Iraq

What's Changed In The Military, And What's Next

3:57pm June 24, 2013

A shrinking Pentagon budget, a changing role for women in combat, and the planned 2014 exit from Afghanistan are just some of the factors that will shape the future of military life. As part of TOTN's "Looking Ahead" series, guests discuss what's ahead for men and women in uniform.

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World News

After A Surge Of Violence, The Threat Of A New Civil War In Iraq

2:10pm June 20, 2013

Since the beginning of April, more than 2,000 people have died in bombings and other attacks in Iraq. NPR foreign correspondent Kelly McEvers, just back from a trip to Baghdad, explains what's behind the recent rise in violence and what's changed since U.S. troops left the country in 2011.

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Anna holds the flag that was draped over Nick's coffin at his memorial service. She and her husband, Michael, have created a shrine to Nick in their dining room.

After A Marine's Suicide, A Family Recalls Missed Red Flags

10:18pm June 19, 2013

by NPR Staff

When Nicholas Rodriguez returned from Afghanistan in 2010, his mother and stepfather had never heard of post-traumatic stress disorder. It was only after Nick killed himself that they learned the warning signs and realized he needed help dealing with his combat experience.

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In 2005, Lance Cpl. Travis Williams lost his squad to an IED. He was the only survivor.

World News

Sole Survivor: Iraq Rescue Mission Ended In Tragedy

3:52pm June 04, 2013

by NPR Staff

In our latest installment of the StoryCorps Military Voices Initiative, we hear from Lance Cpl. Travis Williams. In 2005, while serving in Iraq, Williams lost his 12-man squad lost his squad to an IED. He was the only survivor.

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A Grim Task: Military-Death Notification

2:11pm May 27, 2013

Among the many thousands of men and women who chose to serve in the military, few volunteer for the duty of death notification. As the nation honors those killed in the line of duty, those who work intimately with the families of the fallen share their stories. (Originally broadcast May 29, 2006.)

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World News

Op-Ed: The Iraq War's Lessons For Syria

8:23am April 07, 2013

Washington Post deputy editorial page editor Jackson Diehl says that the Iraq War taught him a lot about how we should deal with the civil war in Syria. In an op-ed he argues that without U.S. intervention, Syria could produce "a much worse humanitarian disaster" than Iraq.

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World News

'Tiny Fraction' Took Advantage During Iraq's Reconstruction

10:55am March 22, 2013

This week, Morning Edition has been marking the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Steve Inskeep talks to Inspector General Stuart Bowen about his audit report on U.S. spending and waste in the reconstruction of Iraq.

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Dunya Mikhail is an Iraqi-American poet who teaches in Michigan. She has published five books in Arabic and two in English.

Books
Arts

Revisiting Iraq Through The Eyes Of An Exiled Poet

9:45am March 22, 2013

by NPR Staff

Dunya Mikhail fled her homeland in the wake of the first Gulf War, after her writing was labeled subversive by Saddam Hussein's government. She has never physically returned to Iraq, but she remembers it in her poetry.

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Residents visit the tomb of a loved one at the New Kerbala cemetery in the holy city of Kerbala, Iraq, in 2007.

World News

Face To Face With Death In Iraq

6:21pm March 21, 2013

Um Abbas has spent decades performing the Muslim ritual of washing the bodies of the dead to prepare them for burial. The war years in Iraq were terrible, she says, but in some ways, confronting death every day helped her cope with the country's trauma.

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Remembering Iraq: How Personal Stories Square With Press

3:31pm March 20, 2013

NPR's Neal Conan talks with Iraq veterans about how the media coverage and the national conversation around the 10th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq resonates with their personal experiences.

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