When the United States invaded Iraq, it did so thinking that it could turn the country into an economic dynamo fueled on oil reserves that are among the largest in the world. “Iraq is open for business,” L. Paul Bremer, the top U.S. administrator in Iraq at the time, said in 2003. But the fighting never really stopped, and the U.S. vision was never really realized. Now, with American troops gone, the question is: What can Iraq build on its own? So far — with the nation’s leaders locked in a political crisis and insurgents launching spectacular attacks — the signs are not good. Read full article > >

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Promise of Iraq’s economy remains unfulfilled

BAGHDAD — A wave of explosions struck two Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 27 people and intensifying fears that insurgents are stepping up attacks after the U.S. troop withdrawal that was completed last month. The attacks began with the explosion of a bomb attached to a motorcycle near a bus stop where day laborers gather to look for work in the Sadr city neighborhood. One of those who witnessed the attack said it filled the area with thick black smoke. Read full article > >

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Wave of bombs strikes Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad, killing 27

Four explosions rock Shia areas of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, killing at least 13 people, officials say.

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Baghdad hit by deadly bomb blasts

BAGHDAD — While U.S. troops left Iraq two weeks ago, Saturday marked the official end of the security agreement between the two countries, and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was quick to take political advantage of the occasion via the podium and a text message to citizens. Recipients reported getting their texts over a period of at least 75 minutes. Read full article > >

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Maliki celebrates end of U.S.-Iraq pact

BAGHDAD — An al-Qaeda front group in Iraq has claimed responsibility for the wave of attacks that ripped through markets, cafes and government buildings in Baghdad on a single day last week, killing 69 people and raising new worries about the country’s path. The coordinated attacks struck a dozen mostly Shiite neighborhoods on Thursday in the first major bloodshed since U.S. troops completed a full withdrawal this month after nearly nine years of war. They also coincided with a government crisis that has again strained ties between Iraq’s Sunnis and Shiites to the breaking point, tearing at the same fault line that nearly pushed Iraq into all-out civil war several years ago. Read full article > >

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Al-Qaeda front group in Iraq claims responsibility for attacks that killed 69 people last week

At least five people are killed in a suicide car bomb attack outside Iraq’s interior ministry in Baghdad.

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Fatal bomb blast at Iraq ministry

BAGHDAD – In a sign that Iraq’s political crisis isn’t letting up, the country’s Higher Judicial Council on Sunday endorsed an arrest warrant that earlier accused the country’s vice president of enlisting his body guards to run a hit squad, according to the country’s state-run television station, Iraqia. Read full article > >

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Judicial panel: Arrest warrant for Iraq’s vice president is justified

BAGHDAD — Asserting control over his embattled country, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Saturday that he would reject efforts by individual provinces to break away as independent states. If the provinces tried to set up their own security policies or establish relations with other countries, Maliki said in a nationally televised speech from his headquarters, “What’s the reason for a having a ruler in Baghdad?” Read full article > >

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Iraq premier Nouri al-Maliki chides restive provinces

Iraqi Vice-President Tarik al-Hashemi says PM Nouri Maliki is to blame for huge attacks in Baghdad, saying he is failing to focus on security.

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‘PM is to blame’ for Iraq crisis

A series of explosions shook Baghdad early Thursday, killing at least 63 a day after Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq threatened to abandon a power-sharing government created a year ago.

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Deadly Explosions Rock Baghdad Amid Political Crisis

A wave of attacks hit the Iraqi capital Baghdad

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In pictures: Baghdad explosions

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Shiite-dominated government accused its Sunni vice president of terrorism on Monday, plunging the country into its deepest political crisis in years only one day after U.S. troops departed. As an arrest warrant was issued for Tariq al-Hashimi, three men said on Iraqi television that they had worked as his bodyguards and had carried out bombings and assassinations, killing as many as a half-dozen people. Read full article > >

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Iraq issues arrest warrant for vice president on terrorism charges

CAMP VIRGINIA, Kuwait — He was a scared and hopeful Iraqi teenager when the Americans invaded in 2003, waiting out the U.S. bombing campaign with his older brother in his family’s home in Baghdad. Nearly nine years later, in the predawn hours of Sunday morning, he rode out of Iraq with the last American military convoy , marking the end of the war as a 27-year-old soldier and U.S. citizen. Read full article > >

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As U.S. leaves Iraq, Iraqi-turned-U.S. soldier bids goodbye to homeland

BAGHDAD — The Iraq war is set to officially end Thursday, with Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta flying into Baghdad to attend a ceremony formally wrapping up the U.S. military’s 8 1 / 2 -year mission in Iraq. The ceremony effectively ends the war two weeks earlier than was necessary under the terms of the security agreement signed by the U.S. and Iraqi governments in 2008, which stipulated that the troops must be gone by Dec. 31. Read full article > >

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Iraq war draws to a quiet close

BAGHDAD — Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki flew to Washington on Sunday for talks with President Obama aimed at cementing a new, postwar era in U.S.-Iraqi relations. The visit kicks off a week in which the administration will trumpet the imminent end of the war, and the fulfillment of Obama’s election pledge to withdraw all U.S. forces from Iraq. With only 6,000 troops left in the country on Sunday — waiting their turn to board planes or drive south — the Iraq war is already effectively over. Read full article > >

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Maliki heads to U.S. for ‘post-war’ consultations