Iraq, Afghanistan
The revised plan calls for complete U.S. troop withdrawal by the end of 2011. Parliament factions who want immediate withdrawal and more U.S. concessions have doubts about the plan.

latimes.com
COLUMN ONE
The Iraqi capital's first commuter train is slow but steady through streets often tied up by checkpoints and bombings. Just beware the crossing cars, stone-throwing youths and meandering cows. >>

Q & A
As Iraq's parliament plans to vote on a deal that would set Dec. 31, 2011, as the end date for U.S. occupation, The Times answers questions about the pact. >>

Editorial
All sides will have to compromise to make the proposal work. >>

November 17, 2008
The long-negotiated security pact is expected to face opposition in parliament by lawmakers who see it as a sellout. Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr has threatened a renewed uprising. >>

Shipments out of Pakistan bound for U.S. and NATO forces have been suspended pending a review of security in the vulnerable Khyber Pass, near where Taliban fighters hijacked several transports. >>

November 16, 2008
Growing up in Santa Ana, San Sim could usually be found with an animal nearby. >>

Marques I. Knight had a tough childhood. As his sister, Summer, recalled, their parents died when they were both young in Alabama. >>

The Defense Department last week identified the following American military personnel killed in Afghanistan and Iraq: >>

A car bomb explodes as people head to the theater in the capital's Karada district. >>

November 5, 2008
Bombs exploded at a bus station and a small market in Baghdad, killing 15 people Tuesday in an increase in bloodshed in the Iraqi capital after a week of relative calm, police and hospital officials said. >>

November 15, 2008
Nouri Maliki had not publicly backed the deal to extend U.S. mandate. His support comes after the U.S. accepts key conditions, among them that troops leave Iraqi cities by next summer. >>

Most of those killed in missile strikes and military helicopter fire are said to be militants. >>

The world's leading source of illegal opiates is Afghanistan, which produces more than 90% of the world's opium, the main ingredient in heroin, earning farmers and traffickers about $4 billion a year. >>

November 14, 2008
An attack on a military convoy killed at least eight bystanders and injured more than 60. Western military officials say Taliban-led militants have deliberately caused hundreds of civilian deaths this >>

Global: Large, dirty brown clouds darkening skies / Iraq: FedEx plane crashes near Baghdad / Somalia: Islamist militants take town outside Mogadishu >>

November 13, 2008
In Baghdad alone, 58 people have been killed by bombs this week, police say. U.S. military officials dispute the casualty figures and say the attacks don't mean insurgents are staging a comeback. >>

November 12, 2008
Rahmatullah Raufi, the governor of Kandahar province where the attack took place, blamed Taliban militants for the violence. >>

November 13, 2008
Sudan: President offers cease-fire in Darfur / United Nations: Saudi king calls terrorism the enemy of all religions / Germany: Anti-terr >>

Six other U.S. troops are wounded after the Iraqi opens fire at a security post in Nineveh province. Accounts of the incident differ. >>

Produced by liberal activists, the 14-page paper handed out across the nation -- including in L.A. and in San Francisco -- also announces that solutions are near on global warming and the economy. >>

November 12, 2008
The Two Imams bridge in Baghdad was the site of a stampede that killed 1,000 Iraqis in 2005, and a link between formerly warring Sunni and Shiite districts, now rejoined. >>

November 11, 2008
The Sons of Iraq are now employed by the Iraqi army. Ruling Shiites still view the fighters with suspicion, and the feeling is mutual. In Baghdad, a bombing kills 31. >>

Karzai says the deaths of 14 men guarding a road construction project were unnecessary. But the Afghan Interior Ministry and the U.S. military say the men fired at coalition forces. >>

Mike Needham Sr., 54, is accused of making criminal threats and battery after an alleged courthouse altercation with a friend of the woman his son is accused of killing. >>

November 10, 2008
ON CALIFORNIA: ESSAYS FROM THE GOLDEN STATE
'The Crosses of Lafayette,' planted on an East Bay hillside for U.S. war dead, evoke gratitude, fury and resignation. >>

Once the mightiest of Shiite militias, the Mahdi Army finds itself on the run as rivals benefit from government ties and U.S. backing. Efforts to reorganize into a socio-religious group may not help. >>

DISPATCH FROM BAGHDAD
People always ask what it's like -- but unless you live here, with the chaos and the checkpoints and soldiers and fear, it's hard to explain. >>

Mellissa Fung, with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., says she was blindfolded for 4 weeks. She was kidnapped from a refugee camp in Kabul that had been considered safe to visit. >>

At least two blasts targeting a row of busy cafes and businesses in a Shiite section of northeastern Baghdad early Monday killed at least 28 people, police said. >>

November 9, 2008
Christians and three other religious minorities are to get a total of six seats on three councils, half the 12 seats proposed by the U.N. >>

The response to Afghan officials' claims is unusually swift. But the military stops short of taking direct blame for the casualties. >>

Can he end the war without risking new Mideast violence? Will Iraq be ready to stand on its own? >>

TELEVISION
'The Unit': Jonas (Dennis Haysbert) leads his team to Iraq in a desperate search to find his missing daughter; 10 p.m., CBS. >>

The Defense Department last week identified the following American military personnel killed in Afghanistan and Iraq: >>

November 8, 2008
An American firm, a British company and the Iraqi government are partners in the $10-million project. They hope to lure investors and corporations to the war-ravaged country. >>

The missile attack, apparently by a U.S. drone, hit the home of a Taliban leader, local officials say. >>

November 7, 2008
A U.S. military report identifies two officials suspected of being involved in the July attack that killed 9 U.S. soldiers and wounded 27. >>

Iraq also wants the right to prosecute U.S. soldiers who commit grave crimes outside their bases and warns that efforts for a pact on the U.S. troop presence risk collapse. >>

November 6, 2008
There is little conclusive data, but informal surveys show growing numbers willing to switch to the Democratic side. >>

November 5, 2008
Reports from Kandahar province say about three dozen people were killed. President Hamid Karzai appeals to Barack Obama to end civilian deaths. >>

November 6, 2008
Reports from Kandahar province say about three dozen people were killed. President Hamid Karzai appeals to President-elect Barack Obama to end civilian casualties. >>

November 5, 2008
As Western military commanders struggle to find a winning strategy, the Taliban makes gains and ordinary Afghans feel less secure. >>

The voting could determine the state of the country U.S. troops will leave behind, one of the biggest foreign policy challenges facing the new administration. >>

Middle East: Israeli airstrike hits Gaza Strip / Russia: Police hold 500 nationalists >>

The 186 men and women from 60 countries are sworn in on election day. But they will have to wait until next time to vote. >>

November 4, 2008
Six seats are reserved in three provinces for Christians and others, provoking an outcry from Christians, who had sought more seats. Bombings in Baghdad kill seven. >>

November 3, 2008
Pakistan: Afghan finance official's brother is kidnapped / Mexico: 11 police officers killed / Iran: Official accused of bribery is dismissed / Congo: U.N. to send aid convoy / Zambia: Banda sworn in >>

Marines and sailors are headed to Anbar province, but first, the pain of leaving family -- again. >>

November 2, 2008
Many Iraqis have strong opinions about the candidates (if unconventional methods of political analysis). But few think the next U.S. president will bring much change to their lives. >>

For so long it was just the two of them in the two-bedroom town house in Grover Beach, near San Luis Obispo. Father and son watching action movies together, sharing homemade hamburgers with plenty of finadenefinadene sauce, a Guamanian staple. >>

He has a new life and a new set of goals, including one to become a high school teacher. He has written a book, works with other wounded veterans and is a sought-after motivational speaker. >>

October 31, 2008
As regional commander, Petraeus takes charge of the war in Afghanistan as well as the conflict in Iraq. >>

November 1, 2008
The former Iraq commander's main challenge will be to forge a unified strategy for Afghanistan, says Defense chief Robert Gates. >>

The two attacks near the Afghan border appear to be by U.S. drones. An Al Qaeda man is reported slain. Earlier, a suicide bomber kills nine in the town of Mardan. >>

U.S. military toll is 13, while the number of Iraqis killed is 278, the lowest since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. >>

October 31, 2008
The Taliban claims responsibility for the attack. Authorities say two other assailants believed to have taken part in the assault apparently escaped. >>

October 30, 2008
U.S. troops will remain in Wasit and provide assistance when needed. Wasit is the 13th of Iraq's 18 provinces to be handed back. >>

October 29, 2008
As would-be mediators emerge, the prospect of negotiations between Western and Afghan officials and the Taliban is not so readily dismissed. >>

COLUMN ONE
'We want to create a sense of beauty amid this violence,' says Asad Sagheer of Baghdad University's College of Fine Arts. So the gray safety barriers are taking on a colorful life of their own. >>

The Cabinet also approves changes to a proposed security deal, including giving Iraq the right to determine whether any U.S. soldier suspected of committing a crime should stand trial in Iraqi court. >>

October 28, 2008
Abu Ghadiyah was a key player in funneling foreign fighters to Iraq, a U.S. official says. >>

October 27, 2008
TELEVISION REVIEW
Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Taliban: A disturbing, deeply reported look. >>

October 28, 2008
The crew survives and is rescued after the craft goes down in a province near Kabul. Also, the Taliban claims responsibility for a suicide bombing in which two American soldiers are killed. >>

One in seven asked by the VA said they had been harassed or assaulted during their military service. They are more likely to suffer from PTSD and substance abuse than others. >>

October 27, 2008
Despite improving ties between the nations, Washington has said Damascus hasn't done enough to prevent militants from slipping into Iraq. >>

October 26, 2008
As a timber faller, Bruno de Solenni labored through the spring and summer in groves of giant redwood, cedar and fir. As a soldier, he died in Afghanistan, and the tree trunks he sawed and milled became his coffin. >>

As a teenager, Army Pvt. Janelle F. King was a "Food Network guru" who could whip up hollandaise sauce over grilled salmon without even glancing at a recipe. >>

October 19, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
A stirring novel of survival and memory >>

October 18, 2008
Many children in Sadr City shoulder responsibilities beyond their age, some not in their teens yet but earning a living to support their families. School, and a better life, are just a wistful dream. >>

War deaths
On Sundays, The Times publishes staff-written obituaries of servicemen and servicewomen killed in the line of duty who considered California their home state, or who had significant ties to the state. Follow the link to an archive of past stories.
MIDEAST NEWSLETTER
• Complete coverage of Iraq, Iran, Israel and the rest of the Middle East from Times correspondents.
BABYLON & BEYOND




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