Nir Rosen

America lost Iraq as soon as it won the war. A pervasive sense of lawlessness set in immediately following the fall of Saddam's regime from which neither Iraq nor the Americans ever recovered. On the ground, it was apparent from the first month of the occupation that things would be much worse than anybody had imagined. Observing the violence, often caught up in it, listening to sermons in mosques throughout the country, reading the posters on the walls and… more

At some point -- whether sooner or later -- U.S. troops will leave Iraq. I have spent much of the occupation reporting from Baghdad, Kirkuk, Mosul, Fallujah, and elsewhere in the country, and I can tell you that a growing majority of Iraqis would like it to be sooner. As the occupation wears on, more and more Iraqis chafe at its failure to provide stability or even electricity, and they have grown to hate the explosions, gunfire, and constant war,… more

My career as a journalist began in Iraq. My big break was writing a piece for the New Yorker magazine about the Iraqi resistance in Fallujah, so I have remained attached to that city--and I am not the only one.

In July I was in Mogadishu, Somalia. Men there wear T-shirts emblazoned "Fallujah," shops bear the name, too.

In August I was in Pakistan, where magazines are sold dedicated to the heroes and martyrs of the town. In Saudi Arabia, the… more

On May 11th, the day after the United States marines withdrew from the streets of Falluja, about five hundred clerics, tribal leaders, businessmen, and military and police officers gathered in the dusty courtyard in front of the wide stone stairs that lead to the entrance of Rahma Hospital. The hospital is under construction, and during the Americans' siege of the city, which lasted for most of April, it served as a storehouse for weapons, medical and food supplies, and sandbags.… more

After months of intensifying violence, a looming Sunni boycott, and numerous calls for postponement, Iraq's elections took place as scheduled on January 30 and were immediately hailed as a resounding success. A total of 8.5 million Iraqis, under literal threat of decapitation, cast their ballots at some 5,300 polling centers across the country. Turnout reached 58 percent nationally, surpassing 90 percent in certain Shiite- and Kurd-dominated neighborhoods, and bloodshed was relatively minimal, with forty-four Iraqis killed during the… more

There were two days left before election day, and Gen. Rostam Hamid Rahim, guerrilla war hero and a member of Iraqi Kurdistan's regional Parliament since 1992, was determined that every Kurd vote. Known as Mam (Uncle) Rostam, he told me he had joined the Kurdish nationalist militia, or peshmerga ('those who face death'), at age 15, in 1968. In 2003, he led the peshmerga into the northern city of Kirkuk -- the fourth-largest city in Iraq and its most ethnically… more

The days leading up to Afghanistan's October 9 presidential elections had an eerie feel to them. Foreigners working for the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations withdrew to their homes. U.N. agencies issued body armor to their employees and ordered them not to venture outside. All conversations in Kabul centered on whether something dire would happen during the elections. Nobody knew what to expect. By October 8, most streets in Kabul were deserted. Mullah Omar, the former leader of the… more

AL-QAIM, western Iraq -- "This is the wild wild west," says Captain Chris Alfeiri, holding a fly swatter while relaxing in between missions. A 30-year-old native of Boston, Alfeiri is one of about 1,000 soldiers from the 1st Squadron of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR), based in Fort Carson of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and currently stationed in al-Qaim, at the western edge of Anbar province, bordering on Syria.

It is a dusty, arid and lawless region, with large towns… more

"It's not difficult to understand why somebody might pick up an AK 47 against us. Maybe we killed his father in the first Gulf War, maybe in this Gulf War, maybe he's just a dick." -- Sergeant Reginald Abram

AL-QAIM, western Iraq -- Lieutenant-Colonel Gregg Reilly, the SCO, or squadron commander, of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment's Tiger Base in western Iraq, is relaxed and comfortable answering tough questions, but he gets visibly tense for the first time when asked… more

AL-QAIM, Iraq -- In early October, Lieutenant-Colonel Gregg Reilly, the SCO, or squadron commander, of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment's (ACR) Tiger Base in western Iraq decided he had enough "actionable intelligence" to pursue those Iraqis attacking his soldiers every day. "We have the most concrete set of targetable data in Iraq," the SCO says of the operation code named Tiger Strike. "We have built this over many months with multiple sources." He has two organizational charts on his wall.… more