Steve Shickles

Reuters - Vice President Dick Cheney said on Sunday the United States was close to achieving its aims in Iraq.

AFP - A female suicide bomber killed at least 35 people, including women and children, and wounded 65 others on a religious march near the holy Kadhimiyah shrine in northern Baghdad on Sunday.

AFP - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Sunday that he hoped Iran would help rebuild his conflict-torn country by boosting economic ties.

Reuters - A suicide bomber infiltrated a crowd of Shi’ite pilgrims and blew himself up, killing at least 35 people and wounding at least 79 at a Shi’ite shrine in Baghdad on Sunday, Iraqi officials said.

AP - A female suicide bomber blew herself up on Sunday among a crowd of pilgrims worshipping at a revered Shiite shrine in northern Baghdad, killing at least 38 people and wounding about 72, the Iraqi army and police said.

AFP - Iraqi officials insisted on Sunday that the fledgling security forces are ready to defend the country even as a suicide bomber killed at least 35 people and injured dozens in northern Baghdad.

AP - As of Saturday, Jan. 3, 2009, at least 4,221 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 - Acting on widespread complaints from its troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Marine Corps has ordered major modifications to its body armor to improve comfort, mobility and safety, The Associated Press has learned.

McClatchy Newspapers - NINEVAH PROVINCE, Iraq — The violence of his past deployments in Iraq still haunts Daniel Clemons, a 32-year-old National Guard staff sergeant who’s back for his third tour.

Reuters - A female suicide bomber infiltrated a crowd of Shi’ite pilgrims, killing at least 35 people and wounding at least 79 at a Shi’ite shrine in Baghdad on Sunday.