One of biggest surprises of the past year has been the trajectory of the Iraq War and the fact that, from Washington’s perspective, things have gone largely according to plan. U.S. forces continue to pack up and ship home the men and materiel of war, while Iraqi leaders are busy forming a coalition government after a successful and largely peaceful election in March. In what has been the longest and bloodiest conflict since the Vietnam War, U.S. casualties in Iraq are now at an all-time low. Read the rest of this entry »

Sitting on a couch in a penthouse hotel suite just blocks from the White House, Ayad Jamal al-Din lets cigar smoke curl in lazy trails around his head as he considers the fate of his nation. “I am not hopeful that Iraq can yet fly alone,” he says. It is a familiar refrain that the 49-year-old cleric, a fiercely secular Shiite, conveys to anyone in Washington who is willing to listen. Read the rest of this entry »