The war between ISIS and the Iraqi government

Joe Biden’s Iraq problem

The former vice president has a long, complicated, and some would say checkered history with Iraq. Here’s the full story.

In Iraq, the environment itself has become a weapon of war — again

It’s a tactic with a long, ugly history in the country.

Is Obama’s legal justification for the war on ISIS "a stretch"?

The problems with President Obama's claim that a 2001 law gave him the authority to bomb ISIS.

Three ways that oil matters for the crisis in Iraq

The latest US intervention isn't "all about oil." But it'd be wrong to pretend oil is irrelevant to the crisis in Iraq.

ISIS mocks Obama in Michael Bay-esque video

There's a totally unnecessary explosion and everything.

The skeptic's case for bombing Iraq

Most plans for airstrikes against ISIS are hopeless. Here's one that might actually work.

This chart shows Iraq's two-year slide into chaos

The current crisis has been brewing for a long time.

The real roots of Iraq's Sunni-Shia conflict

"There's a lot of people who place hope in this rebellion as a revolution."

Iraqis say their lives are better under ISIS

The terrorist group may be winning the crucial battle for hearts and minds in Sunni-dominated northern Iraq.

Why the Iraqi army can't defeat ISIS

How 7,000 Sunni extremists can keep rolling back a national military with 250,000 troops.

Obama just opened the door to airstrikes in Iraq

Obama is deploying US military advisers to Iraq. That's a big step toward strikes.

Kicking out Maliki won’t solve Iraq’s problems

Iraq's prime minister played a huge role in causing the current crisis. But removing him won't resolve the deeper issues fueling it.

ISIS surrounded Iraq's largest oil refinery

It turns out not everything in Iraq affects global oil prices. Here's why.

How ISIS could fall apart — and make the war worse

There's a very plausible way that Iraq's most vicious Islamist group could lose the vast amounts of territory they've come to control. But it's not clear that the conflict would get any less violent as a result.

Does America even have a Middle East strategy?

A former ambassador to Saudi Arabia lays out the contradictions in America's strategy — or lack thereof — in the Middle East.

Obama won't bomb Iraq — for now

An inside look at the administration's thinking on Iraq.

American troops are going back to Iraq

Do Americans really want a third Iraq war?

The new Rasmussen poll claiming that a plurality of Americans want to start bombing ISIS is probably wrong. For one thing, the question wrongly equates the group with al-Qaeda.

ISIS released horrifying photos of a massacre

They think that the photos will help them on the battlefield. Here's why.

The mess in Iraq proves Obama was right to leave

Invading was a mistake, and there's nothing the American military was able to do in years of fighting to resolve Iraq's problems.

"This is a real disaster for Sunnis"

What you need to know about the political divisions behind the ISIS crisis.

Iraq is Barack Obama's problem from hell

The rise of ISIS pits two of the Obama administration's most fundamental beliefs about foreign policy against each other.

The most important line from Obama's Iraq speech

"The US is not simply going to involve itself in a military action in the absence of a political plan by the Iraqis."

Obama's going to speak on Iraq at 11:50

11 facts that explain Iraq's escalating crisis

Here's what you need to know to understand Iraq's crisis, and where it goes from here.