-power air-conditioning unit she bought for her family a few weeks ago, but she knows what she would do if she ever met the mystery engineer. "I'd kiss him!" she said, fluttering her eyelashes in a mock swoon. | 04/11/08 16:28:00 By - Hannah Allam

U.S. fails to move on Iraq sexual assault complaints

A Tampa woman and at least three other women who say they were assaulted in Iraq or Afghanistan complain that they're trapped between a military justice system with no authority over private contractors and the Justice Department, which has authority, but appears unwilling to act. | 04/10/08 15:50:24 By - Lesley Clark

All the talk is about Iraq, but concern about Iran is mounting

President Bush warned Iran on Thursday that the United States will "act to protect our interests," as the White House heightened its rhetorical attacks on Tehran for allegedly shipping sophisticated roadside bombs to Iraq and supporting Shiite Muslim militias there. | 04/10/08 14:15:00 By - Warren P. Strobel

Congress to Petraeus: Show us a withdrawal plan

Army Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker got an earful from Congress during two days of testimony. After five years of war, the American public is tired of pleas for more time, Congress members said. Petraeus and Crocker at times seem flummoxed by the tenor of the questions. | 04/09/08 19:24:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

Iraqi detainees languish uncharged in crowded jails

Some undoubtedly are criminals, but some are innocent people who were caught in roundups after violent incidents or arrested by the largely Shiite-run Iraqi security forces because they're Sunnis, according to interviews with detainees and American military personnel. | 04/09/08 17:25:00 By - Steve Lannen

Pentagon tells lawmaker not to air Green Zone video again

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon told a North Carolina lawmaker Tuesday that he couldn’t re-air a video he'd shot in Baghdad after accusations surfaced that he breached operational security in detailing enemy rocket attacks. | 04/08/08 23:28:50 By - Lisa Zagaroli

Iraq hearing live blog: Second hearing ends

6:58 p.m.: The hearings adjourn after more than nine hours of testimony. More hearings on Wednesday. | 04/08/08 20:42:19 By - Barbara Barrett, Dave Montgomery and David Goldstein

As Petraeus testifies, Baghdad teeters on edge of erupting

Army Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker were critical of Iran when they testified Tuesday before the Senate, barely giving credit for an Iranian-brokered cease-fire that curbed the killing after a week of Shiite-on-Shiite bloodshed in southern Iraq and Baghdad. | 04/08/08 11:06:00 By - Leila Fadel

How the presidential candidates played the Iraq question

Here's how the presidential candidates positioned themselves on Iraq on Tuesday in questioning Army Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker. | 04/08/08 19:30:00 By - Margaret Talev

Democrats seek to tie Iraq's costs to economy's woes

Democrats in the House of Representatives on Wednesday intend to use hearings on Iraq to hammer home what they think is a key political point: that the expense of the Iraq war is making it harder for the American economy to rebound. | 04/08/08 18:56:00 By - David Lightman

Petraeus asks for more time before setting troop withdrawal date

Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, told congressional leaders Tuesday that the U.S. will need a 45-day assessment period starting in July, after some 20,000 troops withdraw, to determine whether more soldiers can leave. | 04/08/08 11:35:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

Sadr cancels million-man march; 11 U.S. dead since Sunday

Eleven American service members have been killed since Sunday in a surge of violence after an Iraqi military offensive against Shiite Muslim militias, the U.S. military said Tuesday. Five died in Baghdad alone in clashes with the Mahdi Army militia of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr and in rocket attacks, the military said. | 04/08/08 10:39:01 By - Leila Fadel

What to expect from Petraeus? For some, a long wait

Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif., hopes he'll get to ask a question when Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Army Gen. David Petraeus appear before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. But he shouldn't hold his breath. | 04/07/08 17:32:00 By - Michael Doyle

Few see Petraeus testimony changing much in Congress

With only seven months to go before the election of a new president and Congress, any Democratic effort to change Iraq policy probably won't go far. | 04/07/08 14:26:00 By - David Lightman and Margaret Talev

Gen. Petraeus' Iraq strategy on trial in Congress

This is not the way that Army Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, was expected to reappear before Congress. But an Iraqi government offensive went badly, U.S. casualties are up, and violence has returned to the capital. | 04/07/08 13:47:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

Fighting resumes in Baghdad; rockets kill three Americans

New clashes between Iraqi government forces and the Mahdi Army erupt two days before the top U.S. military commander in Iraq is to testify before Congress. | 04/06/08 19:05:13 By - Leila Fadel and Mohammed al Dulaimy

Iraq testimony will be test for Clinton, McCain and Obama

Each of the leading presidential candidates will question Army Gen. David Petraeus when he testifies this week at Senate hearings on the Iraq war. What they ask and how they respond to his answers may say a lot about how each would proceed as commander in chief. | 04/06/08 14:16:00 By - David Lightman

Massive Shiite protest planned in Iraq; more battles possible

Firebrand Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al Sadr on Thursday called for a massive demonstration against the "occupation" of Iraq on April 9, which would coincide with the fifth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad and come just after U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker are to testify to Congress about progress in Iraq. | 04/03/08 20:07:00 By - Leila Fadel

U.S. soldiers helping pacify Iraq's violent Diyala province

Diyala remains one of the most dangerous provinces in Iraq, but thousands of people who'd fled the region, fearing fighting between the armed forces and insurgents, returned last month to villages near the Diyala River. U.S. troops there are working hard to make it possible for them to live in peace. | 04/03/08 16:58:00 By - Steve Lannen

As Guantanamo trials near, Pentagon limits what can be reported

U.S. officials have said the trials before military commissions of terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will be as fair as those before regular military courts martial or civilian courts. But rules and even courtroom design are intended to make sure some evidence in the cases is never revealed to the public. | 04/03/08 09:00:00 By - Carol Rosenberg

Baghdad's Sadr City mourns its dead and injured

In Sadr City, the results of U.S. airstrikes plague the population. Haider Jassim, 4, can't eat, and he urinates into a tube. Sabah Raheem's face is burned black, his left eye gone, along with one of his legs. Karrar Ali Hussein, 16, breathes heavily, his side pierced by a bullet fired by a U.S. sniper. | 04/01/08 18:43:00 By - Leila Fadel

Paltry result of Iraqi offensive quiets U.S. withdrawal talk

"There is no empirical evidence that the Iraqi forces can stand up" on their own, said a senior U.S. military official. Iraqi forces taking a leadership role was crucial to U.S. hopes of withdrawing more troops. | 04/01/08 18:07:00 By - Warren P. Strobel and Nancy A. Youssef

With calm restored in Basra, Iraqis ask 'Who won?'

International analysts and Basra residents alike say they think the outcome of the fighting showed that the Mahdi Army is stronger than Iraq's U.S.-trained security forces. | 03/31/08 20:06:20 By - Leila Fadel

Iranian who brokered Iraqi peace is on U.S. terrorist watch list

Brig. Gen. Qassem Suleimani helped Iraqi leaders negotiate a cease-fire with radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr. That an Iranian official on the U.S. watch list was key to ending the fighting underscores Iran's political influence in Iraq. | 03/31/08 16:40:00 By - Warren P. Strobel and Leila Fadel

Iranian general played key role in Iraq cease-fire

Iraqi lawmakers traveled to the Iranian holy city of Qom to win the assistance of the commander of Iran's Qods brigades in persuading Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr to order his followers to stop military operations. Sadr ordered the halt on Sunday. | 03/30/08 20:40:09 By - Leila Fadel

Sadr rebuffs Iraq government envoy as offensive sputters

After failing to break the resistance of Shiite militias in the five-day siege of oil rich Basra, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki sent a top general to hold talks with his Shiite rival, Muqtada al Sadr, Saturday night. But Sadr refused to see him. | 03/30/08 13:05:03 By - Leila Fadel

Sadr orders his militia to end military operations in Iraq

The call allows Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr to claim the role of peacemaker, but its practical impact was unclear. A Mahdi Army commander in Basra said his men would continue to defend themselves in the face of government attacks. | 03/30/08 12:03:11 By - Leila Fadel

Iraqi prime minister softens ultimatum as militias stand ground

Four days into a major government offensive in Basra, Iraqi government forces have been unable to dislodge Shiite Muslim militias from their strongholds in the southern port city, prompting Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki to back off his ultimatum to disarm by Friday. Some U.S. officials worry Maliki may have miscalculated the militias' resolve. | 03/28/08 21:14:17 By - Leila Fadel

As militia holds on, Bush calls Iraq battle 'a defining moment'

President Bush on Friday branded the recent eruption of violence across Iraq as a "defining moment in the history of a free Iraq" and insisted it was crucial to quash criminal elements eager to disrupt the new government. | 03/28/08 15:46:00 By - David Lightman

Iraqi prime minister softens ultimatum as militias stand ground in Basra

The United States stepped up its direct support for the Iraqi government offensive against Shiite Muslim militias Friday by using U.S. aircraft to bomb two targets in the oil hub of Basra, the British military said. | 03/28/08 00:50:00 By - Leila Fadel

Family's vigil ends with confirmation contractor died in Iraq

The families of six men kidnapped in Iraq have endured each excruciating development: a video of the men pleading for the United States to leave Iraq, their fingers delivered to U.S. officials. And, finally, news of four deaths. | 03/28/08 06:08:29 By - Christina Jewett and Todd Milbourn

Iraqi leader threatens fight 'to the end'

As gun battles raged in the southern port city of Basra, parts of Baghdad and neighboring provinces, Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki in effect declared war on Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr's Mahdi Army, saying he'd fight the militia and never negotiate. | 03/27/08 00:59:00 By - Leila Fadel

Bush: Iraq is returning to normal

President Bush, saying that "normalcy is returning back to Iraq," argued Thursday that last year's U.S. troop "surge" has improved Iraq's security to the point where political and economic progress are blossoming as well. | 03/27/08 17:52:00 By - Warren P. Strobel and David Lightman

Bush administration takes credit for Iraqi offensive in Basra

The White House and Pentagon claimed partial credit for the Iraqi government's new military offensive in Baghdad and the port city of Basra, calling it a "byproduct of the success" of the U.S. troop surge that showed that Iraqi forces are capable of assaulting Shiite extremists. | 03/26/08 19:03:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

Clashes spread as U.S., Iraqi forces attack Shiite militia

With the United States providing air cover and embedded advisers, the Iraqi government on Wednesday expanded its offensive against Shiite Muslim militias from the port city of Basra to the capital of Baghdad — and many of the provinces in between. | 03/26/08 10:51:00 By - Leila Fadel

Iraqi forces battle Mahdi militia in southern Iraq, Baghdad

With Iraq's top leaders directing the battle, Iraq's army and national police pressed a major operation Tuesday to wrest control of the southern port city of Basra from the Shiite Mahdi Army militia. Fighting between government forces and the militia quickly spread through Iraq's south and into Baghdad. | 03/25/08 14:04:17 By - Leila Fadel and Ali al Basri

Is 'success' of U.S. surge in Iraq about to unravel?

A critical cease-fire broke down Monday as Muqtada al Sadr's Mahdi Army militia began shutting down neighborhoods in Baghdad and the Iraqi government moved against it in Basra. Meanwhile, U.S. officials counted their 4,000th troop death and warned that withdrawing too soon would trigger collapse. | 03/24/08 20:19:00 By - Leila Fadel and Nancy A. Youssef

2 Iraq hostages' bodies found; other families fear worst

The bodies of Ronald Withrow and John Young are already back in the U.S. The fate of four other missing men believed held by the same group is unknown, weeks after the severed fingers of five of the men were sent to U.S. officials. | 03/24/08 16:51:28 By - Hannah Allam

Roadside bomb kills 4, brings U.S. deaths in Iraq to 4,000

The deaths came after a day of mayhem that included rocket and mortar attacks on the Green Zone, where the U.S. presence is headquartered. | 03/24/08 08:11:38 By - Hannah Allam and Leila Fadel

State Guard unit gets return call to Iraq

The Washington National Guard confirmed Wednesday that its 81st Brigade Combat Team will be called up in August for another tour in Iraq. | 03/20/08 07:52:57 By - Michael Gilbert

States step up to aid vets returning from Iraq

As troops stream home from Iraq and Afghanistan, and as the VA and military systems restructure their benefits and services, states increasingly are stepping in to help service members navigate the process and get on with their lives five years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. | 03/20/08 06:00:00 By - Chris Adams

Bush defends Iraq war as worth it; Democrats disagree

President Bush on Wednesday declared that "the successes we are seeing in Iraq are undeniable" as he gave a rousing defense of the war on its fifth anniversary before a receptive but not overwhelmingly enthusiastic Pentagon audience. | 03/19/08 00:27:00 By - David Lightman

Army chaplain in Iraq a friendly face in a grim place

In a place where everyone is armed with a rifle or a handgun, all he carries is a camouflage Bible. Five years into the war, this is Maj. Charles "Ed" Hamlin's first tour in Iraq. But the Army chaplain was already very familiar with this war and its results. | 03/19/08 11:35:00 By - Steve Lannen

Violence is down, but Iraq still faces a long, hard road

Five years after the U.S.-led invasion, Iraq remains a divided country with an unstable government and endemic violence. The violence has subsided some, however, and that's opened new prospects for the top two U.S. officials in Iraq. | 03/19/08 06:00:00 By - Leila Fadel

Cheney again links Iraq invasion to 9/11 attacks

Cheney gave an upbeat review of Iraqi events as mourners buried the victims of Monday's suicide bombing and a long anticipated national reconciliation conference quickly dissolved into stalemate. | 03/18/08 17:20:00 By - Hannah Allam and Laith Hammoudi

McCain sees Iraq success as key to all Middle East issues

John McCain's support of the Iraq war is well known. Less well known is how the war fits into his overall view of the region: He sees it as the linchpin to almost everything. | 03/18/08 17:13:00 By - Matt Stearns

Iraq war has transformed tech-savvy U.S. military

When U.S. forces crossed the Kuwaiti border into Iraq in the pre-dawn hours of March 20, 2003, they set out to "shock and awe" the Middle East. But it's the U.S. military that's been changed. | 03/18/08 06:00:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

Cheney cites 'phenomenal' Iraqi security progress as bombing kills 40

Vice President Dick Cheney made a surprise visit to Baghdad on Monday and credited Iraqi leaders and a massive U.S. troop build-up with security improvements he described as "phenomenal" after meetings with U.S. military commanders and Iraqi politicians. | 03/17/08 00:10:00 By - Hannah Allam and Qassim Zein

5 years after Iraq's 'liberation,' there are worms in the water

Five years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Iraqis still swelter in the summer and freeze in the winter because of a lack of electricity. Government rations are inevitably late, incomplete or expired. Garbage piles up for days, sometimes weeks, emanating toxic fumes. | 03/16/08 18:00:00 By - Hannah Allam

Fact-finder McCain visits Baghdad

Republican presidential candidate John McCain made his eighth trip to Iraq on Sunday, this time holding private talks with U.S. and Iraqi officials about security developments at the end of a bloody week marked by a spike in U.S. troop deaths and a new wave of suicide bombings. | 03/16/08 17:42:00 By - Hannah Allam and Yasseen Taha

Iraq war's cost: Loss of U.S. power, prestige, influence

It was a decision that only President Bush had the power to make: At about 9 a.m. on March 19, 2003, he gave the "execute order" to begin Operation Iraqi Freedom, the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Now, five years later, the consequences of that act will soon be beyond Bush's grasp. | 03/15/08 23:00:00 By - Warren P. Strobel

Car bomb in Baghdad adds to worries violence is growing

Only 9 people died in Thursday's blast, but March now seems likely to become the 4th month in a row in which more civilians were killed than during the previous month. | 03/13/08 19:26:00 By - Steve Lannen

Death toll now 9 in Baghdad bombing

BAGHDAD — A car bomb in central Baghdad killed at least nine people Thursday and wounded at least 20, Iraqi police said. | 03/13/08 12:26:40 By - Steve Lannen

College student, ex-Marine among hostages in Iraq

Family members of the men whose severed fingers were sent to U.S. authorities in Iraq say they cling to hope the men are still alive. | 03/13/08 09:20:22 By -

Severed fingers of 5 hostages given to U.S. officials in Iraq

U.S. authorities in Baghdad have received five severed fingers belonging to four Americans and an Austrian who were taken hostage more than a year ago in Iraq. | 03/12/08 17:46:00 By - Hannah Allam

Pentagon cancels release of controversial Iraq report

The Pentagon on Wednesday canceled plans for broad public release of a study that found no pre-Iraq war link between late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the al Qaida terrorist network. | 03/12/08 18:21:00 By - Warren P. Strobel

Severed fingers of 5 hostages held in Iraq delivered to U.S.

U.S. authorities in Baghdad have received five severed fingers belonging to four Americans and an Austrian who were taken hostage more than a year ago in Iraq, officials here said today. | 03/12/08 22:29:03 By - Hannah Allam

Exhaustive review finds no link between Saddam and al Qaida

The Pentagon-sponsored study, scheduled for release later this week, did confirm that Saddam's regime provided some support to other terrorist groups, particularly in the Middle East, U.S. officials told McClatchy. | 03/10/08 19:34:33 By - Warren P. Strobel

8 U.S. troops, 14 Iraqis die in wave of insurgent bombings

Bombers struck four times in Baghdad and at three locations north of the capital Monday with explosions aimed at an array of targets: a U.S. military foot patrol, a hotel in the typically safe Kurdish region, a police station, and civilians near a hospital and a mosque, authorities and witnesses said. | 03/10/08 14:30:00 By - Hannah Allam and Yasseen Taha

Double bombing kills at least 54 in Baghdad

A homemade bomb followed by a suicide bomber ripped through a middle-class Baghdad neighborhood Thursday evening, killing at least 54 people, police said. | 03/06/08 17:32:00 By - Steve Lannen and Nancy A. Youssef

U.S.: Iran reneged on pledge to quit supporting Iraqi militias

The top two U.S. officials in Iraq said this week that Iran was still training Iraqi Shiite Muslim militias, in violation of its promises to Iraqi leaders. | 03/05/08 18:41:00 By - Leila Fadel

An Iraqi pilgrim finds kindness in the 'Triangle of Death'

With thousands of other Shiite Muslims, I walked through the infamous "Triangle of Death" where suicide bombers, presumably Sunni extremists, had attacked fellow pilgrims two days before. | 03/05/08 18:29:00 By - Hussein Kadhim

Ahmadinejad: Foreigners to blame for Iraq's problems

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took another series of swipes at the Bush administration Monday, telling the "foreigners" who'd traveled thousands of miles that it was time to go home so that Iran and Iraq could develop their "brotherly connections." | 03/03/08 18:27:00 By - Leila Fadel

Military worried violence will return as troops leave Iraq

Despite optimistic assessments that the buildup of U.S. troops has turned around the situation in Iraq, some American commanders and the soldiers who report to them fear that continuing to withdraw U.S. troops could create more instability. | 03/03/08 17:19:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

Visit by Iran's president shows depth of Iraq's divisions

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday became the first Iranian head of state to visit Iraq in three decades and immediately became the focus of demonstrations that underscored Iraq's sectarian split. | 03/02/08 17:13:00 By - Leila Fadel

At new U.S. Embassy in Iraq, even kitchens are fire hazards

None of the 26 buildings in the new $740 million U.S. Embassy complex in Baghdad is ready to be occupied. Fire alarms intended to safeguard more than 1,000 U.S. government employees aren't working. Kitchens in some of the buildings are fire hazards. | 02/29/08 18:45:00 By - Warren P. Strobel

Turkey announces Iraq withdrawal; 'Chemical Ali' to be hanged

After months of delay, the Iraqi presidency council on Friday signed off on the execution of Ali Hassan al Majid, a cousin of the late dictator Saddam Hussein better known as "Chemical Ali" for ordering poison gas attacks that killed thousands of Kurds in the 1980s. | 02/29/08 00:56:00 By - Leila Fadel

Iranian Pres. Ahmedinejad's visit to Iraq may upstage U.S.

President Bush's leading nemesis in the Middle East, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, begins a two-day state visit to Iraq on Sunday, attempting to highlight Iran's role as the region's major power and upstage Bush and the U.S. military presence. | 02/28/08 17:38:00 By - Leila Fadel

Nobel laureate estimates wars' cost at more than $3 trillion

When U.S. troops invaded Iraq in March 2003, the Bush administration predicted that the war would be self-financing and that rebuilding the nation would cost less than $2 billion. Five years later, a Nobel laureate estimates that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are costing America more than $3 trillion. | 02/27/08 18:24:00 By - Kevin G. Hall

Iraqi leaders veto law Bush administration hailed as political breakthrough

Iraq's three-man presidency council Wednesday announced that it's vetoed legislation that U.S. officials two weeks ago hailed as significant political progress. Also Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said he hoped that Turkey's incursion into northern Iraq to fight Kurdish rebels would last a "week or two" but "not months." | 02/27/08 18:19:00 By - Steve Lannen

State Dept. orders another review of troubled Baghdad embassy

The State Department's new embassy construction chief has cancelled his predecessor's certification that the $740 million new U.S. embassy in Baghdad is "substantially completed" and begun a top-to-bottom review of the troubled project. | 02/27/08 15:48:00 By - Warren P. Strobel

U.S. voices support as Turkey seeks to 'eliminate' Kurdish rebels

WASHINGTON — As the Iraqi government watched in anguish Monday, Turkey's ambassador to the United States set an ambitious goal for his country's incursion into the northern Kurdistan region of Iraq: "to eliminate" a Kurdish rebel force of at least 4,000 fighters. | 02/25/08 20:09:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef and Steve Lannen

Suicide bomber blast kills 40 Iraqi pilgrims

At least 40 Shiite pilgrims were killed and 60 injured in a suicide bombing south of Baghdad Sunday in what was once known as the Sunni triangle of death. | 02/24/08 16:25:00 By - Leila Fadel and Yasseen Taha

Families: Loved ones abused, forgotten in Kurdish prisons

Many of the imprisoned men in Kurdistan are affiliated with Islamist political parties, and Kurdish officials say they're being held because of possible terrorist links. But their families and human-rights advocates say they think the arrests are part of a crackdown on Islamists by the region's two most powerful political parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. | 02/24/08 06:00:00 By - Leila Fadel

Turkey warned of 'full-scale' Kurd resistance

The president of the Kurdistan regional government ordered Iraqi Kurdistan to prepare for "full-scale resistance" Saturday if a Turkish military incursion expands into populated areas.

Turkish units continued to battle the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, claiming to have killed up to 79 PKK fighters during the ground incursion while suffering seven fatalities in the two-day battle, according to Turkish news reports. | 02/23/08 16:49:00 By - Leila Fadeland Yasseen Taha

Iraqi Kurds ready to confront Turkish troops

Iraqi Kurdish officials on Friday ordered 6,000 Kurdish militiamen to take up new positions in Iraq's Dohuk province as hundreds of Turkish troops crossed the border in what Turkey said was an attack on Kurdish rebels who'd sought shelter there. | 02/22/08 18:42:00 By - Yasseen Taha and Leila Fadel

Radical Iraqi cleric asks militia to stand down for 6 more months

In a statement read in 200 mosques across Iraq, Muqtada al Sadr, the fiery Shiite cleric who's become a recluse as he studies to boost his religious credentials, asked his Mahdi Army militia to continue to stand down for another six months. | 02/22/08 18:24:00 By - Leila Fadel and Qassim Zein

Kurdish troops surround Turks in worst confrontation yet in Iraq

Iraqi Kurdish troops on Thursday encircled Turkish soldiers in northern Iraq and threatened to open fire in the most serious standoff between the two nation's forces since Turkey threatened late last year to go after guerrillas from the Kurdistan Workers Party sheltering in Iraq. | 02/21/08 19:31:00 By - Leila Fadel and Yasseen Taha

Kurdish rebels still control Iraqi mountain redoubts

In the snowcapped Qandeel Mountains of northern Iraq, it's hard to see that the Kurdistan Workers Party — the PKK, as it's known by its Kurdish initials — has been on the U.S. terrorist list since 2002. | 02/21/08 16:26:00 By - Leila Fadel

Baghdad hospital staff feels wronged by suicide bombing charges

A siege mentality has set in among the eight doctors and nearly 20 staff members at the hospital, which treats about 1,200 mental patients and is one of only two institutions of its kind in Iraq. They no longer allow their patients to leave the hospital grounds for fear of how they'll be treated outside. They won't give their names to a reporter for fear that they'll be targeted next. | 02/19/08 19:35:00 By - Steve Lannen and Hussein Khadim

Rocket attack in Baghdad injures 4 U.S. soldiers

For the second day in a row, insurgents fired rockets at U.S. military facilities in Baghdad, causing deaths and injuries. At least four American soldiers were injured when rockets slammed into two American security outposts almost simultaneously. | 02/19/08 19:44:00 By -

McClatchy Baghdad chief wins Polk award for Iraq reporting

Leila Fadel, McClatchy's Baghdad bureau chief, won the George R. Polk Award for outstanding foreign reporting, Long Island University announced Tuesday. The Charlotte Observer, a McClatchy newspaper, won the Polk Award for outstanding economic reporting. | 02/19/08 00:01:00 By -

Kurds impose limits on where Arabs can live in Iraq's north

Iraqis born outside of the Kurdish north must undergo a security check to win a residency permit, which must be renewed every three months. Even a casual visit to a nearby town requires a separate permit. | 02/17/08 06:00:00 By - Leila Fadel

Another female suicide bomber kills 3 in Iraq

A female suicide bomber's detonation rocked an electrical appliance market on Sunday, killing three people and injuring eight, Iraqi police said. Once a rarity, this was the fifth female suicide attack this year and the eighth since November. | 02/17/08 19:31:27 By - Steve Lannen and Hussein Khadim

Militia in 2nd Iraqi province ends cooperation with U.S.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- U.S.-allied fighters in a province south of Baghdad have quit working with American troops after two incidents in which U.S. soldiers killed militia members _ the second province where citizen militias have stopped cooperation with the United States. | 02/16/08 23:28:34 By - Steve Lannen

Iraqis set provincial elections, agree on detainee amnesty

Iraq's parliament, spurred by a threat from its speaker that it would be dissolved, on Wednesday passed a budget and approved two major bills that are considered crucial for national reconciliation. Lawmakers hailed the actions as the first time that rival political blocs had made significant concessions to pass legislation. They came on the last day before a five-week break. | 02/13/08 17:00:00 By - Leila Fadel

U.S. holding Baghdad hospital official in bombings

A Baghdad mental hospital administrator has been arrested on suspicion of supplying mental patients to insurgents for use in suicide bombings, a U.S. military spokesman said Wednesday. | 02/13/08 13:47:00 By - Steve Lannen

Is violence on the rise again in Iraq?

February is certain to be the third month in a row that deaths from explosions will have risen in Baghdad as questions grow about whether security gains from the surge are likely to last. | 02/11/08 10:46:00 By - Steve Lannen

At least 45 die in car bombings, fighting in Iraq as Gates arrives

On a day when the U.S. Secretary of Defense arrived in Iraq to discuss U.S. troop withdrawals and Iraq's halting but real political progress, carnage from car bombs and internal battles around the country claimed at least 45 lives. | 02/10/08 17:54:00 By - Steve Lannen

America's Sunni allies go on strike in Iraq's Diyala province

Members of U.S.-allied citizen brigades, which are credited with helping to tamp down violence in many parts of Iraq, went on strike Friday in Diyala province, alleging that the provincial police chief there is running a death squad. | 02/08/08 17:06:00 By - Steve Lannen

McCain expresses faith in U.S. military might

Less than a year ago, Bush administration plans to increase troops in Iraq had so few supporters that they could be counted on one hand, according to Fred Kagan, co-author of a policy paper that evolved into the strategy. They were, he said, himself, his wife, Gen. David Petraeus, the top military commander in Iraq, President Bush and Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain. | 02/08/08 13:51:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

Ft. Bragg soldiers die in Iraq's Diyala province

Two soldiers from Fort Bragg were killed Tuesday in Diyala Province northeast of Baghdad, bringing to five the number of paratroopers from the base killed in Iraq in less than a week.

Their deaths are part of a new spike in casualties as U.S. forces hunt pockets of extremists north of Baghdad. | 02/08/08 12:37:17 By - Jay Price

Planned troop withdrawals won't bring much relief to U.S. military

Top Defense Department officials testified Wednesday that the Bush administration's plan to withdraw some 20,000 U.S. troops from Iraq this summer will do little to relieve the stress on the Army and Marine Corps. | 02/06/08 19:15:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

Work begins at Iraqi shrine bombed in '06

The Iraqi government announced Wednesday that it's taken initial steps to rebuild the famed Golden Dome shrine in Samarra, whose destruction two years ago helped unleash sectarian warfare between Iraq's Sunni and Shiite Muslims. | 02/06/08 18:41:00 By - Steve Lannen and Mohammed al Dulaimy

Video shows Iraqi children training as terrorists, U.S. claims

A U.S. military spokesman said Wednesday that Iraqi insurgents are increasingly relying on women and teenagers to undertake suicide attacks, and he released two videos that he said showed how insurgents have drawn children into their circle. | 02/06/08 17:10:00 By - Steve Lannen

Iraqi women struggle to survive as violence claims their men

This is one widow's story, but Teeba Jaweed is one of more than a million Iraqi women in the same plight, and like so many others, she has nowhere to turn for help. Sawsan al Barak, an official who deals with women's issues at the Ministry of Human Rights, said that there are at least 1.5 million widows, many of whom lost their husbands to war-related violence. | 02/04/08 06:00:00 By - Leila Fadel

U.S. admits killing 9 Iraqis by mistake

The lack of direct communication between the U.S. military and its militia allies may have contributed to an American helicopter attack Saturday that killed at least nine Iraqi civilians in the worst incident of mistaken fire in at least two months. | 02/04/08 11:37:00 By - Steve Lannen