Articles from the author

Torture was routine in Basra

For several days, he was known here as "the secret sheikh", revealed only as a high-ranking tribal leader tapped by the British military to begin restoring some semblance of a government to this large southern city.

Payoffs to tribal leaders, quotas for cheering crowds on Saddam Hussain's birthday, long lists of "bonuses" paid out to party members on every state occasion, reports on suspicious families and pro-Iranian Shiite "traitors" in their midst - at the Mother of All Battles Branch of Iraq's ruling Baath Party, they wrote it all down.

War in Chechnya has a hidden toll in Russia

Fatima Saleh still makes her son's favourite chicken-and-rice dinner and puts it out for him on the table. But Khalid has not been there to eat it in 12 years.

British prepare to return after 45 years

Many Russians still hoped their country would become more like the western countries they had so recently been barred from even visiting