FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) – As U.S. forces pull out of Iraq, residents and officials in Falluja say they leave behind bullet-riddled homes, destroyed infrastructure and a worrying increase in birth defects and maladies in a city polluted by weapons and war chemicals.

Amir Hussain and Awfa Abdullah got married in Falluja in 2004 but their lives were turned upside by the birth of their two babies.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Moves by some of Iraq’s mainly Sunni Muslim provinces toward increased autonomy threaten to heighten sectarian tensions and put pressure on Iraq’s already frail central government as U.S. troops depart at the end of the year.

Just weeks before the last American troops leave, growing appeals for local control mark disenchantment with the Shi’ite Muslim-led government and could widen rifts between the country’s Sunni and Shi’ite communities.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Sitting in a barber shop in Baghdad’s Shi’ite Sadr City slum, three friends agreed after a long and hard argument that U.S. forces brought democracy to Iraq.

But they found it difficult to utter the words without raging about the flip side of what they saw as the U.S. occupation of their country.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A man identified as Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, Saddam Hussein’s former deputy, criticised a recent arrest campaign against Baathists and denied they had plotted against the Iraqi government.

Syria-based Arrai television aired on Thursday an audio tape of a man it identified as Douri, the head of Saddam’s banned Baath Party and the highest-ranking member of Saddam’s regime still at large. There was no independent confirmation of the speaker’s identity.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Anti-U.S. Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said Thursday he would resist any American presence in Iraq, including a civilian one, beyond year-end when all U.S. forces depart nearly nine years after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Sadr, whose Mehdi Army militia once battled U.S. and Iraqi troops, has opposed any U.S. military footprint and his bloc is a key part of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s fragile coalition.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Any buildup of U.S. forces in the Gulf after their withdrawal from Iraq would be imprudent, Iran’s foreign minister said on Monday, urging all nations to tread cautiously in a troubled region.

Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi made the comments in Baghdad days after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Iran not to try to exploit the U.S. withdrawal at the year-end.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq will continue talks with Washington on how U.S. trainers can work with Iraqi forces after a complete withdrawal of American troops at the end of the year, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Saturday.

U.S. President Barack Obama announced on Friday that all U.S. troops would leave Iraq as scheduled by the end of this year after the two governments failed to reach an agreement over giving American soldiers legal immunity.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq will continue talks with Washington on how U.S. trainers can work with Iraqi forces after a complete withdrawal of American troops at the end of the year, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Saturday.

U.S. President Barack Obama announced on Friday that all U.S. troops would leave Iraq as scheduled by the end of this year after the two governments failed to reach an agreement over giving American soldiers legal immunity.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraqis fretted about the ability of their armed forces to protect them from violence after U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday all U.S. troops would withdraw by the end of the year.

Washington and Baghdad failed to agree on the issue of immunity for U.S. forces after months of talks over whether American soldiers would stay on as trainers more than eight years after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki warned of regional fallout should protests in neighboring Syria escalate into sectarian violence or force a change in government along sectarian lines.

His statements underscore fears among Iraqi Shi’ite leaders and their allies in Iran that Syrian unrest could spill over into Iraq or unseat President Bashar al-Assad and bring to power a hardline Sunni Muslim regime next door.