AP - As of Monday, Aug. 17, 2009, at least 4,332 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

AP - America's top commander in Iraq said Monday he wants to deploy U.S. soldiers alongside Iraqi and Kurdish troops in a disputed swath of northern territory following a series of horrific bombings by insurgents hoping to stoke an Arab-Kurdish conflict.

AP - A U.S. Army captain has been charged with accepting tens of thousands of dollars in bribes while he was stationed in Iraq to steer more than $500,000 in contracts.

McClatchy Newspapers - BAGHDAD — The top U.S. general in Iraq wants to place more American soldiers along the fault line between Iraqi Kurds and Arabs, two groups who've appeared on the verge of civil war at times over the past year.

AFP - The United States is discussing arrangements that could see its troops work alongside Iraqi and Kurdish forces in disputed areas of northern Iraq, the senior American commander said on Monday.

AFP - Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is to visit Damascus for talks on security on Tuesday after the top US general in Iraq said Syria's role in allowing fighters to enter the country remained a concern.

AFP - At least eight people were killed, including two policemen, in three separate attacks on Monday in northern and central Iraq, police said.

AFP - Iraqi militias are increasingly torturing and executing men suspected of homosexuality, but the authorities in Baghdad are doing nothing to stop the violence, Human Rights Watch said on Monday.

AP - President Barack Obama chastised the defense industry and a freespending Congress on Monday for wasting tax dollars "with doctrine and weapons better suited to fight the Soviets on the plains of Europe than insurgents in the rugged terrain of Afghanistan."

Reuters - Iraq's cabinet has approved a bill paving the way for a referendum on a bilateral security pact signed last year between Washington and Baghdad, the government spokesman said in a statement on Monday.

More than six weeks after U.S. soldiers withdrew from Iraqi cities, Gen. Ray Odierno, the top American commander, wants to put U.S. troops in disputed parts of northern Iraq. Political tension between Iraq's Arabs and ethnic Kurds has resulted in a security gap in the north that militants have exploited.

Iraq's prime minister has said he wants the government to register Internet sites and ban some books. This has raised fears that the door may be closing on what has been one of the most open media landscapes in the Middle East. On Friday, Iraqi journalists, writers and booksellers took to the streets of Baghdad to protest.

In recent weeks, the death toll from political violence has been rising — a reversal of July trends — undermining public confidence in security after U.S. troops withdrew from Iraqi cities at the end of June. The bombings have been fodder for Iraqi wrangling ahead of the January elections.

NPR's Deborah Amos talks to Madeleine Brand about the primary causes of instability in Iraq today. The latest wave of bombings in the country was likely the work of al-Qaida in Iraq and other Islamist extremist groups. But Baghdad analysts say a greater threat is the growing friction between the Iraqi government and the Kurds.

A majority of Iraqi refugees have been relocated to the San Diego area since 2007. Madeleine Brand visits the El Cajon Adult Education Center, where Iraqis go to learn English and learn about American culture and customs. She speaks to a few Iraqis about their harrowing experiences back home.

An explosives-laden car parked near a market entrance and two other nearby bombs detonated within minutes of each other at about 8:40 p.m. in the Amin al-Thaniyah neighborhood, according to police and hospital officials. The five-day death toll rose to 123 in the worst spasm of bombings the country has suffered since U.S. forces left the cities at the end of June.

Life is better for many Iraqis, but bombings, ethnic tensions and corruption continue. NPR's Deborah Amos recently returned to the Iraqi capital on assignment and shares her impressions four years after her last visit. The unanswered question: what will happen when U.S. troops leave in 2011?

A double truck bombing tore through a Shiite community near the northern city of Mosul and several bombs detonated in Baghdad in a wave of violence that has left at least 48 people dead and hundreds injured.

Iraqi authorities arrested a British contractor Sunday over the shooting deaths of two co-workers in Baghdad's protected Green Zone. The suspected gunman could be the first Westerner to face an Iraqi trial on murder charges since a security pact lifted the immunity that had been enjoyed by foreign contractors for most of the war.

The Iraqi foreign minister said Sunday that he was hopeful that three Americans detained in Iran after crossing the border from northern Iraq will be released soon.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen James Cartwright speak with reporters at the Pentagon.

Tuesdays coverage of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ADM Mike Mullen being inducted into the Naval Postgraduate School Hall of Fame in Monterey, CA.

Brig Gen Walter Givhan, Commander of the Combined Security Transition Command, speaks via satellite with reporters at the Pentagon, providing an update on ongoing development, equipping and training of the Afghan Air Corps.

Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell speaks with reporters at the Pentagon.

MG Robert Caslen, Commander of Multi-National Division-North, speaks via satellite with reporters at the Pentagon, providing an update on ongoing security operations in Iraq.

COL John Spiszer, Commander, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, speaks via satellite with reporters at the Pentagon, providing an operational update.

Maj. Gen. Mart de Kruif, Commander of NATOs International Security Assistance Force Regional Command South, speaks via satellite with reporters at the Pentagon, providing an update on ongoing security operations in southern Afghanistan.

GEN Ray Odierno, Commander of Multi-National Forces-Iraq, speaks via satellite with reporters at the Pentagon, providing an update on ongoing security operations in Iraq.

ADM James Stavridis taking command from GEN Bantz Craddock during the U.S. European Command change of command ceremony at Patch Barracks, Stuttgart, Germany. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ADM Michael Mullen delivers remarks.

ADM Timothy Keating, Commander of United States Pacific Command, delivering remarks regarding Strategy for United States Pacific Command at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC.

Draft law aims at reducing number of smokers, raising health awareness

US troops mindful to abide by security agreement that required US troop withdrawal from Iraqi cities, says US commander

Worst explosion occured near Mosul, where eyewitnesses say car-bomb packed with explosives killed more than two dozen worshippers at mosque

Rise in Iraqi violence continues to concern analysts who worry insurgents stepping up sectarian attacks

Baghdad bombings target day laborers; car bombings near Mosul rip through Shi'ite village

Thailand aims to raise interest, national pride in fighting sports but Olympic Council of Asia has decided to incorporate them into Asian Indoor Games

Commander of coalition forces in northern Iraq says al-Qaida forces have been able to regenerate themselves, in spite of heavy losses

Attacks targeted Kurdish-speaking Yazidi minority in Mosul

Local political parties in Kirkuk and Nineveh have expressed reservations about census

General Ray Odierno says US soldiers would partner with both Iraqi government and Kurdish troops to secure region marked with tension between Arabs and Kurds