The U.S. Olympic Committee is seeking federal funding to expand sports-focused rehabilitation programs for disabled soldiers, but the Veterans Administration and some vets groups object. Msnbc.com's Kari Huus reports.

President Bush announced Tuesday that he will keep the U.S. force strength in Iraq largely intact until the next president takes over, drawing rebukes from Democrats who want the war ended and a bigger boost of troops in troubled Afghanistan.

Lt. Christopher Hanes knew something was wrong as soon as he stepped into the Friends bakery. The oven was unused, the water tank was empty and a large concrete bin was full of dirt.

A kidney specialist who fled Iraq's bombings, kidnappings and sectarian killings 20 months ago has reported back to work at his Baghdad hospital — one of some 800 doctors who have returned over the summer.

It is a politician's dream: Handing out cold, hard cash to people on the street as they plead for help. Iraq's prime minister has been doing just that in recent weeks, doling out Iraqi dinars as an aide trails behind, keeping a tally.

Around 70 women clad in black abayas fanned themselves in a courtyard at a police station Sunday as Iraqi officials and U.S. troops gathered to celebrate the graduation of the first Daughters of Iraq group in this volatile area.

The Bush administration is considering withdrawing additional troops from Iraq beginning in September, The New York Times reported in Sunday editions, citing administration and military officials.

U.S. forces may be close to unlocking the mystery of who is behind a deadly innovation in Iraqi insurgents' weapons now being used to target U.S. and Iraqi combat outposts.

The bodies of two U.S. soldiers missing in Iraq for more than a year have been found, the Pentagon said Friday, confirming earlier statements by the the families of the servicemen.

The Senate has confirmed Gen. David Petraeus as the top commander in the Middle East. The vote was 95-2.

Iraqis in Basra welcome  new freedoms three months after the Iraqi military wrested control of the country's second-largest city from militiamen.  But frustration is rising over a lack of basic services.

The decisive battle of the Iraq war is shaping up — not in the streets of Baghdad but in the halls of government where the future of America's role across the region is on the line.