Iraqis crowd into a central square in Najaf, Iraq, Dec. 19, 2004, after a car bomb exploded during a funeral procession for a tribal sheik. This blast followed one about an hour before in Karbala. Image made from television.
The aftermath of a suicide car bombing outside Karbala's main bus station, Dec. 19, 2004. The blast killed at least 13 people and wounded at least 30 others. Image made from television.
A gunman kills a man lying in Baghdad's Haifa Street after being pulled from a car, Dec. 19. The man at right was executed moments later, along with another man not shown in picture. About 30 militants hurling hand grenades and firing machine guns attacked a car carrying five people employed by the commission's Baghdad office and tried "to drag them out," said Adel al-Lami, a member of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq.
In this image released by the Iraqi Special Tribunal, Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali" sits prior to his preliminary investigative hearing at an undisclosed courtroom in Baghdad, Iraq, Dec. 18, 2004. An Iraqi judge of the Iraqi Special Tribunal started interrogating the notorious general, who is accused of gassing thousands of Kurds in the 1980s.
U.S. Marine Pfc Michael Birdsong, from Gravel Ridge, Ark., sights his rifle on a nearby building to provide security while his squad members in the back of a Humvee behind him prepare to depart after the patrol and search of a partially occupied residential neighborhood, in Ramadi, Iraq, Dec. 16, 2004.
A man smokes next a four-wheel drive vehicle soaked in blood after unidentified gunmen shot dead Qassim Mehawi, a deputy minister of communications in Baghdad, Dec. 16 2004. Eight of Mehawi's bodyguards were injured in the attack and were taken to hospital.
A son, left, and a brother, no names available, of assassinated Iraqi deputy Minister of Communications Qassim Mehawi cry over his coffin in Baghdad, Dec. 16, 2004. Mehawi was assassinated in a drive-by shooting in the Jami'a neighborhood as he was heading to work. Eight of his bodyguards were injured in the attack.
A man puts up a close-up photograph of Iraq's interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi as a background to a media conference in Baghdad, Dec. 15 2004.
A boy cries as he holds a photograph of Shiite cleric Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr in Baghdad's Shiite enclave of Sadr City, Dec. 15 2004, during activities marking the anniversary of his death in 1999. Al-Sadr was killed by Saddam Hussein's regime.
Iraqis check a car destroyed when a U.S. tank drove over it in Baghdad's al-Dora district, Dec. 15, 2004.
Iraqi National Guards secure the area during Iraq's interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's press conference in Baghdad, Dec. 15, 2004.
U.S. soldiers inspect a car destroyed when a car bomb exploded in Baghdad, Dec. 14, 2004.
Adil Ali, wounded in a car bomb explosion, is brought into Baghdad's Yarmouk hospital, Dec. 14, 2004.
A U.S. Marine, left, and an armed Iraqi, right, keep guard in front of the bullet-marked Governorate building for Al Anbar Province, in Ramadi, Iraq, Dec. 13, 2004.
American troops seal off the area after a car bomb attack in Baghdad, Dec. 13, 2004.
Sgt. Dustin Miller of F Troop, 9th Cavalry, stands guard near the crater of a car bomb that exploded near a checkpoint to the International Zone in central Baghdad, Dec. 13, 2004.
Workers clear the site after a car bomb attack in Baghdad, Dec. 13, 2004.
A man wounded in car bomb explosion is taken to Baghdad's Yarmouk hospital, Dec. 13, 2004.
American security forces inspect the site after a car bomb attack in Baghdad, Dec. 13, 2004.
Shiites carry a symbolic coffin and a portrait of Shiite cleric Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr during a procession that marks the fifth anniversary of his death in Baghdad's Sadr City, Dec. 13, 2004. Al-Sadr was killed by Saddam Hussein's regime in 1999.