A boy uses the cannon of a destroyed Iraqi army tank as a swing on March 18, 2006, near Basra. Defeating the Iraqi military turned out to be easier than bringing peace and stability back to the country after the invasion.
Mike Shuster is an award-winning diplomatic correspondent and roving foreign correspondent for NPR News. He is based at NPR West, in Culver City, CA. When not traveling outside the U.S., Shuster covers issues of nuclear non-proliferation and weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, and the Pacific Rim.