From an internal Post email obtained by FishbowlDC:

We're pleased to announce that Amit Paley has agreed to join Foreign's team in Baghdad covering the Iraq war. This is a return engagement for Amit, who reported from the war zone with distinction last year. As the conflict lengthens into the fifth year and an autumn of uncertainty, we feel fortunate to have Amit taking a place in the Baghdad newsroom. He will join bureau chief Sudarsan Raghavan and correspondent Joshua Partlow in what has become one of the most trying and difficult assignments we've ever confronted.

Amit has been breaking story after story this year on the national education beat, including the disclosure of improper searches of a massive federal database of student records and extravagant spending by a non-profit loan company. Previously he covered various beats on Metro, including local politics, crime and education.

He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College with a joint degree in Social Studies and East Asian studies. While at Harvard, he was president of The Harvard Crimson, the university's student newspaper.

Amit will start in September.

We want everyone who is interested to know that as long as the war goes on, so will our needs. Please don't hesitate to come talk with us, or our correspondents.