Stationed in one of the deadliest cities in Iraq, Marine Capt. Rory Quinn has spent months working toward this moment -- the election to choose members of Iraq's governing body, the National Assembly. Quinn and his fellow Marines wait on the sidelines as Iraqis take charge.

November 16, 2004

December 23, 2004

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents gunned down four U.S. Marines west of Baghdad on Monday, and South Korea said it would go ahead with plans to send thousands more troops to Iraq despite a threat by Iraqi kidnappers to kill a South Korean seen pleading for his life on a videotape.

NAJAF, Iraq - Four U.S. Marines assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force have been killed in separate incidents in Iraq's volatile Anbar province, the military announced Sunday.

WASHINGTON - The Marine Corps, which played a central role in toppling Saddam Hussein last spring, will return to Iraq as part of a U.S. troop rotation next year, officials said Wednesday.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. forces battled holdout fighters Thursday at a palace and a mosque in Baghdad; one Marine was killed and up to 20 wounded.

CAMP AS SAYLIYAH, Qatar - The commander of coalition forces in Iraq said U.S. troops pushed into Tikrit on Sunday, a power center for Iraq's Sunni Muslim tribes that is believed to be one of the last strongholds of fighters loyal to President Saddam Hussein.

TIKRIT, Iraq - U.S. tanks and troops moved through the streets of Tikrit in force Tuesday after overpowering Iraqi troops in Saddam Hussein's hometown, but the anger and loyalty of its residents was not easily overcome.