Iraq

World News

Saddam Hussein's Basra Palace Transformed Into Museum

5:15am September 30, 2016

Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraq has lost thousands of antiquities to looters and ISIS fighters. Museum director Qahtan al-Abeed tells Renee Montagne that the new institution signifies progress.

The U.S. Is Sending 600 More Troops To Iraq

4:56pm September 28, 2016

by Merrit Kennedy

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter says the increase, which brings the American total to about 5,000, anticipates a major operation to retake the Islamic State-held city of Mosul.

Charles Mayer, 30, of San Diego survived an IED attack while serving in Iraq in 2010, but has suffered from complications including PTSD.

War Studies Suggest A Concussion Leaves The Brain Vulnerable To PTSD

5:11pm September 26, 2016

by Jon Hamilton

Troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are far more likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder if they have suffered a concussion. The reason may be a change in the brain's fear circuits.

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President Obama addresses U.S. troops during a surprise visit to Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan in 2014.

Patient Diplomacy And A Reluctance To Act: Obama's Mark On Foreign Policy

5:50pm September 20, 2016

by Scott Horsley

President Obama speaks to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. It'll likely be his last time to do so as president.

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U.S. Army soldiers take up a position during a patrol in Baghdad in 2007. The U.S. has been waging war nonstop for 15 years since the Sept. 11 attacks. Despite the protracted conflicts and disappointing results, U.S. involvement in multiple wars appears s

Sept. 11 Legacy: One Endless War Against Many Radical Enemies

4:29pm September 06, 2016

by Greg Myre

The U.S. went to war after Sept. 11 and has now been fighting for 15 years, the longest unbroken period in its history. Despite disappointing results, there's broad consensus it should continue.

World News

Mass Graves In Iraq Thought To Hold Members Of Yazidi Minority Killed By ISIS

8:00am August 31, 2016

The AP documented 72 mass graves across Iraq and Syria attributed to ISIS. Renee Montagne talks to Naomi Kikoler who works with populations at risk of genocide for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

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This image released by the the Mass Graves Directorate of the Kurdish Regional Government shows a human jaw bone exhumed from a mass grave containing Yazidis killed by Islamic State militants in the Sinjar region of northern Iraq in 2015.

World News

Associated Press Report Documents More Than 70 Mass Graves Left By ISIS

5:09pm August 30, 2016

by Camila Domonoske

Using interviews and photos, the wire service has mapped the locations of 72 mass graves in territory once occupied by the Islamic State — including five at the foot of Iraq's Mount Sinjar.

An Iraqi man prays in 2015 for his slain relative, at the site of a mass grave, believed to contain the bodies of Iraqi soldiers killed by Islamic State group militants when they overran Camp Speicher military base, in Tikrit, Iraq.

World News

Iraq Executes 36 Accused Of Slaying More Than A Thousand Iraqi Soldiers

1:46pm August 21, 2016

by Merrit Kennedy

They were accused of carrying out the 2014 ISIS massacre of over a thousand Iraqi troops. The U.N. discouraged fast-tracking the executions, saying torture may have been used to extract confessions.

World News

Former Iraqi Ambassador On Fighting ISIS With U.S.: 'We All Have Short-Termism'

4:42pm August 02, 2016

"We need to get politics aligned with the security threat we all face. ... We're all thinking about our own elections rather than ... the strategic leadership needed," says Lukman Faily.

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A vehicle from the 2012 attack on Norwegian Refugee Council staff in Dadaab, Kenya. Four aid workers were kidnapped by Somali militants.

Health & Safety

Kidnapping Is A Rising Concern For Aid Workers Around The World

4:11pm July 25, 2016

by Malaka Gharib

A court award of half a million dollars to a kidnapped aid worker — and an increase in kidnappings — has spurred humanitarian groups to create better security plans.