On August 31, the President will reportedly deliver a major speech on Iraq, framing the withdrawal of all combat troops (despite the continued presence of 50,000 “advise and assist” troops with combat training who can go on combat missions when asked by the Iraqis) as a successful foreign policy triumph. According to a senior White [...]

US troops in Iraq have lowered to 77,500, their lowest number in years. By the end of August, the status of forces agreement negotiated by President Bush calls for the removal of all combat troops, with a residual force of about 50,000 left over until the end of 2011. But as Juan Cole notes, a [...]

I’ve written about the violence in Iraq and the prospects of a chaotic election in March. Some skeptics of the surge strategy have seen this as pre-ordained, regardless of American involvement, which would upend the preferred narrative among the foreign policy establishment that the surge worked. Despite the fact that Iran has always been influential [...]

A federal judge has dropped all charges in the murder case of five Blackwater security guards accused of killing at least 17 civilians in Nissour Square, Iraq, in a massacre that outraged locals and the US military alike. The ruling cites errors by prosecutors in relying on testimony given to State Department investigators after the [...]