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Owen West, a third-generation U.S. Marine, tells the inside story of the American and Iraqi troops who fought the insurgency street by street and house by house in Khalidiya, Iraq. The Snake Eaters gives an account of the mission, one of the success stories of the war in Iraq.

Financial Times Middle East correspondent Michael Peel joins us to take a look at how Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki has ruled his country and responded to the various crises in the region.

Take one of the greatest love stories of all time and replace the Montagues with Sunnis, the Capulets with Shiites, and set the play in Iraq. That’s the premise for the new play “Romeo and Juliet in Baghdad” showing this week at the World Shakespeare Festival in the United Kingdom. Listen to playwright and actor Monadhil Daood.

Iraqi security officials say more than 30 people have been killed in a series of bomb attacks across the country, and dozens more have been injured. We hear a personal look at how the country faces continuing political instability from Dan Damon, host of the BBC's World Update. Damon spoke with Iraq's Vice President Tareq al-Hashimi, who has been on the run after an arrest warrant was issued against him in December by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

In Iraq, the Christian community continues to suffer from intimidation and threats of violence, and the number of Christians in the country has dropped drastically following the U.S. invasion nine years ago in 2003. Rami Ruhayem is a correspondent for our partner the BBC, who has found that even though the levels of violent attacks have dropped recently, there is still a climate of fear.

Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi is one of the most important people in the 20st Century, but most people only know him by his CIA codename: "Curveball." Mr. Janabi was a CIA informant whose information helped lead the nation to invade Iraq and begin one of the costliest wars in US history. Curveball makes his first public appearance in a two-part BBC documentary entitled "Modern Spies." The documentary presents a complicated character aware of the implications of his actions but unwavering in his reasoning. Michael Rudin, who produced the series, explains what it was like to speak to the man who helped bring two nations to war.

After the years of violence and instability in Iraq, Baghdad is hosting this week's Arab League meeting. Reporter for our partner the BBC Rami Ruhayem discusses the welcome leaders should expect from the residents of the Iraq capital.

The debate over whether to intervene in Syria continues, and many questions remain. What role would the U.S. play in an intervention? How should Americans engage the international community? Should we arm the Syrian opposition? 

Today we have the opportunity to reflect on the U.S.’s role in two recent conflicts. One year ago today, the American troops joined their French and British counterparts on the battlefield in Libya. Nine years ago today, the U.S. launched Operation Iraqi Freedom. What have we learned from these conflicts, and how do they inform U.S. foreign policy today? 

New York Times reporter Nada Bakri talks about her late husband, New York Times Beirut Bureau Chief Anthony Shadid, who died last month in Syria. She discusses his life and career as a foreign journalist and the challenge of reporting on a rapidly changing Middle East. Shadid’s new memoir,House of Stone , tells the story of his year away from reporting, when he started rebuilding his great-grandfather’s house in Lebanese countryside. We’ll also be joined by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, National Editor at the Washington Post, who worked with Shadid, covering Iraq.

The Oscar-nominated documentary Incident in New Baghdad recounts the 2007 killings of two Reuters reporters by US attack helicopters, footage of which was released by WikiLeaks in 2010. Director Jim Spione [spee-OWN] joins The Takeaway to discuss his film.

The U.S. is out of Iraq. President Obama made that point in last week's State of the Union address. But there are still eyes on Iraq particularly those places where there are still U.S. personnel — such as the U.S. Embassy In Baghdad. Those eyes are in the form of predator drones, watching over Baghdad according to Eric Schmitt terrorism correspondent for our partner The New York Times.

From February 10, 2007 to September 16, 2008, retired General David Petraeus oversaw all coalition forces in Iraq. He was the mastermind behind the counterinsurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan, and served as top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan until July of 2011, when he became director of the CIA. He is arguably one of the most influential military leaders in recent American history. A new biography about General Petraeus comes out this week.

This fall, WNYC asked listeners for their stories about active service men and women returning home from Iraq. David Pierce wrote in with his story about an art project documenting the daily life of an army squad in Iraq. Pierce did the project with his friend Justin Wilkens, who served two deployments in Iraq. We caught up with the high school buddies in Brooklyn.

William Doyle tells the story of Captain Travis Patriquin and his role in turning the tide of violence in the Iraq war. An Arabic linguist, Patriquin set out to establish a crucial network with tribal leaders.  In 2006, he unleashed a diplomatic and cultural charm offensive—the Sunni Awakening, the tribal revolt against Al Qaeda that led to a dramatic drop in violence. A Soldier's Dream: Captain Travis Patriquin and the Awakening of Iraq is a tribute to him.

Despite deep worries over the continuing stability of the Iraqi government, the U.S. is planning on selling $11 billion of arms and training to Iraq's military. The sale comes as Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has attempted to marginalize Iraq's Sunni minority since the U.S. withdrew its forces earlier in the month, setting off concerns over civil war. The Obama administration hopes the sale, which includes tanks and fighter jets, will help Iraq build its military and secure its border with Iran. But some American officials worry Iraq's government will move to align itself with the Shiite theocracy in Tehran.

Roman Baca is an Iraq War veteran and the artistic director of Exit 12 Dance Company. He has toured veterans hospitals and military bases around the world with his ballet "The Homecoming," which is about service members dealing with homesickness and the experiences of their loved ones waiting at home. He is heading back to Iraq, but this time as a dance teacher.

This week North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il died, a Pentagon investigation into airstrikes that killed 26 Pakistani soldiers heightened tensions between the U.S. and Pakistan, Countrywide was ordered to pay $355 million for discriminating against black and Latino borrowers, and a terrorism scandal in Iraq's second-highest office broke. 

Richard Betts, director of the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University, adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of American Force: Dangers, Delusions, and Dilemmas in National Security, places the Iraq War in historical context and looks at other national security issues. 

At least 63 people were killed in Baghdad Thursday when a wave of 14 bombs exploded across the city. Over 185 people were injured. The attacks come only days after U.S. troops pulled out of Iraq and during a deepening political crisis in the government. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shiite, threatened to abandon a U.S.-backed power-sharing agreement. The crisis was prompted by accusations that Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, a Sunni, had been running death squads.

New York Times correspondent Michael Schmidt and Sam Dagher, Wall Street Journal reporter in Iraq, discuss the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq this month, the state of the country nine years after the invasion that overthrew Saddam Hussein, sectarian violence, and their thoughts about the future of Iraq.