Iraq War

Philadelphia voters will get a chance to weigh in on the Iraq war this November if City Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell gets her way. And though the vote has no legal power over American foreign policy, it could have an effect elsewhere on the ballot by turning out voters for Democratic senatorial candidate Bob Casey Jr. Modeled after initiatives that passed earlier this month in 24 of 32 Wisconsin towns, Blackwell's effort would place on...

THERE IS no doubt that Iraq needs a change of leadership and its people free. War is a viable option but not the ONLY one to use. The president should try a covert operation first with the idea of taking out their leadership and installing a government friendly to the Western nations and help develop an infrastructure that no religious crackpots can overthrow. Right now we don't have broad support for a war with Iraq and realistically the economics don't justify it. That's why a broad-based, covert, multinational operation should be carried out before OUR SOLDIERS start coming home in body bags due to an ill-planned campaign without allied support in Iraq begins.

The war front. A Marine armored column moved north out of Baghdad in the direction of Tikrit, ousted president Saddam Hussein's ancestral home, to join in an effort to squeeze and eventually eliminate the last vestiges of his once-powerful Baath Party government. The move came as U.S. forces struggled to restore order after massive looting in Baghdad and other cities and as Hussein's top science adviser, Lt. Gen. Amer Hammoudi al-Saadi, surrendered to U.S. military authorities. American officials believe he can tell them about any chemical or biological weapons.

FORT BRAGG, N.C. - President Obama on Wednesday celebrated the soldiers who fought the Iraq war, marking the fulfillment of a campaign promise to bring home all U.S. forces after a nearly nine-year conflict that killed more than 4,400 American troops. "So as your commander in chief, on behalf of a grateful nation, I'm proud to finally say these two words - and I know your families agree," Obama said. "Welcome home. Welcome home. Welcome home. Welcome home. " Standing before a sea of paratroopers in maroon berets, the president thanked the troops returning from Iraq and hailed that country's steps toward creating an independent, democratic state.

The feed is live, from deep inside enemy territory. The reporter, in full combat gear, is embedded with mobile infantry "roughnecks. " All around, there are men and women toting weapons, preparing for attack. The invasion has begun. If the 24/7 coverage of the war in Iraq has you in need of escapist fare, Starship Troopers (. 1/2 out of four) may or may not be such a great idea. Paul Verhoeven's $100 million sci-fi epic, adapted from Robert Heinlein's 1959 book and released to mixed reviews in 1997 (though this critic put Troopers on his year-end top 10 list)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - President Obama sent 1,000 Air Force Academy cadets into active duty Wednesday by laying out his vision for a postwar America in which the United States leads beyond the battlefield and defiantly challenging his critics' notion of waning American influence. In a commencement address, Obama hailed a milestone moment as the country winds down its military involvement in the two wars that have defined the generation that has come of age after Sept. 11, 2001.

BAGHDAD - Assailants waving the al-Qaeda battle flag gunned down 25 policemen Monday in a brazen and well-orchestrated challenge to government control over a strategic town fraught with Iraq war symbolism. The attack replicated tactics used by Sunni insurgents during the war and appeared aimed at reasserting al-Qaeda's grip now that Iraqis can no longer rely on U.S. help. The attackers drove through Haditha claiming to be government officials and methodically executed guards and commanders.

BEIRUT - The U.S. military has recovered the remains of the last U.S. service member missing in Iraq, ending a nearly six-year ordeal involving shadowy militants and a tragic love story, his family said Sunday. About 1 a.m. Sunday, a U.S. officer knocked on the door of the family home in Ann Arbor, Mich., with news that Army Staff Sgt. Ahmed Al-Taie was confirmed dead. The officer had no details yet on how or when he died, said Entifadh Qanbar, Al-Taie's uncle and an aide to Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi.

THE "Walter Cronkite of Iraq" lives in Northeast Philly in a second-floor apartment next to a gas station on Bustleton Avenue. Bahjat Abdulwahed, now 72 and an Iraqi refugee, was a dashing young man in his 20s when he worked as the chief TV news announcer for the government-run station in Baghdad in the 1960s. He then jumped to the radio side of the government-owned media complex, lending his perfect Arabic diction to broadcasting the major news events for two decades, including the daily anxieties of the Iraq-Iran war from 1980 to 1988.

IT'S BAD enough that the St. Louis Cardinals got hot at the end of the year, barely made it into the playoffs and then beat the Phillies in five games. Their hot streak pushed them right into the World Series and a victory parade to celebrate their championship. St. Louis, recently, beat us a second time. This one refers to their throwing a second parade to celebrate and welcome home our military heroes as they returned from Iraq. What's wrong with Philadelphia and the rest of the cities?

I WATCHED President Obama's State of the Union address with great anticipation. I am an orthopedic surgeon who has always been an Obama supporter. Obama's passion for change is the same passion for change that I have. I wanted to help people. I soon realized that hope and a desire for change are not enough. Our health-care system is broken and cannot be changed overnight. It will take years to fix. As with the United States, we have serious problems. Obama cannot fix everything overnight.

Neal Auricchio Jr. fought two tours in Iraq, returning to war even after a sniper blew apart one of his calf muscles. But the 30-year-old Purple Heart winner and off-duty Woodbridge, N.J., police officer may never want to visit Philadelphia again. With good reason. Auricchio is the New York Rangers fan who was sucker-punched and beaten unconscious by three Flyers fans after the Winter Classic hockey game Monday night at Citizens Bank Park. The video of the beating went viral.

By Victor Davis Hanson Two terrible September days sum up the first decade of the new American millennium. The first, of course, was Sept. 11, 2001. Osama bin Laden's suicide terrorists that morning hit the Pentagon, knocked down the World Trade Center, killed 3,000 Americans, and left 16 acres of ash in Manhattan and $1 trillion in economic losses in their wake. Two invasions into Afghanistan and Iraq followed - along with a more nebulous third "war on terror" against Islamic radicalism.

Rewriting the history of Iraq war Trudy Rubin's column "A bipartisan effort doomed misadventure in Iraq" (Sunday) is an astonishing rewrite of history. Iraq represents the failure of the Republican right ideology. It was one of the greatest misjudgments in American history - all those lives lost, our economy wrecked, without even a valid reason for attack. Her argument that President Obama is at fault because he didn't stabilize Iraq and neutralize Iran's influence is purely fanciful.

WASHINGTON - President Obama on Saturday welcomed home troops who served in Iraq, offering up their service as a lesson of the nation's character. "There's a reason our military is the most respected institution in America," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address. "They don't see themselves or each other as Democrats first or Republicans first. They see themselves as Americans first. . . . They remind us that we are all a part of something bigger, that we are one nation and one people.