Iraq

The ghost of the 2003 Iraq war has haunted every decision that the United States has made on the Syrian civil war, which this week marked its tenth anniversary.  Iraq’s memory also shaped America’s efforts to defeat ISIS.  

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei is set to lift off aboard the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft on an April 9 mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

If you thought President Joe Biden’s posture toward endless wars was going to be different than his predecessors, last month’s airstrikes against Iranian proxies in Syria suggest otherwise.

After Amir Hekmati was released from Iranian custody in a 2016 deal trumpeted as a diplomatic breakthrough, he was declared eligible for $20 million in compensation from a special U.S. government fund.

The visit aimed to heal a divide in the country between the Islamic majority and Christian minority.

Pope Francis called on Iraq's Christians to forgive the injustices committed against them by Muslim extremists and to rebuild as he visited the wrecked shells of churches and met ecstatic crowds in the community's historic heartland, which was nearly erased by the Islamic State group's horrific reign.

The meeting lasted for 40 minutes, with some concerns over the cleric's safety as he has yet to be vaccinated.

Iraqi security forces view the visit as an opportunity to show the world the improvements to the country.

Six Al Qaeda-linked militants stormed and seized the church, killing dozens inside. At the time, the Oct. 31, 2010 attack was the bloodiest in a drumbeat of violence that Iraq’s Christians suffered during the brutal sectarian warfare following the 2003 U.S. invasion.

Two American warships continued to be out of action in Bahrain on Thursday amid heightened tensions with Iran following a spate of rocket attacks on American troops in Iraq and a U.S. airstrike in Syria late last week.