Iraq War 2003

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."

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A British coroner contradicted the U.S. military Thursday on the cause of a deadly helicopter crash during the invasion of Iraq. The eight British marines and four American crew members killed were the war's first fatalities. They died when the U.S. Marine CH-46 helicopter crashed in Kuwait. Washington has concluded that the crash was caused by the pilot becoming disoriented. But British coroner Andrew Walker ruled that it was a result of mechanical failure. The helicopter was part of a U.S.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair survived a blistering attack Tuesday on his government's handling of the war in Iraq, narrowly defeating moves to open a parliamentary inquiry into a conflict one former ally called "a huge blunder." In a gauge of how far British public opinion has swung toward opposition to the war, Blair's majority Labor Party could muster only a 25-vote margin to defeat the measure.

President Bush retains "full confidence" in Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, a top White House official said Sunday, responding to newly published allegations that Rumsfeld has mismanaged the Iraq war and alienated senior members of the Bush administration with his autocratic personal style. "The president has full confidence in Secretary Rumsfeld," White House Counselor Dan Bartlett told ABC's "This Week" in one of three appearances he made on the Sunday talk shows.

The Senate Intelligence Committee on Friday said it had found no evidence that Saddam Hussein had ties to Al Qaeda or provided safe harbor to one of its most notorious operatives, Abu Musab Zarqawi -- conclusions contradicting claims by the Bush administration before it invaded Iraq.