A US marine sniper aims at insurgents from his position in the Iraqi-Syrian border town of Kusaiybah 27 October 2005 in western Iraq. US forces in Iraq have swelled to 161,000, their highest level since the US invasion in March 2003, a Pentagon spokesman said. The increase was due to overlapping troop rotations, said Lawrence DiRita, the chief Pentagon spokesman. AFP PHOTO/PATRICK BAZ IRAQ-SYRIA-US-BORDER IRAQ-SYRIA-US-BORDER
epa01909748 Iraqi soldiers inspect the site of a bomb attack near the Baghdad provincial council building in central Baghdad, Iraq on 25 October 2009. At least 91 people were killed and 180 others were wounded when two car bombs driven by suicide attackers went off near the justice ministry and the Baghdad provincial council buildings in central Baghdad, a security source said. EPA/MOHAMMED JALIL
Displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect, fleeing violence from forces loyal to the Islamic State in Sinjar town, ride a truck as they make their way towards the Syrian border, on the outskirts of Sinjar mountain, near the Syrian border town of Elierbeh of Al-Hasakah Governorate August 10, 2014. Islamic State militants have killed at least 500 members of Iraq's Yazidi ethnic minority during their offensive in the north, Iraq's human rights minister told Reuters on Sunday. The Islamic State, which has declared a caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria, has prompted tens of thousands of Yazidis and Christians to flee for their lives during their push to within a 30-minute drive of the Kurdish regional capital Arbil. Picture taken August 10, 2014. REUTERS/Rodi Said (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT)
Foto: El Heraldo
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill, shakes hands with a U.S. Soldier outside Multi-National Division South East Headquarters in Basra, Iraq July 21, 2008. Sen. Obama, Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb and Sen. Jack Reed, D-RI visited Basra as part of a Middle East tour. The Senators visited Afghanistan prior to the stop in Iraq and will visit Israel and Jordan before heading on to Europe. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class C. J. Sheely/Released)
