International

U.S. Troops in Iraq Face Many Enemies

By Deborah Amos, John Burnett

Published July 13, 2007 at 10:00 AM PDT

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

U.S. troops from Fort Benning, Ga., are some of the last troops assigned to the surge in Baghdad.

In one post southeast of the capital, the Shiite militia, Sunni extremists and al-Qaida are all gunning for U.S. troops. Al-Qaida operatives play a minor role among the insurgents in that area, so troops must be on the look out for other insurgents.

Our reporter on the ground says soldiers are so busy staying alive, they give little thought to what is going on in Washington, D.C.

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International

Deborah Amos

Deborah Amos covers the Middle East for NPR News. Her reports can be heard on NPR's award-winning Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition.

John Burnett

John Burnett is a national correspondent based in Austin, Texas, who has been assigned a new beat for 2022—Polarized America—to explore all facets of our politically and culturally divided nation. Prior to this assignment, Burnett covered immigration, Southwest border affairs, Texas news and other national assignments. In 2018, 2019 and again in 2020, he won national Edward R. Murrow Awards from the Radio-Television News Directors Association for continuing coverage of the immigration beat. In 2020, Burnett along with other NPR journalists, were finalists for a duPont-Columbia Award for their coverage of the Trump Administration's Remain in Mexico program. In December 2018, Burnett was invited to participate in a workshop on Refugees, Immigration and Border Security in Western Europe, sponsored by the RIAS Berlin Commission.