On surprise Iraq visit, Biden urging end to political crisis
By JOSH LEDERMAN Vice President Joe Biden made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Thursday to implore the country’s leaders to resolve a crippling political crisis that has hindered efforts…
Saddam Hussein
Kerry backs Iraqi leader, no planned increase in US troops
By BRADLEY KLAPPER and SUSANNAH GEORGE U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry backed Iraq’s prime minister on Friday in his efforts to resolve a mounting political crisis, underlining the importance…
Iraqi officials: US captured top IS chemical arms engineer
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and SUSANNAH GEORGE U.S. special forces captured the head of the Islamic State group’s unit trying to develop chemical weapons in a raid last month in northern…
Analysis: Echoes of 1991 Gulf War linger on in Mideast
By JON GAMBRELL The 1991 Gulf War saw only 100 hours of ground fighting as U.S. forces entered Kuwait to end the Iraqi occupation but echoes of that conflict have…
George W. Bush: From South Carolina cameo to starring role
By BILL BARROW and SERGIO BUSTOS George W. Bush won a bruising South Carolina presidential primary on his way to the Oval Office, as his father did before him. Now…
Elder Bush criticizes Cheney, Rumsfeld in new biography
By NANCY BENAC In a blistering critique, former President George H.W. Bush says onetime Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld “served the president badly” when George W. Bush was in the White…
After ruinous war, Syria regions may go separate ways
By ZEINA KARAM and DAN PERRY Syria has already been shattered by more than four years of civil war, and with no solution in sight, some players on the ground…
IS top command dominated by ex-officers in Saddam’s army
By HAMZA HENDAWI and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA While attending the Iraqi army’s artillery school nearly 20 years ago, Ali Omran remembers one major well. An Islamic hard-liner, he once chided Omran…