For most of his 26 years in the military, Maj. Jeff Hackett was a standout Marine. Two tours in Iraq destroyed him. Home from combat, he drank too much, suffered public breakdowns and was hospitalized for panic attacks. In June 2010, he killed himself. Read full article > >

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Marine’s suicide is only start of family’s struggle

The United States in Iraq, population 16,000, is a country within a country. It has a $6 billion budget, its own airline and three hospitals, and imports virtually all of its food. Its central fortress, otherwise known as the Baghdad embassy compound, is nearly as large as Vatican City. Read full article > >

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U.S. evaluating size of Baghdad embassy, officials say

The narrative that the Obama administration has laid out for winding down the war in Afghanistan has a familiar feel: It is intended to evoke the gradual withdrawal from Iraq. But the administration faces a fundamentally different challenge in Afghanistan and a host of problems that it did not have in the latter days of the Iraq war. Read full article > >

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In winding down war, a fundamentally different challenge in Afghanistan than in Iraq

BAGHDAD — The U.S. Embassy here has provided Iraqi officials with only a partial inventory of American-funded reconstruction projects, making it more difficult for Iraqis to manage or maintain them, a U.S. government watchdog reported Sunday. Read full article > >

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Reports faults U.S. inventory of Iraq projects

BAGHDAD – A Sunni-backed political bloc ended its boycott of the Iraq Parliament here Sunday, a boost for Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as he tries to consolidate power in the wake of the U.S. troop departure . Read full article > >

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Sunni-backed political bloc ends boycott of Iraq Parliament

MEXICO CITY — With the Iraq war over and the American presence waning in Afghanistan, U.S. security contractors are looking for new prospects in Mexico, where spreading criminal violence has created a growing demand for battle-ready professionals. Read full article > >

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Security contractors see opportunities, and limits, in Mexico

A series of explosions in Shiite neighborhoods killed nine civilians and wounded dozens more on Tuesday.

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Deadly Explosions Rattle Baghdad

A Marine accused of killing unarmed Iraqi women and children pleaded guilty Monday to dereliction of duty in a deal that will mean a maximum of three months confinement and end the largest and longest-running criminal case against U.S. troops to emerge from the Iraq War.

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Marine Accepts Plea Deal in Iraqi Civilian Deaths

The setting: An election-year State of the Union address before a hostile Congress. Since the last one, the world has changed fundamentally, a war with Iraq has ended, and the nation’s economy is fragile and worrying to a majority of Americans. Read full article > >

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Obama’s State of the Union is crucial balancing act

BAGHDAD — Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is pushing to form a Shiite-controlled government that risks tearing the country apart unless he changes course or is removed from office, a Sunni-backed politician said at a news conference Wednesday. Read full article > >

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Sunni-backed Allawi says Maliki risks splitting Iraq

Before a fourth killing in Orange County, California, an Iraq war veteran who was later arrested warned his homeless father to be careful.

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Suspect in Killings of Homeless Men Has Family Link to Homelessness

BAGHDAD – At least 10 insurgents attacked the western Iraq city of Ramadi on Sunday, setting off six explosions, storming a police station and engaging in a firefight that left at least 21 dead, including eight policemen, government and police officials said. Read full article > >

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Insurgents storm police station in western Iraq; 21 dead

Gunmen wearing explosive belts stormed an anti-terrorism police building in the Iraqi city of Ramadi on Sunday and at least six people died in the attack, police and provincial officials said.

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Militants Storm Building in Iraq’s Ramadi, 6 Dead

Why is it that a loving relationship is more apt to withstand bombs than the dormant aftermath? Playwright Donald Margulies poses this question in the steadily engrossing “Time Stands Still,” a drama at Studio Theatre performed with the polish of a splendidly synchronized string quartet. The four actors at director Susan Fenichell’s keenly realized command — Holly Twyford, Greg McFadden, Dan Illian and Laura C. Harris — apply a completely convincing varnish to the framework of Margulies’s story, set in the exposed-brick Brooklyn apartment of McFadden’s James and Twyford’s Sarah, journalists returning from harrowing stints in Iraq. Read full article > >

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A war photographer struggles back to the ordinary in ‘Time Stands Still’

The families of four US citizens violently killed in Iraq in 2004 settle a long-running lawsuit with Blackwater, the US security firm that hired them.

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Blackwater families settle case