Anna Badkhen has reported from Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Somalia, the West Bank and Gaza. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, David Filipov, and their two sons.
Capable Iraqis training for special operations roll over sharp gravel and run in the scorching heat. But they are terrified of the U.S. military's leaving.
The U.S. signed up legions of sketchy Iraqi fighters to help stop sectarian violence. Now, most may lose their security jobs -- but remain armed and angry.
In a Baghdad neighborhood pacified by the surge, the locals fear the day the U.S. military departs, because they don't trust their own government to keep them safe.
A reporter flies over the Iraqi capital on her 10th reporting trip, and sees empty swimming pools, kids playing on a grassless field, entire houses buried in trash.
