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Updated May 30, 2008 | BAGHDAD — Some of my first memories of Iraq are from CNN’s coverage of the 1991 bombing of the capital, in the Persian Gulf war. I was in high school when I watched the live television broadcast of green lights flashing across the night sky. Last week, I watched those [...]

BAGHDAD — Spring has come.
For all of about 17 minutes.
This is a country that hurtles from winter chill to summer desiccation in roughly the time it takes Iraqis to brew their national beverage - a glassful of sugar dissolved in two teaspoons of tea.

Young Iraqis send and receive e-mail at an Internet cafe in central Baghdad. (Photo: Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images for The New York Times)
Ali Hameed is an Iraqi employee of The New York Times.
BAGHDAD — That day, my sister rushed up to me and said, “Can I use the PC, I want to chat with my friend, [...]

A sample of Iraq-related articles in the news on Memorial Day.
The Los Angeles Times looks at the the 492 Californians who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. [latimes.com]
The Washington Post finds an Air Force bugle player who came out of retirement to play taps at military funerals, rather than have cemeteries rely on taped [...]

Video

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s National Symphony Orchestra held a rare concert this week, performing an eclectic mix of Iraqi and classical music.
The concert, sponsored by the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq, was held to mark the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development. About 400 people attended the event, which was also [...]

Shiite supporters of the cleric Moktada al-Sadr said a million people attended this 2006 rally to support Hezbollah and denounce Israel; the United States military counted 14,000. This was Damien Cave’s first visit to Sadr City. (Photo: Max Becherer/Polaris, for The New York Times)
Damien Cave covered Iraq between July 2006 and December 2007. He [...]

Self-portrait by Ahmad Fadam
Ahmad Fadam was the head of the Iraqi staff in the newsroom of The New York Times in Baghdad. He left Baghdad in May to take up a visiting fellowship at the University of North Carolina. He will continue to contribute to the Baghdad Bureau blog from there.
On my last day in [...]

Go to Slide Show (Photo: Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images for The New York Times)
On May 10, the photographer Robert Nickelsberg embedded with American troops from the Third Brigade Combat Team, Fourth Infantry Division, in Baghdad’s Sadr City, where the American-backed Iraqi Army and the Mahdi Army militia loyal to Moktada al-Sadr had been fighting for more [...]

Iraqis cool off under the sun by the Shatt al-Arab waterway in Basra’s popular Corniche boardwalk. (Photo: Moises Saman for The New York Times)
This blog was written by an Iraqi member of the security staff of The New York Times.
The first year after the war was the best in Basra. I used to go to [...]

Photographer Moises Saman documented the drive from Baghdad to Basra in black and white. (Photo: Moises Saman for The New York Times) Go to Slide Show
Ammar Karim is an Iraqi employee of The New York Times. He recently returned from a four-day trip reporting on Iraq’s second-largest city.
My family, my close friends and my [...]

Mudhafer al-Husaini is an Iraqi employee of The New York Times.
BAGHDAD — “We are going to have a party,” that’s what I heard, but the word “party” sounded very strange to me. I searched my memory to see if I had any images related to this word recently, but I couldn’t find anything.
I [...]

(Photo: Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images, for The New York Times)
The American military is fighting daily battles for the control of Baghdad’s Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City. On May 3, the Americans fired at least three missiles at a small building next door to the Sadr General Hospital. The building was identified by the U.S. military as [...]

A scene from Hometown Baghdad.
Hometown Baghdad, a series of videos documenting the lives of three young people in Iraq, was among the many winners at the Webby Awards announced on Tuesday. [chattheplanet.com]
The videos follow Adel, a musician, Ausuma, a medical student, and Saif, a recent dental school graduate, as they struggle with everyday concerns in [...]

Video

Erica Goode’s report on the oud and its vast repertoire of traditional Iraqi melodies includes video of a musician playing the pear-shaped instrument. You can also find more oud music online from Ahmed Mukhtar and Rahim Alhaj, whose album was recently nominated for a Grammy.