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Weary of the chaos of Iraqi-style democracy, a group of men at a Baghdad cafe gave their insights into problems that still plague their country.

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Twenty-seven Ukrainians, seven Bulgarians and one Nepalese are stuck here, living in an abandoned building.

Turkey Blamed in Deadly Airstrike in Northern Iraq →

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Dr. Anthony Galea, who is accused of distributing performance-enhancing drugs to professional athletes in the United States, treated Alex Rodriguez after hip surgery in 2009.

Suicide Bombers Attack a Mosque and a Hospital in Iraqi City →

In Tikrit, the hometown of Saddam Hussein, an imam and several local government officials are among 19 people killed in the attacks.

Activists Arrested in Iraq as a Reform Deadline Nears →

Rights group see recent arrests in Baghdad as an attempt to nip dissent in the bud, while fatal explosions in Ramadi raise new concerns about security.

Iraq: Blast at Policeman’s Wedding Kills 7 →

Explosives hidden in a plastic bag were detonated at the wedding of a policeman about 40 miles south of Baghdad on Wednesday, killing 7 people and wounding 15.

Village Trips in Southern Iraq

So when I went on patrol with the military in the south, we spent a lot of time traveling through local villages. Wherever our convoy went, small kids came running in the hopes the soldiers would give them something. Sometimes they stopped and gave out candy, school supplies and soccer balls.

The younger kids were generally pleased but the older folks had greater demands. They wanted military contracts, medical help and even my sunglasses. The soldiers would talk patiently with the locals but usually disappointed them, saying that they should really be asking their own government for these things. The locals scoffed at that notion, calling their own government inept.

The military does not want the Iraqis completely dependent on them because the United States is supposed to withdraw all of its troops by the end of the year. On one of our stops, we came across an older woman in a wheel chair who had injured her foot. She asked for help and the soldiers took a look at the foot, which had dried blood on it and insects buzzing around it. They told her that they would try and bring her some first aid supplies when they next came through the village in a couple of days. I tried to capture the back and forth between the woman and the soldiers from the time the soldiers humvee rolled up to her house until they left. Below are those shots.

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