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Here’s a look back at some of the people who made headlines during the war.

Jessica Lynch

Then: Lynch, a 20-year-old private first class in the U.S. Army, was a prisoner of war who became a celebrity after American troops filmed her rescue in April 2003. She returned home to a hero’s welcome and was awarded the Bronze Star. A television movie, “Saving Jessica Lynch,” aired in November 2003.

Now: Lynch is out of the Army, and she recently earned a college degree in elementary education. In 2007, she told a House committee that the military lied about her capture. She said she had been billed as a “little girl Rambo” who went down fighting when her convoy was ambushed. “It was not true,” she said. “The truth is always more heroic than the hype.”

Lynch has a young daughter, Dakota Ann, who is named in honor of Lori Ann Piestewa, Lynch’s best friend who was killed in the ambush. In a 2011 interview with CNN, Lynch said the injuries she suffered in Iraq still affect her and that she wears a leg brace. She had undergone 20 surgeries and expected more to come.

Muqtada al-Sadr

Then: A Shiite cleric with an intensely loyal following in Iraq, al-Sadr has long been one of the country’s leading voices of anti-American sentiment. He and his Mehdi Army clashed frequently with coalition forces in the first few years of the war.

Now: Al-Sadr disbanded the Mehdi Army in 2008, announcing that it would instead be a movement to oppose secularism and Western thought. His political bloc has become a kingmaker in Iraqi politics: Its 39 members of Iraq’s parliament were key to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s winning a second term in 2010.

Al-Sadr rarely makes public appearances, but his supporters usually hold demonstrations every March to mark the anniversary of the Iraq war.

George W. Bush

Then: The 43rd president of the United States led a “coalition of the willing” into Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein and his suspected weapons of mass destruction.

Now: Bush has kept a low profile since his second term ended in 2009, and he recently said he’s “pretty content” with life after the presidency.

In his memoir, “Decision Points,” Bush wrote that he felt sick to his stomach when he found there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

“I felt terrible about it,” Bush told CNN’s Candy Crowley in 2010. “On the other hand, those reports did point out that Saddam Hussein was very dangerous, that he had the capacity to make weapons. I’m convinced that if he were still in power today, the world would be a lot worse off.”

Bush’s presidential library, on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, opens to the public in May.

Hans Blix

Then: Blix was the United Nations’ chief weapons inspector in the months before the war. He reported in January 2003 that the Iraqi government was not fully cooperating with U.N. inspectors looking for weapons of mass destruction. The United States started airstrikes two months later.

Now: Blix is chairman of an international advisory board for the United Arab Emirates, which is seeking a peaceful nuclear energy program. Since retiring from his U.N. post in 2003, Blix has written two books on Iraq and been critical of the Bush administration’s decision to invade.

Lynndie England

Then: England was one of 11 U.S. soldiers convicted of crimes relating to the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in 2004. The 21-year-old private first class was seen in several photographs that showed physical and sexual abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

Now: After being released from military prison halfway into a 36-month sentence, England has been trying to rebuild her life. In 2009, she told the State Journal, a newspaper in Charleston, West Virginia, that it had been hard to find work since she was dishonorably discharged from the Army: “I go on interviews. As soon as they realize who I am, I’m turned down.”

England has an 8-year-old son who was conceived during her tour in Iraq.

Muhammad Saeed al-Sahaf

Then: Al-Sahaf was Saddam Hussein’s minister of information at the beginning of the war. He often answered foreign reporters’ questions with outrageously false claims and venomous insults of the enemy. “The infidels are committing suicide by the hundreds on the gates of Baghdad,” he once alleged. The media came up with several nicknames for al-Sahaf, including “Baghdad Bob” and “Comical Ali.”

Now: Al-Sahaf has kept a low profile since the Hussein government was overthrown in 2003. In interviews with Al-Arabiya and Abu Dhabi TV, al-Sahaf said he had surrendered to U.S. forces and been released after questioning.

L. Paul Bremer

Then: As director of the Coalition Provisional Authority from 2003 to 2004, Bremer, a U.S. diplomat, was the highest-ranking official in Iraq. His group essentially governed Iraq and oversaw its rebuilding efforts until the Iraqis were ready to reassume power. When Saddam Hussein was captured, Bremer made the announcement: “Ladies and gentlemen, we got him!”

Now: Bremer has served on the boards of several corporations and nonprofits since he left Iraq and he has kept an active media presence by appearing on television and writing for newspapers. He has also published a book, “My Year in Iraq: The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope.”

Bremer also likes to paint. He has a website that promotes his work, and many of his oil paintings depict wintry landscapes in Vermont.

Donald Rumsfeld

Then: As secretary of defense under President George W. Bush, Rumsfeld managed the early part of the war in Iraq. Praised at first for the effectiveness of the campaign, he soon came under fire for his planning and execution, not to mention the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. He resigned in 2006 and was replaced by Robert Gates.

Now: Since leaving his post, Rumsfeld has been outspoken in the media, appearing numerous times on CNN to talk about foreign policy issues. In October 2011, he reflected on the Iraq war with Fareed Zakaria:

“I think the world is better off having the Iraqi people, an important country, with a constitution they drafted, with a government that’s respectful of the various diverse elements in that country. Is it perfect? No. Are people still going to be killing each other from time to time in that part of the world? You bet. But it is, I think, a situation that is better today than it was then.

“Now, it’s taken time. It’s taken money. It’s taken lives. And that is always not predictable.”

Rumsfeld has written a book, “Known and Unknown: A Memoir.”

Muntadhar al-Zaidi

Then: Al-Zaidi, an Iraqi journalist, threw his shoes at President Bush during a news conference in December 2008. The defiant insult made al-Zaidi a hero in the eyes of many in the Arab world, but it also landed him a one-year prison sentence for assault.

Now: Released several months early for good behavior, al-Zaidi defended his act of protest. He said he felt compelled to act after witnessing what the U.S. invasion had wrought on his country: “I got my chance, and I didn’t miss it. … I saw my country burning.” He published a memoir called “The Last Salute to President Bush.”

Jill Carroll

Then: Carroll, a freelance reporter for the Christian Science Monitor newspaper, was kidnapped by an Iraqi militant group and held for nearly three months before her release in March 2006. Once back in the United States, Carroll denounced a propaganda video in which she appeared, saying it was a price she had to pay for her freedom.

Now: Carroll described her ordeal in the Monitor, writing an 11-part series called Hostage: The Jill Carroll Story. In 2008, she left the newspaper for Fairfax County, Virginia, where she was training to be a firefighter.

Ayad Allawi

Then: When he was sworn in as interim prime minister in June 2004, Allawi became the first Iraqi other than Saddam Hussein to lead the country in more than three decades. Allawi was co-founder of the Iraqi National Accord, a group that opposed Hussein’s Ba’ath Party.

Now: Allawi’s Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc won the most seats in 2010′s parliamentary elections, and it has a power-sharing deal in place with the Shiite-backed State of Law Coalition led by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. There has been political tension between the two groups recently, with Allawi’s group accusing al-Maliki of cutting it out of the decision-making process. The Iraqiya bloc even pulled out of parliament in December, but it ended the boycott a month later.

Tommy Franks

Then: Franks, a four-star Army general who served three tours in Vietnam, led the invasion of Iraq while in charge of U.S. Central Command. Centcom oversees military operations in 20 countries, many of which are in the Middle East.

Now: Since retiring in 2003, Franks has traveled the world speaking about leadership, character and the value of democracy, according to his website. His 2004 autobiography, “American Soldier,” debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times’ best-seller list. Franks is currently on the board of directors for the group that runs Chuck E. Cheese restaurants.

David Petraeus

Then: As a four-star Army general, Petraeus relieved George Casey Jr. in 2007 to command coalition forces in Iraq. He oversaw the “surge” strategy that increased troop levels by 30,000.

In later years, he would take over command of the Afghanistan war effort and become director of the CIA,

Now: Petraeus resigned his CIA post in November, admitting he had an extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell. Sources close to Petraeus said he would be making his first public appearance since his resignation later this month, speaking at a dinner honoring veterans and active duty military.

Cindy Sheehan

Then: Sheehan became the face of the antiwar movement in 2005, when she protested for weeks outside President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas. She said she wanted to confront the president, whom she held responsible for the death of her son, a U.S. soldier slain in Iraq.

Now: Sheehan continues to be a vocal opponent of U.S. war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. She ran for Congress in 2008 but finished a distant second behind House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in California.

Sheehan has been sued by the federal government for not paying taxes. Sheehan told CNN affiliate KXTV last year that she refuses to pay: “If they can give me my son back, then I’ll pay my taxes. And that’s not going to happen.”

Baby Noor

Then: Seven years ago, U.S. soldiers in Baghdad came upon Noor, a 3-month-old Iraqi girl struggling with spina bifida. They brought her to the United States for life-saving medical treatment.

Now: Noor is struggling back in Iraq, a war-ravaged country where disabled children are often treated as an afterthought. She cannot walk, and she likely never will because of her condition. She’s also running low on catheters and suffers from urinary tract infections that result from abnormal bladder function. Complications from such infections could be deadly.

Noor attends a school for disabled children, but the school’s social researcher fears Noor is suffering from depression and low self-esteem. Much of that may stem from the abandonment of her mother, who left the family with her second child and asked for a divorce. Noor rarely sees her mother anymore.

Youssif

Then: Youssif, a 5-year-old boy living in Baghdad, was horribly scarred when masked men set him on fire in 2007. His CNN story struck a chord with viewers, who donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Los Angeles-based nonprofit that brought Youssif to the United States for medical treatment.

Now: Youssif and his family continue to call California home, and he has had more than a dozen surgeries to reconstruct his face. He still needs more surgeries, but he has kept a positive upbeat attitude and adjusted well to his new life in the United States. He speaks English, attends school and plays soccer. He said in 2011 that he misses his home country and wants to grow up to be a doctor so he can help others.

Coming Thursday: Youssif, 6 years later

The authorities in Brazil have ruled that marriage licences should not be denied to same-sex couples.

The council that oversees the country's judiciary said it was wrong for some offices just to issue civil union documents when the couple wanted full marriage certificates.

Correspondents say the decision in effect authorises gay marriage.

However full legalisation depends on approval of a bill being examined by the Congress.

Tuesday's resolution by Brazil's National Council of Justice was based on a 2011 Supreme Court ruling that recognised same-sex civil unions.

However, notary publics were not legally bound to converting such unions into marriages when asked by gay couples.

This led to some being denied marriage certificates at certain places, but being granted the document at others. That would be illegal, according to the new resolution.

"If a notary public officer rejects a gay marriage, he could eventually face disciplinary sanctions", NCJ judge Guilherme Calmon told BBC Brasil.

The ruling brings Brazil one step closer to its neighbours Argentina and Uruguay, which have legalised gay marriages.

But opponents could still challenge it at the Supreme Court.

And the same-sex marriage bill being examined by the Congress faces strong opposition from religious and conservative lawmakers.

Brazil is the world's most populous Roman Catholic nation and has an estimated 60,000 gay couples.

Police arrested 24 people Tuesday in Belgium, eight in Switzerland, and one in France, said Jean-Marc Meilleur, the office’s spokesman. Police in Belgium raided about 40 houses in Brussels on Wednesday.

Authorities discovered some of the stolen diamonds in Switzerland, and money in Belgium, Switzerland and France, Meilleur said. Luxury cars were seized in Belgium, he said.

Read more: Security questions at Brussels airport after $50 million diamond heist

At this point, all those arrested are being questioned by the police locally, he said.

The slick theft of $50 million in rough and polished diamonds in a dramatic heist grabbed the headlines in February.

Authorities said then that eight masked, heavily armed men in clothing resembling police uniforms had burst through a hole in the perimeter fence onto the airport tarmac in two vehicles.

The men swiftly removed the diamonds from the hold of a Zurich-bound aircraft before speeding off the way they came.

Read more: Diamond heists are forever

While no one was hurt, the pilot, co-pilot and a transport security guard were all threatened at gunpoint, the Brussels prosecutor said.

Antwerp, the city known as the world’s diamond-cutting capital, lies only about 25 miles away from Brussels.

Read more: Drag queens, fake beards and chocolates: Notable diamond heists

The Iranian presidential elections, on 14 June, are now expected to pit three wings of the establishment against each other.

They want to maintain the political status quo by allowing limited liberty to other factions, sufficient to legitimise the regime but too little to allow them to become a threat.

The conservatives have played a shrewd game of fielding more than 20 candidates to create an impression of rivalry, open democracy and choice for the electorate. Most of them are, however, politically identical.

It is not clear which of these candidates will be their final choice. But Mr Jalili and Mr Qalibaf are attracting the greatest attention.

Mr Jalili is seen as an obedient right-wing apparatchik for the Supreme Leader who seeks an aggressive policy abroad and limited political openness at home. Mr Qalibaf is more of a moderniser and a technocrat, possibly with greater independence.

They hope to mobilise a "populist downtrodden" vote against Mr Rafsanjani, but some observers accuse them of planning to rig the elections.

The government faction includes right-wing elements loyal to President Ahmadinejad.

They are represented by Mr Mashaei, whose eccentric religious and mystical views have angered the traditional clergy and turned him into an ideological outcast.

The pro-government faction is counting on the votes of the lower-income groups which have benefited from Mr Ahmadinejad's populist homebuilding and cheap loan projects.

They have also been criticising the ruling conservatives in the hope of winning the protest vote.

Mr Mashaei might be ruled out by the Guardian Council because of his controversial philosophical views.

Pro-reform and centrist politicians are in a de facto coalition against the authoritarian practices of the regime.

Representing them is Mr Rafsanjani, who has been under intense pressure from the establishment not to enter the race.

He has been a critic of the current government by calling for greater moderation at home and in foreign policy.

He recently outraged conservatives by saying that Iran did not want war with Israel.

This faction is counting on the middle classes and the Bazaaris, or commercial class, as well as the protest vote. The presidential elections in Iran have been sparked into life with the unexpected registration of several key figures.

The former princely state of Kashmir has been partitioned between India and Pakistan since 1947, to the satisfaction of neither country nor the Kashmiris themselves.

The situation was further complicated by an Islamist-led insurgency that broke out in 1989. India gave the army additional authority to end the insurgency under the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). Despite occasional reviews of the AFSPA, it still remains in force in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.

In the summer of 2010, 20 years after the AFSPA was imposed in Jammu and Kashmir, pro-Pakistan and pro-independence public protests erupted, and clashes with Indian security forces left more than 100 people dead.

Given that India and Pakistan both have nuclear weapons, the stakes in the dispute are high.

A thaw in relations after 2002, which saw some road and rail communications into Pakistan reopened, ended abruptly with the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai. India blamed Pakistani and Kashmiri Islamists, in particular the Lashkar-e-Toiba group, for the attacks.

Talks between the two countries on improving ties across the Kashmiri Line of Control resumed in 2010, and relations slowly started to improve again.

By 2012, with India promising an amnesty to those who took part in the violent protests of 2010 and Pakistan gradually withdrawing financial support from insurgents fighting Indian rule in the Kashmir Valley, many former militants had become convinced of the futility of the armed struggle against the Indian authorities.

The population of historic Kashmir is divided into about 10 million people in Indian-administrated Jammu and Kashmir and 4.5 million in Pakistani-run Azad Kashmir. There are a further 1.8 million people in the Gilgit-Baltistan autonomous territory, which Pakistan created from northern Kashmir and the two small princely states of Hunza and Nagar in 1970.

The government of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir has often been led by the National Conference, a pro-Indian party led by the Abdullah political dynasty. Pakistan runs Azad Jammu and Kashmir as a self-governing state, in which the Muslim Conference has played a prominent role for decades.

The National Conference moved from an almost pro-independence stance in the 1950s to accepting the status of a union state within India, albeit with more autonomy than other states.

Jammu and Kashmir is diverse in religion and culture. It consists of the heavily-populated and overwhelmingly Muslim Kashmir Valley, the mainly Hindu Jammu district, and Ladakh, which has a roughly even number of Buddhists and Shia Muslims.

The Hindus of Jammu and the Ladakhis back India in the dispute, although there is a campaign in the Leh District of Ladakh to be upgraded into a separate union territory in order to reflect its predominantly Buddhist identity. India gave the two districts of Ladakh some additional autonomy within Jammu and Kashmir in 1995.

Kashmir's economy is predominantly agrarian. The important tourism sector in Indian-administered Kashmir was hard hit by the post-1989 insurgency, but has recently bounced back and in 2011 a record 1.1m tourists visited, mainly from India itself.

Published May 13th, 2013 – 08:34 GMT via SyndiGate.info

The Syrian opposition announced it will meet on 23 May in Istanbul to discuss the possibility of joining the US-Russia conference aimed at ending the Syrian conflict, Reuters reported.

A general assembly of the Islamist-dominated coalition will elect a new head and decide on the future of the current Prime Minister Ghassan Hitto, who has been criticised for close ties with opposition figures.

In an attempt to broaden the appeal of the coalition, Hitto could be ousted for Ahmad Tomaa Kheder, an indpendent Islamist from eastern Syria. According to reports, he worked closely with peaceful opposition activists before the war in Syria broke out.

“Everything will be decided in the general assembly meeting,” one coalition official told Reuters.“The meeting will decide on accepting the nomination of Kheder, although Hitto is trying to hang on,” another coalition source said.

The coalition has suffered a number of setbacks since its creation, with president Moaz Alkhatib resigning from the role in March.

The US and Russia are keen to hold talks this month, in an attempt to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict that has killed at least 70,000 people since March 2011.

The Netherlands' name reflects its low-lying topography, with more than a quarter of its total area under sea level.

After a longstanding policy of neutrality between Europe's great powers, the bitter experience of invasion and occupation during World War II led the Netherlands to become a leading supporter of international cooperation.

Almost 20% of the total area of the Netherlands is water, and much of the land has been reclaimed from the North Sea in efforts that date back to medieval times and have spawned an extensive system of dykes.

It is one of the world's most densely populated nations. As in many European countries, over-65s make up an increasing percentage of that population, leading to greater demands on the welfare system.

After two decades of strong growth and low unemployment, the economy ran into more troubled waters as global trade, in which the Netherlands is a major player, slowed in the early years of the new millennium.

There was concern that Dutch society's longstanding tradition of tolerance was under threat when homosexual anti-immigration politician Pim Fortuyn was assassinated in 2002.

Anxiety over increased racial tension has intensified further since the murder in 2004 of Theo Van Gogh who had made a film on the position of women in Islamic society. A violent Islamic extremist later confessed and was jailed for life. After Mr Van Gogh's killing, the government hardened its line on immigration and failed asylum seekers.

A poor country even by West African standards, landlocked Burkina Faso has suffered from recurring droughts and, until the 1980s, military coups.

In 1987 Mr Sankara was overthrown and killed in a coup by his erstwhile colleague Blaise Compaore, who went on to re-introduce a multi-party system.

Burkina Faso has faced domestic and external concern over the state of its economy and human rights, and allegations that it was involved in the smuggling of diamonds by rebels in Sierra Leone.

Troubles in neighbouring Ivory Coast have raised tensions, with Ivory Coast accusing its northern neighbour of backing rebels in the north and Burkina Faso accusing Ivory Coast of mistreating expatriate Burkinabes.

Editor’s note: Peter Levine is the Lincoln Filene Professor of Citizenship and Public Affairs and director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University.

Under current law, would-be citizens must pass the U.S. Naturalization Test, which poses factual questions about civics and history such as: “What are two rights in the Declaration of Independence?” They must respond with two of the following: life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness.

This test assumes that a competent citizen knows some basic information about the U.S. political system. Most American students must demonstrate similar competence. All U.S. states have standards for K-12 social studies and, typically, the teacher assesses knowledge with paper-and-pencil tests that resemble the naturalization test.

One question is whether these requirements reflect a worthy definition of citizenship. Should we insist on knowing generalized facts but not, for example, skills for working with other people, or values such as a commitment to other people’s rights?

Another question is whether studying for short-answer tests teaches people much. Someone could study for the naturalization test by memorizing phrases without understanding at all what they mean. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services provides online flashcards to help, and the same is true of multiple choice civics tests in high school.

We could ask similar questions about the Pledge of Allegiance. When schools drop the pledge, it’s interpreted as an attack on patriotic values. But if there were no pledge, would we really choose to instill patriotism and knowledge of the U.S. system by requiring students to repeat the same 31 words daily from kindergarten through senior year?

Would we be satisfied if millions of elementary school students said “indivisible” every day, but hardly any of them knew what it meant? If it is a pledge, why would we ask them to repeat it daily? Surely a promise is for keeps.

In other words, we should be thinking about what we want citizens to know, believe and do and how to teach and promote those objectives.

The bipartisan “Gang of 8″ senators introduced an act recently, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act, that takes a promising new approach. It doesn’t mention the naturalization test at all. Instead, it would create a new U.S. citizenship foundation that would promote civic education for immigrants, especially low-income residents.

Those who seek “merit-based” naturalization — jumping ahead of the queue — would get points for “civic involvement” if they had engaged in a significant amount of community service.

The law values an understanding of constitutional principles, but it adds community service as an element of citizenship, and it encourages better teaching approaches than using flashcards to study for a short test. It doesn’t specify those approaches but asks the foundation to look for “best practices.”

If the new foundation becomes a reality, members should keep three principles in mind.

First, the goal should be to encourage people who are seeking naturalization to be genuinely constructive contributors to civic life. Memorizing a few phrases won’t suffice to show they are capable citizens, but having the opportunity to learn advanced civic skills will help them and their communities. Our research finds that people who are engaged with their communities tend to fare much better in school, jobs and life.

Second, although being a good citizen means supporting certain core principles, civic education should not be fully standardized. One size does not fit all. A grandmother who has fled tyranny does not need the same kind of civic education as an adolescent who was born in the United States and knows only this country and the English language.

Third, an immigrant background is a civic asset. Newcomers contribute valuable knowledge and insights from their home countries. Most research on young immigrants finds that they flourish and contribute best if they hold on to aspects of their parents’ cultures. When they lose their background culture, the worst elements of U.S. culture, such as fast food and violence, tend to affect them most strongly.

As Congress debates the immigration bill, the nation’s attention will be focused on the question of who should be a citizen. We should not forget the equally important question of what citizens must know, believe, and do. For immigrants and native-born Americans alike, civic education should not be about passing a simple test but promoting high and diverse civic achievement.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Peter Levine.