Iraq War 2003

WAR'S mysterious allure drew U.S. Marine Cpl. Elliot Ruiz back to the parched plains where he nearly lost his life. Last time he was in the Middle East he wound up lying in a pool of his own blood on the pavement near Tikrit, clinging to life after an insurgent attack that badly damaged his leg. This time, four years and countless hours of physical therapy later, he returns as Cpl.

SACRAMENTO The state Senate today is expected to send Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a bill that would allow Californians to sound off about the Iraq war and call for its immediate end. He can place the measure on the ballot or in the trash. Bet on the trash. Specifically, the measure asks voters whether President Bush should "end the United States occupation of Iraq and achieve the immediate, complete, safe and orderly withdrawal of United States forces?" It would go on the Feb.

One of the most heavily criticized actions in the aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 was the decision, barely two months later, to disband the Iraqi army, alienating former soldiers and driving many straight into the ranks of anti-American militant groups. But excerpts of a new biography of President Bush show him saying that he initially wanted to maintain the Iraqi army and, more surprising, that he cannot recall why his administration decided to disband it.

Hollywood didn't seriously explore the Vietnam War until years after it was over. During the fighting, the film industry's most notable salvo was John Wayne's "The Green Berets" (1968), which offered a black hats-and-white-hats interpretation of a complex military entanglement. Four decades later, filmmakers are responding to America's various fronts in the "war on terror" while the bullets are still flying and bombs exploding.

"The Iraq war is largely about oil," former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan says in his new book -- an assertion disputed by lawmakers and the U.S. Defense secretary. "I'm saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows," Greenspan, 81, writes in "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World." Greenspan writes that the attention given by developed nations to the political situation in the Middle East is directly tied to oil security.

Sandow Birk's painting "In Days of War" depicts a young man hunched before a large, blank canvas. The studio is littered with paint splatters and other signs of artistic activity, but instead of a brush, the artist holds a newspaper in his hands. Birk describes the image as "the daily confrontation of sitting down and trying to figure out, with all these things happening, what can you do."

A German spy chief and his agents assured members of Parliament that they did not help the United States pick out bombing targets during the invasion of Iraq, but failed to halt demands for an inquiry. Ernst Uhrlau, head of Germany's Federal Intelligence Service, or BND, told Parliament's foreign affairs committee that German intelligence gave the United States information only on civilian sites to avoid in bombing raids, members of the committee said.

The U.S. military has long been accused of always planning to fight its last war. But as the Pentagon assesses threats to national security over the next four years, a major blueprint being completed in the shadow of the Iraq war will do largely the opposite. The military went into Iraq with a vision that a small, agile, and lightly armored force could win a quick preemptive war. Although the U.S.

As President Bush prepares for next week's State of the Union address, he faces widespread discontent over his job performance and the nation's direction that could threaten his party in the 2006 election, a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found. In the survey, 43% of Americans said they approved of Bush's performance as president -- his weakest showing ever in a Times poll.

It was the end of January 2003. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell was five days away from giving a critical speech at the U.N. Security Council, laying out the case that Iraq was hiding weapons of mass destruction and posed a danger to world peace. But huddled with aides at the White House, President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair were not sure there was enough evidence to convince the Security Council.