Vanity Fair Returns to the Red Zone

Even though the election and economic crisis have pushed the Iraq war off the front—or even the first dozen—pages of newspapers, the December 2008 issue of Vanity Fair features an article by Seth Mnookin in which he reports on life inside The New York TimesBaghdad bureau. The story is not yet online, but Read More

Dexter Filkins’ War

In June, The Observer talked to a number of reporters who’d spent time covering the war in Iraq. While some of their anecdotes sketched out what it’s like to be in a dangerous reporting environment—the mortar attacks, the sandstorms, the numbing repetitiveness of a seemingly endless conflict—nothing in that article could prepare readers for Read More

Nuri al-Maliki and the Death of McCain's Iraq Argument

Nuri al-Maliki was once dismissed as a powerless politician with a fleeting grip on his office. Now, though, the Iraqi prime minister is apparently strong enough to change the fundamental terms of the war debate in the U.S. presidential election in a way that dramatically improves Barack Obama’s standing on the issue.

A few weeks Read More

Biden on McCain's 'Lack of Understanding' of Foreign Policy

Here’s Joe Biden on an Obama campaign conference call earlier arguing that John McCain had no idea what he’s talking about when it comes to foreign policy:

"Quite frankly, I’ve known John for over 32 years. I don’t understand anything about John’s policy here. John talks about the central concern is the war on terror Read More

Why Iraq Improvements Aren't Helping John McCain

In theory, John McCain’s poll numbers should be improving right along with the news out of Iraq.

Just a year ago, daily news coverage was dominated by pictures and descriptions of carnage and chaos, and McCain seemed doomed: Even if he won the Republican nomination (which itself seemed a remote possibility last summer), his intimate Read More

Mango! Iraq Apparently 'Starving' For Spanish Clothier

Spain’s skimpy, ubiquitous, mass market clothing chain, Mango, is venturing where no Western retailer has been before–at least since the 2003 war–by opening a branch in Iraq, WWD reported today.

Undaunted by the political instability, sporadic violence, and relatively more modest style of dress that prevails in even the relatively peaceful, liberal Kurdish region Read More

He Could Stand the Heat, Now He’s in the Kitchen

Captain Stefan Barr said the scallops at the Gramercy Tavern could use a little more salt. He’s been back only a few months from his second tour in Iraq. For 10 years, he was one of the few, the proud, or, as he puts it, “the best”—a Marine. Now he lives in Soho.

Read More

House Arrest in Baghdad

To reach Babak Dehghanpisheh, Newsweek‘s Baghdad Bureau Chief, you have to dial an twelve-digit number (that’s minus a series of zeros that you sometimes need to dial first) which rings him on his satellite phone in the house the magazine shares with two other media organizations inside Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone.

Mr. Dehghanpisheh, who’s Read More

60 Months in the Red Zone

“It’s the oft-stated phrase that truth is the first casualty of war,” said Michael Ware, CNN’s Baghdad correspondent, on the telephone from Iraq. “In this war, as in every other conflict, everybody lies to you. Your government is lying to you. The Iraqi government is lying. The insurgents are lying. The militias are lying. The Read More