Many of the world’s troubles are legacies of American intervention. In Iraq, there is the continuation of a war that began with the U.S. invasion in 2003. One of the casualties is an American citizen imprisoned in Iraq for more than a decade, a victim of torture, secret evidence, and witnesses who later recanted. Decades of U.S. meddling in Central America, and support for repressive dictatorships there, have undermined social fabrics; gangs are rampant, and if joining them is easy, getting out is not. In Yemen, where the Saudi-led war has been supported by the U.S. military, children are dying of starvation.

“Still in Solitary Over Here in Baghdad”: A Forgotten American’s 14-Year Nightmare in Iraq

Photo: Nadia Bseiso

Shawki Omar’s story began as an embodiment of the American Dream. Today, it shows how the so-called war on terror has turned sadistic and extralegal.
By Cathy Scott-Clark, Murtaza Hussain

What Happens When a Barrio 18 Soldier Tries to Leave the Gang

Illustration: Clay Rodery

There are an estimated 60,000 gang members in El Salvador. Benjamin knew many who wanted to leave, but they were afraid. He wanted to show them they could.
By Danielle Mackey

How Ahed Tamimi Became the Symbol of Palestinian Resistance to Israeli Oppression

Photo: Samar Hazboun

Ahed Tamimi’s story highlighted the plight of Palestinian children in Israeli military jails. Hundreds more remain behind bars.
By Alice Speri

 
 

A U.S. Journalist Took Thousands of ISIS Files Out of Iraq, Reigniting a Bitter Dispute Over the Theft of Iraqi History

Photo: David Guttenfelder/AP

An article in the New York Times has reopened the wound created when the U.S. seized 120 million pages of documents from Iraq after the 2003 invasion.
By Maryam Saleh

Saudi Women Who Fought for the Right to Drive Are Disappearing and Going Into Exile

Photo: AFP/Getty Images

Despite promises of reform, Saudi Arabia is escalating its assault on civil society — and, for the first time, women have become its primary targets.
By Sarah Aziza

How an Army of Trolls Protects Guatemala’s Corrupt Elite

Photo: Johan Ordonez/Getty Images

Inside the booming business of online disinformation campaigns in Guatemala.
By Cora Currier, Danielle Mackey

El Salvador Is Trying to Stop Gang Violence. But the Trump Administration Keeps Pushing Failed “Iron Fist” Policing.

Photo: Salvador Meléndez

The U.S. government is funding important new gang rehabilitation programs with one hand, and punitive policing with the other.
By Danielle Mackey, Cora Currier

A Rare Look at Yemen’s War, Where Children Starve and Hospitals Are on Life-Support

Photo: Alex Potter

Photojournalist Alex Potter chronicles the suffering of Yemenis after three years of fighting and near famine.
By Alex Potter

In Uganda, Groups Offering Contraception and Family Planning Have Lost Millions in U.S. Aid Thanks to Trump’s Global Gag Rule

Photo: Alex Potter

The rule bars U.S. aid money from going to international groups that provide abortions or support the right to have them, and its impact is far-reaching.
By Laura Kasinof

How the Assad Regime Tracked and Killed Marie Colvin for Reporting on War Crimes in Syria

Photo: AFP/Getty Images

Syrian regime documents and testimony from defectors reveal that Marie Colvin and others were hunted as part of a policy to eliminate journalists.
By Johnny Dwyer, Ryan Gallagher

Iraq’s Courts Have Rushed to Convict Thousands of ISIS Fighters. This Is One Family’s Struggle for Fairness, Truth, and Reconciliation.

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Illustrations: Matt Rota

Rather than mending intercommunal rifts to pave the way for reconciliation, the ISIS trials risk further polarizing Iraq’s fractured society.
By Simona Foltyn

ISIS Has Not Vanished. It Is Fighting a Guerrilla War Against the Iraqi State.

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Photo: Jan Kuhlmann/AP

Iraqi security forces lack the training, local knowledge, and community trust to defeat the militants.
By Simona Foltyn

Brazil’s Media Is Trying to Whitewash and Exploit Marielle Franco’s Political Radicalism

Photo: Mídia Ninja

Brazil’s most influential media outlet is trying to turn Marielle into an unthreatening symbol of political clichés — much like how the U.S. portrays MLK.
By Glenn Greenwald

Brazil’s Bolsonaro-Led Far Right Wins a Victory Far More Sweeping and Dangerous Than Anyone Predicted. Its Lessons Are Global.

Photo: Fabio Teixeira/AP

The standard establishment reaction in the face of rising demagogues is to denounce and malign those who support them. That only serves to further exacerbate the dynamic.
By Glenn Greenwald