Donate

Politics of Iraq

President George W. Bush declares the end of major combat in Iraq as he speaks aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the California coast. But the war dragged on for many years after that.

Citizen pain: Part II

Critical State

Critical State, a foreign policy newsletter by Inkstick Media, takes a deep dive this week into how the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 not only dismantled the government but destroyed an entire nation, forcing a mass exodus of certain ethnic and religious minorities.

American Village entrance gates on the outskirts of Erbil, Iraq, the Kurdish defacto capital.

Kurds grapple with US troop drawdown in Iraq

Military
Iraqis put up a poster announcing the upcoming visit of Pope Francis and a meeting with a revered Shiite Muslim leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, right, in Najaf, Iraq, March 4, 2021.

Pope Francis’ historic trip to Iraq embraced by many as a welcome boost

Sacred Nation
University students hold banners as they gather during ongoing anti-government protests in Baghdad, Iraq, Feb. 6, 2020. 

Analysis: Iraqi protesters will likely push forward despite violence

Protest
Iraqi men work on the campaign posters of candidates ahead of May's parliamentary election, in Baghdad, Iraq, April 14, 2018.

Young Iraqis have reason to be disillusioned with politics. Instead, many are backing a new generation of leaders.

Global Politics
Displaced Iraqi children at the Amriyat al-Fallujah camp in Anbar Province, Iraq, Jan. 3, 2018.

Iraq accused of forcibly returning displaced civilians from camps to unsafe areas

Conflict

Refugees and aid workers say Iraqi security forces are forcibly returning civilians from refugee camps to unsafe areas in the predominantly Sunni Anbar province, exposing them to death from booby-traps or acts of vigilantism.

Captives suspected of being Islamic State militants are seen southwest of Kirkuk, Iraq.

Nearly a thousand ISIS fighters choose surrender, not martyrdom, in Iraq

Conflict

A New York Times correspondent talked with some of the ISIS recruits whose leaders instructed them to surrender.

President Obama announces complete withdrawal from Iraq by year’s end

In an address to the media, Obama announced that the U.S. war in Iraq was over and all U.S. forces would be home for the holidays. He did not take questions.

Violence returns to Iraq as America plans withdrawal

Insurgents waged 42 coordinated attacks across Iraq, leaving almost 100 civilians and security forces dead, and hundreds injured.

An Iraqi soldier carries a displaced child from Ramadi on the outskirts of Baghdad on May 19, 2015.

As ISIS seeks revenge in Ramadi, a US veteran fears for his Sunni allies there

Conflict

The news that ISIS has taken Ramadi hits home for veterans like Tom Daly. As a Marine, he helped US forces take the capital of Iraq’s Anbar province by building an alliance with Sunni nationalists who are now targets for ISIS fighters.