Iraq Photos: Dec. 25 -- Dec. 31

In this television screen grab taken from Iraqi national television station Al-iraqia, a video shows the moments leading up to the execution of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein standing on the gallows as he prepared for hanging, on Dec. 30, 2006 in Baghdad.

An Iraqi girl carries two empty plastic bottles to where U.S. soldiers are waiting for a mission to begin, begging them for drinking water, in Baghdad, Iraq — AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic

An Iraqi girl carries two empty plastic bottles to a spot where U.S. soldiers are waiting for a mission to begin, begging them for drinking water, in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Dec. 29, 2006.

An Iraqi passes a defaced mural that depicts the country's ousted dictator Saddam Hussein in Basra, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Dec. 29, 2006. Saddam still remains in U.S. custody, pending his handover to Iraqi authorities for execution, a top Iraqi official said.

A masked Iraqi rests a rifle on his shoulder as he plays the role of a terrorist in a performance in Baghdad's Shiite slum of Sadr City, Iraq, Thursday, Dec. 28, 2006. The performance was organized by the powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's bureau to honor victims of terrorist attacks in Iraq.

An Iraqi woman carries a child who plays dead as they take part in a performance in Baghdad's Shiite slum of Sadr City, Iraq, Thursday, Dec. 28, 2006. Organized by the powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's bureau, it was intended to honor victims of terrorist attacks in Iraq.

A U.S. Army soldier from Company A of the 5th Batallion, 20th Infantry Regiment stands guard on a rooftop as an Apache helicopter passes overhead in New Baghdad, an eastern neighborhood in Baghdad, Iraq where soldiers searched for weapons and suspected insurgents on Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2006.

An Iraqi reads a newspaper with the front page dedicated to news of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's death sentence appeal rejection in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2006. Iraq's highest court upheld Saddam's death sentence and said the former dictator must be hanged within 30 days for ordering the killing of scores of Shiite Muslims in 1982.

An Iraqi man goes through debris left after a car bomb blast in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2006. A car bomb detonated near an Iraqi army checkpoint in eastern Baghdad, killing eight civilians, police said.

An Iraqi mother grieves as she sits next to her son outside Baghdad's Yarmouk hospital, Iraq, Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2006, and waits to collect the body of her other son who was killed in Tuesday's triple car bomb attack.

A girl watches U.S. Army soldiers from Company B of the 5th Batallion, 20th Infantry Regiment stand guard by the exterior gate while other soldiers search a home in New Baghdad, an eastern neighborhood in Baghdad, Iraq, where soldiers searched for weapons and suspected insurgents on Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2006.

Iraqis load a coffin with the body of a man killed in a suicide-bomber's attack onto a car in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2006. The suicide bomber struck a minibus in eastern Baghdad Monday, killing three people and injuring another 19, police said.

Iraqis pass by scattered vegetables and destroyed vendor booths at the scene of a car-bomb attack in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2006. Three coordinated car bombs went off in western Baghdad, killing at least 25 persons and injuring another 55, a doctor at the Yarmouk hospital, where the victims of the attack were taken, said.

An Iraqi looks at a pile of destroyed cars at the scene of a car-bomb attack in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2006.

A U.S. soldier from the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, looks on during an anti-American demonstration in Baghdad, Monday, Dec. 25, 2006. Soldiers went house to house, searching for weapons and bomb-making materials. That touched off a protest that forced them to cut the mission short in some parts of the city.

A man injured in a suicide-bomber attack lies in the Imam Ali hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Dec. 25, 2006.

A U.S. Army soldier from Company B of the 5th Batallion, 20th Infantry Regiment, stands guard by the exterior while other soldiers search a home for weapons and suspected insurgents, in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Dec. 25, 2006.

An Iraqi inspects a wrecked police vehicle after a British army raid on Jameat police station in Basra, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Dec. 25, 2006. Iraqi officials said the officers in charge of the station were suspected of murder. A British military spokesman said the goal of the operation was to put the police station "out of use" and to disband its serious crimes unit.

Iraqi Christians pray during a Christmas Mass in a church in Sulaimaniyah, 160 miles northeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Dec. 25, 2006. Most of Iraq's Christians, who make up three percent of the country's 26 million people, chose to celebrate the holiday behind the closed doors of their homes fearing sectarian attacks. Others attended the Christmas service in churches in small numbers.

Iraqis look at a minibus destroyed in a suicide-bomb attack in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Dec. 25, 2006. A suicide bomber struck in east Baghdad, detonating himself inside a minibus carrying passengers.

U.S. soldiers enjoy their Christmas lunch at the U.S. Embassy dining facility inside the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Dec. 25, 2006.

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