Saddam Hussein’s regime killed Sabbar Uwaid’s wife and 10 other members of his family. But the aging tribal sheik says one of the greatest tragedies of his life was witnessing the destruction of the lush marshlands that had sustained his people for thousands of years.
For more than a decade, Hussein systematically drained the vast wetlands of southern Iraq in a bid to crush rebels who hid among the reeds. His forces bombed their villages and arrested and killed their families.
By the time U.S.-led forces invaded in 2003, barely 400 square miles remained of the marshes that once extended nearly 8,000 square miles across an area straddling the Iraq-Iran border. Uwaid’s tribe had depended on those marshes for centuries to graze buffalo, to fish and to grow rice. Without them, they were forced to uproot themselves.
Thousands of the region’s Marsh Arabs fled to refugee camps in Iran. Uwaid moved with about 300 other families to the sandy outskirts of the southern holy city of Najaf, where their dome-shaped reed homes and herds of buffalo make an incongruous sight.
“Here, we feel as if we are living outside Iraq,” Uwaid said. “We are used to the life of the marshes.... We still feel nostalgic for that life and we wish to return to it.”
Now the nightmare is repeating itself, Uwaid said. The people have been told that the land they are occupying sits atop an archaeological site and they will have to move. Southern Iraq is full of buried treasures, many of them dating to the dawn of civilization. But heritage officials are fighting a losing battle against antiquities smugglers and thieves (read more here).
Uwaid says his people would like nothing more than to return to the lush land at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which many scholars regard as the inspiration for the biblical Garden of Eden.
After Hussein was toppled, the Iraqi authorities began tearing down the dams that had diverted water from the wetlands, allowing parts to flood again. Some Marsh Arabs have returned to their old way of life, but Uwaid hesitates.
“It is not easy for us to return to our old place,” he said. “Land mines are planted there. The water is not covering most of the area yet. Nor are there rehabilitation projects yet to make the area suitable to be lived in.”
— Saad Fakhrildeen in Najaf
Photo: Marsh Arabs water herds of buffalo on the sandy outskirts of the southern holy city of Najaf. Credit: Saad Fakhrildeen / Los Angeles Times
By Usama Redha in Baghdad
For many months, I heard that the Ministry of Electricity was planning to ration power in Baghdad by giving each family 10 amperes of electricity, or a bit more depending on how many people lived in a house. The idea was to attach a circuit breaker at the top of the electricity poles so people could not mess with their allotted share of amperes and there would be more to go around.
Finally, the electricity workers came to my neighborhood and began installing the breaker boxes. I was granted 16 amps, because I lived with my parents. I asked the engineer, who wore a blue uniform and carried a notebook, what would happen if we went over our 16-amp limit and the circuit breaker shut off our power. How would we reach the box to flip the switch back on?
He told me in such cases, you must visit the local maintenance unit and ask for someone to come out, climb the pole and fix the problem.
Not long afterward, I was awakened early in the morning by the sounds of many voices on the street outside. I dressed quickly and opened the door to take a look. I laughed at what I saw. My neighbor, Haider, had brought a long stick with a hook at one end and he was trying to reach the circuit breaker at the top of the power pole.
His power had cut off because he had forgotten to turn off his electric water heater and had used more than his share of amps. The stick wasn't long enough, so he found another one and somehow taped it to the first one. People had gathered round to watch and were encouraging him.
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The Defense Department has announced the deaths of two soldiers in Afghanistan and three soldiers in Iraq. At least 500 American military personnel have died in the Afghan war and at least 4,075 in the Iraq war.
Pfc. Ara T. Deysie, 18, of Parker, Ariz., died Friday in Paktia Province, Afghanistan, of wounds caused by a rocket-propelled grenade. He was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Ft. Campbell, Ky.
Sgt. Isaac Palomarez, 26, of Loveland, Colo., died Friday in Kapisa Province, Afghanistan, after his patrol was attacked with a roadside bomb, gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Ft. Campbell, Ky.
Pfc. Aaron J. Ward, 19, of San Jacinto, Calif., died Tuesday in Anbar province, Iraq, of gunshot wounds suffered during cordon and search operations. He was assigned to the 170th Military Police Company, 504th Military Police Battalion, 42nd Military Police Brigade, Ft. Lewis, Wash.
Spc. Alex D. Gonzalez, 21, of Mission, Texas, died Tuesday in Mosul, Iraq, after his vehicle was attacked with gunfire and a rocket-propelled grenade. He was assigned to the 43rd Combat Engineer Company, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Ft. Hood, Texas.
Spc. Mary J. Jaenichen, 20, of Temecula, Calif., died Friday in Iskandariya, Iraq, of an injury unrelated to combat. She was assigned to the Brigade Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Ft. Stewart, Ga.
Government officials had been talking about it for months. But when the offensive finally began Saturday to clear the northern city of Mosul of insurgents, residents were caught off guard.
Authorities imposed an indefinite curfew as they went house to house, searching for weapons and fighters.
"My main concern is that I did not buy any groceries since Thursday," said Safa Ahmed, a mother of four. "I don't know what to feed my children until the end of the operations."
Musleh Abdul-Baqi, a high school teacher, was worried about his students, who are supposed to start their final exams soon.
"I think the timing of the military operation is not right," he said. But he added, "The operation is a must because the situation in the city has become intolerable."
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 Sarwa Abdul Wahab was many things: a lawyer, a journalist, a daughter, a dreamer. Last week, she became a victim, another in the long list of media workers murdered in Iraq by extremists who target journalists for exposing the violence, corruption and human rights violations taking place in much of the country.
Wahab, who was 35, was in a taxi with her mother on the morning of May 4 when gunmen forced the car to stop. It appeared to be a kidnapping attempt. Wahab resisted and was shot to death in front of her mother, whom she was taking to a hospital to visit an ailing relative.
The killing occurred in the northern city of Mosul, which Iraq and U.S. officials say is the last holdout of Sunni Muslim insurgents loyal to Al Qaeda in Iraq. She wasn't the first journalist to die in Iraq, and sadly, she probably will not be the last. Many of the reporters, editors, and television anchors slain since the war began five years ago have been women, a reminder of the extra risks female journalists face in a country where rising religious conservatism creates hurdles for professional women.
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For months, Staff Sgt. Luis Falcon patrolled the downtrodden neighborhoods of Baqubah, where Sunni Muslim extremists had tried to create an Islamic caliphate. One day, he came upon a young girl sitting in an old, oversize wheelchair, blood crusting on the stumps where her legs had been.
Her name was Shahad Abbas Aziz, and on Friday, she sat patiently in a clinic in Baghdad's Green Zone while doctors measured what remains of her legs. Later, they would make prosthetic limbs to replace the ones blown off seven months ago by a bomb.
As she perched on the edge of the examination table, wearing a denim jumper and lime-green earrings, Falcon stood behind her and related the extraordinary events that brought them to this point and that have changed both of their lives.
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A lone horned sheep stood still behind the chain-link fence surrounding Shaab Stadium, staring at the vehicles and people going in and out, perhaps fearing he would lose his grazing grounds.
The people setting up the displaced camp in the stadium today didn't seem in any rush, despite the fact that some media outlets had announced that the government was advising Sadr City residents to evacuate their homes in anticipation of a security crackdown against the Mahdi Army militia there.
Twenty-five tents had been set up so far in the middle of the grass field. More tents were strewn on the ground, ready to be erected.
Iraqi Army Col. Abdul-Ameer Rasan Saqr, the man in charge of the operation, said the plan was to be ready for an influx of about 10,000 people in the coming days.
"We are coordinating this effort between various government institutions, including the Ministries of Health, Human Rights and Trade," said the colonel from behind his desk, a poster of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr's father on the wall behind him.
Saqr, who was meeting with the local municipal chief, Abdul-Jabaar Jezairi, was somewhat reluctant to talk to the media. He accused the press of misreporting the government's intentions in Sadr City. "Nobody ordered that Sadr City residents evacuate their homes and come here," he said. "We're just preparing in the event that an unforeseen refugee crisis arises due to the current security operations."
Only Sadr City residents are allowed at this camp, which has made for some awkward moments.
Several families from other areas arrived Thursday but were turned away. "There was also this crazy guy who drove in with his girlfriend and wanted to stay with her overnight. We had to kick them out. He just wanted to have a free honeymoon," Saqr said, laughing.
Sadr City residents have to get accreditation from one of their local police stations to qualify to stay in the stadium.
"I don't know when or if they will start coming. And when or if they do, I don't know how long they will stay. Sixty days, months? I'm just doing what I have been ordered to do," Saqr said.
Outside, none of the workers seemed to be setting up tents anymore. Soldiers stood around chatting or smoking cigarettes while the lone sheep grazed peacefully, ignorant of the fact that not only could it lose its grazing area, it could end up as dinner for several people in the event there was an influx of displaced from Sadr City.
-- Said Rifai in Baghdad
 The number of soldiers forced to remain in the Army involuntarily under the military's controversial "stop-loss" program has risen sharply since the Pentagon extended combat tours last year, officials said Thursday.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates was briefed about the program by Army officials who said that thousands of new stop-loss orders were issued to keep soldiers from leaving the service after Gates ordered combat tours extended from 12 to 15 months last spring.
The Army has resorted to involuntary extensions of soldiers' enlistment terms to prevent them from leaving immediately before a combat tour or in the middle of a deployment.
Army officials have argued that the policy is necessary to ensure that they are not forced to send inadequately trained soldiers and unprepared units into war.
However, many soldiers subjected to the stop-loss policy consider it a "backdoor draft." Critics argue that once soldiers have completed the enlistment period they agreed to, they should be allowed to return home. The involuntary retention program is so unpopular that it helped inspire a recent movie called "Stop-Loss."
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-- Julian E. Barnes in Washington, D.C.
Will the real Abu Hamza al-Muhajir please stand up? No, not the one detained Thursday near the northern city of Mosul who convinced Iraqi officials that Abu Hamza al-Muhajir is his name. It's another Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, who heads the Sunni Muslim insurgent group Al Qaeda in Iraq, who U.S. and Iraqi officials want. 
For a few hours late Thursday and early today, it seemed the Al Qaeda in Iraq chief might actually be in custody. The Defense Ministry spokesman, Mohammed Askari, was convinced enough that he announced al-Muhajir's arrest and said he had been assured by security officials in the Mosul region that they had their man.
But U.S. military officials, who would be thrilled to announce such a catch, insisted they could not confirm the arrest.
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There was something interesting missing from Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner's introductory remarks to journalists at his regular news briefing in Baghdad on Wednesday: the word "Iran," or any form of it. It was especially striking as Bergner, the U.S. military spokesman here, announced the extraordinary list of weapons and munitions that have been uncovered in recent weeks since fighting erupted between Iraqi and U.S. security forces and Shiite militiamen.
 Among other things, Bergner cited 20,000 "items of ammunition, explosives and weapons" reported by Iraqi forces in the central city of Karbala; an additional Karbala cache containing 570 explosive devices, nine mortars, four anti-aircraft missiles, and 45 RPGs; and in the southern city of Basra alone, 39 mortar tubes, 1,800 mortars and artillery rounds, 600 rockets, and 387 roadside bombs. Read his remarks here.
Not once did Bergner point the finger at Iran for any of these weapons and munitions, which is a striking change from just a couple of weeks ago when U.S. military officials here and at the Pentagon were saying that caches found in Basra in particular had revealed Iranian-made arms manufactured as recently as this year. They say the majority of rockets being fired at U.S. bases, including Baghdad's Green Zone, are launched by militiamen receiving training, arms and other aid from Iran.
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When is a militia not a militia?
When it's a gang of criminal thugs, according to the U.S. military, which has tied itself into a verbal knot as it takes on the Mahdi Army of Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr while trying not to lose whatever relationship it may have left with Sadr himself.
The United States' language toward Sadr and his Mahdi Army has undergone a radical change since last year when, at news conferences and in interviews, U.S. military and political leaders freely referred to it by its Arabic acronym, JAM. Splinter groups were known as Rogue JAM. When Sadr last August called on JAM to cease armed activities, ostensibly so he could sort out the Rogue JAM from the real JAM, some began referring to his truce-abiding fighters as Frozen JAM.
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 The third of the five extra brigades sent to Iraq in early 2007 to quell violence is on its way home, more than a year after deploying in an insurgent stronghold southeast of Baghdad. The 3,500 troops from the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division are returning to their base in Fort Benning, Ga., leaving just two of the extra brigades left on the ground here, the military announced this week.
By the end of July, all five of the brigades are due to be gone, which will leave roughly 130,000 U.S. forces on the ground in Iraq. Military commanders say withdrawals should be paused for about 45 days after July to see how well Iraqi security forces and remaining U.S. troops are able to hold onto the security gains made since those first additional troops arrived here in February 2007.
So far, the prospects for lasting calm — calm in the Iraqi sense, that is — appear uncertain. Several months of relative quiet in most of the areas blanketed by the so-called "surge" troops, as the military has dubbed the extra brigades, appear to be ending. U.S. troop deaths have risen from 29 in February to 39 in March and 52 in April. So far this month, at least six American troops have died.
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She was singing in a low voice while sewing a frock for her little girl, Tavga Ahmed, who stood quietly at her side. Home for the girl and her mother, Owaz Jamal, is a tent, one of about 200 erected in a remote mountainous area of Iraq near the Iranian border.
This tent city was hastily established after the latest round of air strikes from Turkish forces sent residents of Rezga, about 35 miles away, fleeing for safety. Most left everything behind — their livestock, their clothes, sometimes even their money. It is a life many have become accustomed to as the tensions between Kurdish separatists operating from bases in the mountains lead to clashes with Turkish troops.
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The consequences of September's shootings of civilians in Baghdad's Nisoor Square by gunmen employed by Blackwater Worldwide in continue to unfold.
The contractor's gunmen allegedly killed 17 Iraqis in a confusing shoot-out.
As a piece on the front page of today's Los Angeles Times explains, the case underscores the sharp differences between the Iraqi and American approaches to justice: U.S. officials painstakingly examine evidence and laws while attempting to satisfy victims' claims through cash compensation. But traditional Arab society values honor and decorum above all. If a man kills or badly injures someone in an accident, both families convene a tribal summit. The perpetrator admits responsibility, commiserates with the victim, pays medical expenses and other compensation, all over glasses of tea in a tribal tent.
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For nearly three decades, one of Iraq’s most powerful Shiite Muslim families and Washington’s closest partner in the Iraqi government has maintained strong ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran.
 Abdelaziz Hakim, leader of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, or SIIC, and a relatively moderate Shiite leader who is a key player in his country, plays a tricky balancing act, maintaining cordial ties with both the U.S. and Iran at a time of unprecedented international tension between the two longtime rivals.
The troubles came to a boil this weekend as the Iraqi government dispatched a team to Tehran to discuss U.S. allegations that Iran is smuggling weapons to Iraqi militants.
One of Hakim’s sons, Mohsen Hakim, oversees his party’s downtown Tehran office. Over tea and fruit Saturday, the younger Hakim, 34, spoke for half an hour with the Los Angeles Times in an illuminating interview about the troubled relations among Iran, Iraq and the U.S. and how they roil the entire region, from Afghanistan to Lebanon.
"The Iraqi security issue is not separated from other issues in the Middle East," he said. "On the whole, security in the region is not divisible. If there is no security in Iraq , there is no security anywhere in the region. We look at the security of Iraq as a organic security package for the whole region."
The whole interview is transcribed below.
LOS ANGELES TIMES: What is SIIC’s attitude toward the accusations of increased Iranian involvement in violence in Iraq? MOHSEN HAKIM: In fact, SIIC as a member of Iraqi government shares whatever the government of [Prime Minister Nouri] Maliki says in that regard. Because the government is in charge of securing security and stability in Iraq.
LAT: But some officials in the Iraqi government claim that Iran is involved in Iraqi violence. HAKIM: Firstly, so far there is no official declaration about that from the Iraqi government. Secondly, the many problems between Iran and Iraq and between Iran and U.S. should be settled through consultation and negotiations. Nothing can be solved by openly and publicly accusing each other of interference.
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Setting up traffic cones shouldn't be difficult, but setting up traffic cones on a street in Baghdad that is notorious for snipers and roadside bombs presents a new set of challenges, as Army 1st Lt. Matt Vigeant discovered recently.
Vigeant was gracious enough to let me tag along as he and some of his men from the 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment went about the task a few days ago on Route Pluto, a major street that runs near the edge of Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood. The goal was to slow traffic down and watch for suspected militia members who were expected to be attending a funeral in nearby Sadr City.
Vigeant is only 25, but the Nashua, NH native appeared far older as he took command of what clearly was going to be an infuriating mission. To begin with, he didn't have enough traffic cones to position in a horizontal line across the street. Most drivers, seeing just two orange cones in the road in front of them, thought they were supposed to drive between them rather than around them.
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The Defense Department on Thursday identified a Marine and two soldiers killed in Iraq. At least 4,065 Americans have died in the war.
Marine Sgt. Merlin German, 22 of New York, N.Y., died April 11 at Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas, from wounds suffered in combat in Iraq’s Anbar province, Iraq, on Feb. 22, 2005. He was assigned to the 5th Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif., He was medically retired Sept. 28, 2007.
Army Staff Sgt. Bryan E. Bolander, 26, of Bakersfield, Calif., died Tuesday in Baghdad from wounds caused by a roadside bomb. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Ft. Campbell, Ky.
Army Staff Sgt. Clay A. Craig, 22, of Mesquite, Texas, died Tuesday in Baghdad from gunshot wounds suffered in combat. He was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 75th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Ft. Campbell, Ky.
By Saif Rasheed in Baghdad
Iraq and the United States accuse Iran of sending arms to Iraqi militants and offering them training, but there's one thing Iran is exporting that few can complain about: Barfab air coolers.
I recently spent two consecutive mornings wandering along Karada Out, the famous electronics market street in Baghdad, looking for some of these air coolers. It wasn't easy, because there are a lot of companies making knock-offs of the real thing.
Finally, I found a shop with the genuine item and bought three for my house at $175 each.
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 The four U.S. soldiers who died in a series of roadside bombings Wednesday lifted the number of American service members killed in April to a seven-month high of 50.
Civilian deaths reported by the Iraqi government also reached the highest levels in months as Baghdad experienced intense clashes triggered by an Iraqi government crackdown against Shiite Muslim militias.
U.S. commanders say Sunni Arab militants are also attempting to reassert themselves by staging suicide bombings and other high-profile attacks in parts of the country where they have come under pressure since last year.
The jump in deaths raises questions about whether U.S. and Iraqi forces can consolidate last year's security gains as most of the additional 28,500 American troops deployed to the country return home.
"We have said all along this will be a tough fight," said Army Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner, a U.S. military spokesman. "There will be periods where we see the extremists, these criminal groups and Al Qaeda terrorists, seek to reassert themselves and reignite violence for their own purposes."
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— Alexandra Zavis in Baghdad
The Defense Department on Wednesday announced the deaths of several soldiers and an airman. At least 4,063 American military personnel have died in Iraq and at least 496 in Afghanistan, according to the independent website icasualties.org.
Pfc. Adam L. Marion, 26, of Mount Airy, N.C., died Monday when his Baghdad base was attacked with indirect fire. He was assigned to the 171st Engineer Company, North Carolina Army National Guard, Saint Pauls, N.C.
Sgt. Marcus C. Mathes, 26, of Zephyrhills, Fla., died Monday when his Baghdad base was attacked with indirect fire. He was assigned to the 94th Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), located at Fort Polk, La.
Sgt. Mark A. Stone, 22, of Buchanan Dam, Texas died Monday when his Baghdad base was attacked with indirect fire. He was assigned to the 94th Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), located at Fort Polk, La.
Pfc. William T. Dix, 32, of Culver City, Calif., died Sunday at Camp Buehring, Kuwait, of non-combat injuries. He was assigned to the 14th Engineer Battalion, 555th Engineer Brigade, I Corps, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Sgt. 1st Class David L. McDowell, 30, of Ramona, Calif., died Tuesday in Bastion, Afghanistan, of gunshot wounds. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Senior Airman Jonathan A. V. Yelner, 24, of Lafayette, Calif., died Tuesday near Bagram, Afghanistan, of roadside bomb wounds. He was assigned to the 28th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D.
Najaf is best known for its holy Shiite shrines and lately for the fear and intrigue that have taken hold among its religious leaders as different factions compete for power and influence over Iraq's Shiite south. But this week, it has become the center of a different kind of competition: among girls and young women vying for athletic awards from the minister of education.
The eight-day competition began April 26 and has brought teams from 11 southern and central provinces to compete in volleyball and soccer. Suaad Saqab Kamil, who oversees women's sports in the Ministry of Education, said it's the first time the competition has been held since the start of the war five years ago.
Kamil admitted the teams are not up to the standards one might hope, but she hopes with training and support, that will change. The best surprise, she said, has been the encouragement of fans, who participants feared might create problems given this city's religiously conservative nature. As we wrote recently, women's sports face huge obstacles in Iraq, due to insecurity, inadequate financial support and the growing influence of hard-line Shiite Muslims.
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If the medium is the message, as the Canadian scholar Marshall McLuhan put it, the Iranians couldn't possibly mistake the recent communications by the United States.
On Tuesday, President Bush told reporters that the Israeli bombing of an alleged North Korean-designed nuclear facility in Syria was not just directed against Pyongyang and Damascus, but was also a not-so-subtle telegram to Tehran.
Answering a question about the sudden resurfacing of the Sept. 16 attack on the Syrian facility, Bush strongly suggested that the United States and Israel had Iran in mind when Syria was bombed:
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For a few precious hours, Iraq's shuttered National Museum threw open its doors to journalists this week to celebrate the return of more than 700 looted antiquities, seized over the years by Syrian customs officials.
Clay cones inscribed with cuneiform script, one of the earliest forms of writing, ancient statues, golden necklaces and daggers were on display for the cameras. Museum officials showed off the serial numbers identifying items as part of their collection.
For now, the museum remains closed to the public. Once the journalists had gone Sunday, museum staff began boxing up the items, which will be kept under lock and key until security improves in Baghdad.
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Army Spc. David P. McCormick, 26, of Fresno, Texas, died Monday in Baghdad of wounds suffered when his base came under rocket attack, the Defense Department announced Tuesday. The soldier was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 75th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Ft. Campbell, Ky.
At least 4,058 American troops have died since the war began in March 2003.
When a roadside bomb shattered the rear windows of Mohammed Adhami's Chevy Lumina minivan, he faced a dilemma few outside Baghdad could imagine: Should he spend hundreds of dollars to replace the windows, or should he use his money to fix the car's air conditioner before the unbearable summer heat arrives?
Adhami opted for the A/C, and on a recent spring day, with the temperature already hitting 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 Celsius), he was one of scores of customers at White Palace in downtown Baghdad, an air-conditioning shop for vehicles that becomes one of the busiest spots in the capital as the temperature begins to rise. Transparent nylon could replace the windows, he reasoned, but there's no substitute for good air conditioning.
Welcome to summer in Baghdad, where daytime temperatures can top 120 degrees F (49 C), and where having a car without A/C is not only unthinkable but dangerous. Between the heat, the dust and the dry air, staying cool in the summer is a daily struggle — one that can mean the difference between life and death. It's so bad that many Iraqis, like Abu Ahmed, who don't get enough electricity at home to run an air conditioner, use their cars as safe havens from the horrible heat.
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 Abu Abed isn't your typical knight. As we wrote back in December, he is suspected of being a former Sunni Muslim insurgent, and his past is shady at best. But Abu Abed now is working alongside U.S. forces as head of a paramilitary force known as the Knights in the Land of the Two Rivers, a role that nearly cost him his life Saturday.
Two of Abu Abed's guards were killed and he suffered shrapnel wounds in the head, eye, back and other parts of the body when a bomb went off outside a building where Abu Abed had been summoned for a meeting with local leaders.
Abu Abed described the dramatic event in a phone call Sunday.
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On Friday chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael G. Mullen delivered stern words against Iran, accusing it of continuing to supply weapons and training to Iraqi militants to target American troops despite promises not to do so.
Mullen's words carry weight. He's uniformed military, not some beltway ideologue.
Still, many in the U.S. and the world feel burned by the Bush administration's pre-war claims about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and support for Al Qaeda that turned out to be false.
Others believe the allegations that Iran is messing up U.S. plans in Iraq.
What do you think? Vote in the poll below.
—Borzou Daragahi in Beirut
Photo: An Iranian soldier wears a gas mask during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
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 A pot of coffee brews inside the one-story home on Seth Dvorin Lane, as the father of a dead American soldier salutes his son's picture and sets out to keep his memory alive another day.
His weathered home sits on a street named after Army 2nd Lt. Seth Dvorin, 24, killed by a roadside bomb near Iskandariyah, Iraq, on Feb. 3, 2004.
Seth liked playing basketball, traveling to places like Europe and Israel, flying remote-controlled helicopters and driving Mustang cars, says his father, Richard Dvorin, a refrigerator of a man, before he breaks into tears for the fifth time this afternoon.
Dvorin, 65, knows his son's story sounds like one you've heard before. He knows you probably don't care to read about another dead soldier.
He wants you to pay attention anyway.
Click here to read the rest.
—Erika Hayasaki in East Brunswick, N.J.
Photo: Richard Dvorin, 65, who keeps his son's military medals on display at home, works at a hot line for soldiers and their families, fielding calls about post-traumatic stress, depression, anxiety and death. Credit: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times
 By Said Rifai in Baghdad
I grew up abroad and used to take traveling for granted.
From the day I was born, my family and I traveled several times a year. There were summer and winter vacations to exotic islands in the Far East, European road trips, shopping sprees in Hong Kong and the annual trip back to Iraq to visit with family, getting acquainted with the fatherland so to speak.
I traveled so much that I got sick of it at one point and just wanted to settle down. My wish came into being when my father retired and we moved back to Baghdad in 1993 - finally, a place to call home.
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The barometer of tensions between Iran and the United States went up a notch or even two today as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael G. Mullen accused Iran of stepping up weapons and training to its surrogates in Iraq despite promises to stop doing so.
 Los Angeles Times Pentagon correspondent Julian E. Barnes is following the story from Washington:
...Mullen said there was not a massive infusion of weapons but said over time there had been "a consistent increase" in arms shipments. Speaking at a morning news conference, Mullen said weapons had been intercepted in Iraq that showed evidence of relatively recent manufacture in Iran...
Also today came word of another possible confrontation between U.S. forces and Iranians in the Persian Gulf. According to the Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet, an American contractor fired approaching speedboats that identified themselves as Iranian vessels. Iranians said no such incident took place.
Insiders say Mullen is no warmonger. They say Mullen is not eager to get America's overstretched military embroiled in a war with a country three times bigger than Iraq.
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U.S. forces living on the bases scattered across Baghdad's neighborhoods have grown accustomed to visits from locals looking for help, work or just offering tips on criminal or insurgent activities. But the local who paid a visit earlier this month to troops at a base called Callahan, in northeastern Baghdad, came bearing something nobody had expected: a newborn baby boy.
The unexpected arrival occurred in the midst of recent fighting involving U.S. and Iraqi forces and Shiite militiamen. Many of the troops engaged in the battles live at Callahan, a former shopping mall in a neighborhood near the militia stronghold of Sadr City. The sight of someone leaving a mysterious bundle outside their base at this time of heightened tensions was discomfitting, to say the least.
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 Al Qaeda increasingly faces sharp criticism from once-loyal sympathizers who openly question its ideology and tactics, including attacks that kill innocent Muslims, according to U.S. intelligence officials, counter-terrorism experts and the group's own communications.
A litany of complaints target Osama bin Laden's network and its affiliates for their actions in Iraq and North Africa, emphasis on suicide bombings instead of political action and tepid support for, or outright antagonism toward, militant groups pressing the Palestinian cause.
The criticism apparently has grown serious enough that Al Qaeda's chief strategist, Ayman Zawahiri, felt compelled to solicit online questions. He responded in an audio message released this month. For more than 90 minutes, Bin Laden's second-in-command tried to defuse the anger.
Click here to read more.
—Josh Meyer in Washington
Photo: Ayman Zawahiri, left, Al Qaeda’s chief strategist, seen here with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in 1998, recently responded on tape to questions, many angry. Credit: Mazhar Ali Khan / Courtesy Paladin InVision/WETA
Al Qaeda struggles to show that it still has its fingers on the pulse of the world, even as it hides out in the rocky mountains along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
The latest presumptive audio recording by Al Qaeda's No. 2 seems to suggest that the Islamist organization is striving to stay relevant.
In the extensive two-hour message posted on the Internet Tuesday, Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman Zawahiri, particularly lashed out at the Iranians for their ambitions in Iraq and the Arab region, as well as their attempts to discredit the Sunni Islamist group.
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By Usama Redha in Baghdad
When I feel bad or uneasy, the only thing that relaxes me is to go shopping in my neighborhood bazaar.
The busiest time is about 5 p.m. Lots of people come to buy groceries, glasses of fruit juice and snacks to enjoy as the heat of the day begins to ebb. But the last time I went, the bazaar wasn't nearly as crowded as it should have been. The vendors had piled up their fruit and vegetables in neat rows and were polishing them to make them shine. But few people were buying.
I always look around first to see who has the best stuff. But this time I was stunned by the prices, which are supposed to be cheap this time of the year. Most fruits and vegetables had gone up 30% or 40%. So my search was for the cheapest price, not the best quality.
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Try as it might, the U.S. has apparently failed again to convince its Arab allies in the Persian Gulf to promise to step in with their cash and credibility in support of the fledgling, Shiite-led Iraqi government.
In a visit to Bahrain on Monday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice tried to convince oil-rich Persian Gulf nations to relieve Iraq of billions of dollars of debt, open embassies in the war-torn country and help counter Iran's growing influence.
She walked away empty-handed. Instead, Rice's latest visit to the region has prompted a fresh storm of criticism against U.S. policy in Iraq, which is the subject of a big conference in Kuwait today.
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The relative peace created by the surge in Iraq is a fading memory. Talk of imminent strife dominates the news coming out of Iraq.
Cleric Muqtada Sadr, his forces under seige in Basra and Baghdad, warns of all-out war if the Iraqi government continues its offensive. Here's a translation of an extract from the statement he issued Saturday: I am directing the final warning and talk to the Iraqi government to return to the right pathway, the peaceful way, reject violence towards its people — or they will be like Saddam's government. If the government would not return to the right pathway and rein in the militias that have interfered, we will announce an open war until liberation.
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More than 2,000 Kurdish Sufis gathered Saturday at religious shrines in Barzanchi, a village 37 miles east of Sulaymaniya in Kurdistan. The followers of the mystical Islamic sect practiced their rituals. Worshippers beat drums and chanted Allah (God) as dervishes swallowed swords and then cut themselves with the blades.Others ate light bulbs and swallowed fire.
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The tallest player on the women's national basketball squad is 5 feet, 7 inches. She and her teammates cannot practice in the nation's capital because of poor security. And in northern Kurdistan, where they are now based, they practice outdoors, often in frigid temperatures.
Nonetheless, what they lack in height they make up for in enthusiasm, said Deb Packwood, an American consultant hired to develop the fledgling team, which aims to raise its international profile and someday compete in the Olympics.
Packwood, who played some college basketball at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas, is working on behalf of the Iraqi Basketball Assn. and the National Olympic Committee, which are seeking to revive a sport that has been crippled by war, inadequate financial backing and the growing challenges women face in a nation that is increasingly religiously conservative.
"The people, they don't like the girls to play," said team member Rajwa Abdul Ahad, 28. "They say, 'No . . . it's bad for you.' But I don't care because basketball, it is in my blood."
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—Kimi Yoshino in Sulaymaniya, Iraq
Photo: Girls practice basketball in Kurdistan, northern Iraq. The Iraqi Basketball Assn. is trying to revive the sport, which has been crippled by war, inadequate financial backing and the challenges facing women in a nation that is increasingly religiously conservative. They've hired Deb Packwood, an American consultant to develop a fledgling team, with hopes, someday, of competing in the Olympics. Credit: Asso Ahmed / For the Times
 The office of Iran's representative to the United Nations issued a rare statement Thursday condemning attempts by American officials to depict the Islamic Republic as a spoiler in Iraq.
The letter, dated April 17, was sent to media outlets.
It opens by decrying "the unabated continuation of the use of false pretexts by various senior officials of the United States to make unfounded allegations against the Islamic Republic of Iran with regard to Iraq.
That's a reference to recent congressional appearances by Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, the top U.S. military and political officials in Baghdad, as well as statements by President Bush.
Below is the rest of the letter:
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Iraq isn't known for its fine weather. Summer brings unbearable heat. Winters are cold, windy, and bone dry. And spring? That's the time for dust storms, like the one that blew in Thursday and blanketed much of the country in a thick coat of fine, rust-colored dust.
Flights were canceled, and visibility was nearly zero even for drivers as the wind picked up in the afternoon and the dust grew thicker. From a bridge leading in and out of the Green Zone, it was impossible to see the water of the Tigris River below.
"It looks like Mars outside," said one man in Yousifiya, about 10 miles south of central Baghdad. "I keep expecting to see the Rover picking up a rock with its claw."
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Since the shooting of Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr's senior aide Riyadh Noori last Friday in Najaf, a series of assassination attempts has been launched around southern Iraq against clerics associated with the country's senior Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.
On Tuesday night, an aide to Sistani in Basra, Ali Fadhil, was wounded by gunmen. His driver died later from his injuries. Today, another cleric, Sheikh Ali Khafagi, was wounded near his house in Basra, sources from Sistani's office said.
A third Sistani cleric, Hadeeb Khateeb, escaped an ambush late Tuesday in Numaniya in Wasit province, southeast of Baghdad. The incidents come amid rising Shiite poltiical violence ahead of October local elections. At least five Sistani aides were killed last year as Shiite tensions steadily mounted.
— From the Baghdad bureau
A series of conflicts with insurgent groups along Iran's borders may be impelling Tehran to back its own allies in Iraq in what it regards as a proxy war with the U.S., according to security experts and officials in the U.S., Iran and Iraq.
Dozens of Iranian officials, members of the security forces and insurgents belonging to Kurdish, Arab Iranian and Baluch groups have died in the fighting in recent years. It now appears to be heating up once again after an unusually cold and snowy winter.
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—Borzou Daragahi in Beirut
Photo: A Kurdish rebel from Pejak inspects a crater left behind by an alleged Iranian artillery attack near a mountain encampment in Qandil in northern Iraq on April 13. The group threatened to launch bomb attacks inside Iran. Credit: SHWAN MOHAMMED / AFP
 The Associated Press photographer detained by the U.S. military more than two years ago on suspicion of involvement in insurgent activities is finally set to go free after Iraqi judicial officials ordered him released under terms of a new amnesty law.
Bilal Hussein's fate had been uncertain in recent days as the U.S. military suggested that it was not convinced by the Iraqi committee's ruling. Read more about the history and details of this mysterious case here.
The Iraqi panel had said that an amnesty law passed by the Parliament in February applied to Hussein's case, which had been shrouded in secrecy from the moment he was picked up by U.S. Marines in western Al Anbar province on April 12, 2006.
Late Monday, the U.S. military released a statement with a slightly grudging tone acknowledging that American officials had reviewed the Iraqi panel's decision and accepted its decision that the amnesty law covered Hussein. "We reviewed the circumstances of Hussein's detention and determined that he no longer presents an imperative threat to security," Maj. Gen. Douglas M. Stone, the deputy commander of detainee operations in Iraq, said in the statement.
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Authorities upped the casualty count from a Saturday night explosion in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz to 12 dead and 202 injured. The explosion took place in a Shiite Muslim house of worship during a talk by a controversial cleric. Mohammed Anjivinejad is known for his denunciations of the Wahhabi Islam that drives Sunni extremists, as well as the Bahai faith, a small religion born in Iran during the 19th century that Shiite clerics consider heretical [UPDATE: See note below]. Check out the English-language section of his group's website.
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Prime Minister Nouri Maliki ordered his forces to take the city of Basra back from militias and criminal gangs last month. Some say Maliki has proven his mettle while others called the fight a political battle among rival Shiite parties. The verdict is still out, but Basra has once more showed small signs of life.
The southern port, once known as a liberal redoubt, has liquor vendors back on the streetshawking libations after going underground in recent years amid fears of attack by religious extremists. People, who were afraid to play pop songs, are once more blaring ear candy in the city.
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For years, most of the solemn young couples who sought out Sayid Rafid Husseini were looking for a marriage certificate. Now, the robed cleric says, many who make their way to his office near a revered Shiite Muslim shrine want a divorce.
"I try to convince them not to do it," Husseini says.
But times are hard. Waves of killing and displacement, not to mention sectarian pressures, have ripped families apart. And soaring unemployment is adding unbearable strain, turning what was once an almost unthinkable taboo into an increasingly common reality of Iraqi life.
The number of divorces granted annually by Iraqi courts has doubled since U.S.-led forces invaded in 2003, from 20,649 that year to 41,536 in 2007, according to figures provided by the Supreme Judicial Council, which oversees the nation's courts. But the real number is probably higher.
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— Alexandra Zavis in Baghdad
Photo: Court-appointed social worker Firdos Mohammed tries to persuade a couple not to divorce. Credit: Saad Khalaf
When you ride in a taxi in Baghdad these days, you might be surprised to see that the cabdriver is wearing his seat belt. He may even ask you to buckle up.
For Iraqis, it's a positive sign that laws are being enforced in Baghdad, where violators of the seat belt rule -- in effect for years but rarely, if ever, enforced -- face fines of $25 for going beltless. Traffic rules also prohibit the use of cellular phones while driving, "to reduce accidents and preserve people's lives," as the website of the General Directorate of Traffic Police states. A violation of that rule also carries a $25 fine.
In Baghdad, enforcement of such laws is seen as a means of bringing some calm to this chaotic city. In the Sadr City neighborhood of northeastern Baghdad, we've had masked men roaming around alleyways with machine guns while battling U.S. and Iraqi soldiers. Snipers have been firing at people from rooftops. U.S. helicopters have fired missiles into residential areas
On the western side of the city, people lock up their homes and public markets close by 5 p.m., so everyone can be assured of being inside before dark. Not a day passes in Baghdad without at least one bomb going off or a few unidentified bullet-riddled bodies being discovered.
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