Marine Staff Sgt. Kenneth Pospisil's sister laughed when she remembered last Christmas - when Pospisil hugged his father so hard, the older man briefly passed out and had to spend the night at a hospital. Pospisil, who was known as Blake, died Dec. 14 when a bomb went off near Al Ramadi. (12/23/2005)

A St. Paul police officer was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq on Thursday, his department announced. (12/22/2005)

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and other secular Shiites are joining forces with Sunni Arab groups and are threatening to boycott Iraq's new parliament. They say Iraq's Dec. 15 elections were marred by fraud and forgery, and they want an international body to investigate. What do their charges mean for Iraq's fledgling democracy? ( 12/22/2005)

The mother of a Minnesota National Guard soldier is upset that her son had to leave college to train for possible deployment to Iraq. After talking with Gov. Pawlenty on Thursday, she protested, by herself, on the Capitol steps. (12/22/2005)

Author and journalist George Packer says he's a liberal who was receptive to the idea of invading Iraq for humanitarian reasons, but he calls the conduct of the war "a disaster." Packer, who wrote "The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq," spoke in November at the Commonwealth Club of California. ( 12/20/2005)

A new "Support Our Troops" license plate allows Minnesota vehicle owners to display their patriotism while helping military families and veterans in the state. (12/19/2005)

Minnesota's latest casualty in Iraq was a man who loved the Marines, his mother said Friday. Staff Sgt. Kenneth B. Pospisil, 35, of Andover, died Wednesday when a bomb when off near Al Ramadi, the U.S. Department of Defense announced. (12/16/2005)

Funeral services are scheduled Monday for a Minnesota Marine who died in Iraq earlier this month. Lance Cpl. Scott Modeen was one of 10 Marines -- two from Minnesota -- who were killed in an explosion during a promotion ceremony in Fallujah. (12/11/2005)

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says that Middle East peace and Middle East democracy are both worthy goals. She says they are both goals the U.S. should pursue, but in a conversation with former Rep. Vin Weber, R-Minn., Thursday, Albright said that peace does not necessarily grow out of democracy. ( 12/09/2005)

Saddam Hussein's trial is now adjourned until Dec. 21, following a tumultuous series of hearings in which the ex-dictator protested loudly against what he called an "unjust court." How significant is the trial to the Iraqi people? ( 12/08/2005)

Some 2,600 Minnesota Army National Guard troops are in Camp Shelby training for deployment in Iraq. What is on the minds of Minnesota's military personnel? ( 12/06/2005)

In a speech Monday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld accused the news media of exaggerating the problems in Iraq and downplaying American progress. Rumsfeld says there is a "jarring contrast between what the American people are reading and hearing about Iraq and the views of the Iraqi people." Is he right? ( 12/06/2005)

Charlie Company is home from Iraq. A couple thousand supporters welcomed back the western Minnesota National Guard unit Monday night in Morris. There was praise for the troops mixed with sorrow, because three of the company's soldiers were killed during its stay in Baghdad. (12/06/2005)

The Minnesota Army National Guard's First Brigade Combat Team is preparing for deployment to Iraq. Of the brigade's 4,000 soldiers, 2,600 are from Minnesota. The men and women are expected to ship out to Iraq this spring. They're going through training in southern Mississippi at Camp Shelby. (12/05/2005)

Since Thanksgiving, four Marines from the region have been killed in Iraq. Three of them died in a deadly explosion near Fallujah last Thursday. With the recent spike in deaths and the holidays approaching, it can be especially important for families of military members to find support, and they seek it in a variety of ways. (12/05/2005)