Helen Clark's decision not to send troops to war in 2003 has been vindicated by the Chilcot report on Britain's Britain's role in the Iraqi invasion, says Labour's Andrew Little

As Britain debates the damning Chilcot report Iraq keeps counting the dead with some saying the country was more secure under Saddam Hussein.

Twenty-nine never-before-seen letters from George W. Bush's presidency are about to be published as part of an explosive report.

Prime Minister John Key has done so many u-turns this week he is in danger of coming to the attention of his boyracer-car-crushing minister Judith Collins.

US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter has thanked the New Zealand Government for agreeing to extend its deployment to Iraq

COMMENT: For those who travelled to Taji with PM, his decision to extend the deployment of 120 troops to train Iraqi forces had a sense of inevitability.

Labour leader Andrew Little says he will withdraw New Zealand troops from Iraq if his party is elected to power next year.

Four Iraqi soldiers have been killed in a suicide bombing outside the camp New Zealand troops are based at.

Iraqi forces have pushed into the southern edge of Fallujah, enduring car bombs and sniper fire from Isis fighters determined to hold onto the city.

She's young, beautiful and studying politics and philosophy. But this young Danish woman isn't your average uni student.

Kiwi soldiers sent to help train Iraqi security forces back in New Zealand.

A group of gunmen, including two suicide bombers, stormed a coffee shop in a town north of Baghdad, killing at least 14 people and wounding 15

Three separate car bombings in the Iraqi capital Wednesday killed at least 93 people and wounded at least 165.

Isis militants killed dozens of people in two major attacks on Baghdad yesterday, bombing a market and assaulting security forces on the city's outskirts.

Australian army Colonel Gavin Keating faced a curious quandary as he prepared to depart for Iraq - what about the rugby?

New Zealand soldiers training Iraqi troops have turned to a rudimentary fighting weapon - the bayonet.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has called on European countries to "step up" with stronger help to defeat the Islamic State during a brief, unannounced visit to Australian troops in Iraq.

Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee has launched a high-level review of New Zealand troops' role in the fight against Isis.

The Paris attacks and the largely stalemated war in Iraq and Syria have prompted heavy criticism of Barack Obama's handling of the fight against Isis.

Warda Jawad came to NZ as a child when her family fled war in the Middle East.

Filmed from a camera attached to a helmet of one of the commandos, the viewer sees the scene more or less as that soldier did.

It was hard for some to see the justification in Key's decision to deploy the troops in the first place, writes Cliare Trevett. It is harder still to see how Key will justify a decision to cut and run.

Veteran diplomat Carl Worker has been appointed the role which was created late last year after NZ confirmed plans to send troops to Iraq.

John Key said he left Iraq feeling reassured that the troops he deployed six months ago are in a safe place and were making a difference.

Whatever Paradise was, it will not be opening any time soon in the Taji Military Camp.

Any pretence that Russia's heightened involvement in Syria's messy civil war would focus on destroying the Islamic State has evaporated very quickly.

John Key has just visited the NZ troops at Taji Military Camp - a dramatic two days in a place he has described as a "god-damn awful place."

Prime Minister John Key says he has no intention of extending NZ's two year deployment to Iraq despite Barack Obama telling coalition partners it will be a long-term battle.