U.S. and Iraqi soldiers stand guard outside the Regional Democracy Center, where members of the Democratic Iraqi Gathering (DIG) party are meeting in the city of Hilla, the capital of Babylon province, 62 miles south of Baghdad, Jan. 16, 2005.
U.S. Army 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry soldiers watch over a traffic circle in Mosul, Iraq, Jan. 16, 2005, an area plagued by car bombs and other insurgent attacks. U.S. and Iraqi authorities are scrambling to prepare for elections in Mosul in the face of mass resignations of polling staff and police forces.
A member of the Iraqi police special forces rides on the back of a vehicle past an election banner featuring, Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, in Baghdad, Jan. 16, 2005.
An U.S. soldier stands by as Iraqis rally outside the Oil Ministry in Baghdad, Jan. 16, 2005.
Shadows cast at a wall covered with the posters urging Iraqis to vote in upcoming elections, in Baghdad, Jan. 14, 2005.
U.S. soldiers survey the scene after an attack on their convoy, in Baghdad's Dora district, Jan. 14, 2005.
Iraqis warm themselves below an electoral poster featuring the Shiite cleric Ali al Sistani, in downtown Baghdad, Jan. 14, 2005.
Iraqis gather outside a Shiite community center in Khan Bani Saad, near Baqouba, Iraq, some 20 miles northeast of Baghdad, Jan. 13, 2005. A suicide car bombing at the site killed at least three people and wounded eight, according to police.
Iraqis gather outside the Shiite community center in Khan Bani Saad, near Baqouba, some 20 miles northeast of Baghdad, Jan. 13, 2005.
U.S. Army armored vehicles and troops patrol in the Iraqi city of Mosul, some 225 miles north of Baghdad, Jan. 12, 2005.
An Iraqi waits near a gas station to get fuel, in Baghdad, Iraq, Jan. 12, 2005. The lack of heating fuel is among the worst of the shortages in Iraq, where an unseasonably cold winter has brought below-freezing temperatures.
A U.S. soldier attempts to maintain order as Iraqis wait behind barbed wire at a petrol station to get fuel, in Baghdad, Jan. 12, 2005.
Ahmed helps his blind grandfather as they walk past a wall covered with election posters, in Baghdad, Iraq, Jan. 12, 2005. The election is planned for Jan. 30 and is the first democratic vote in Iraq since the country was formed in 1932.
Iraqi police survey the scene of the previous night's car bomb explosion, in Basra, Iraq, Jan. 11, 2005.
Iraqi boys play soccer below the poster advertizing upcoming general elections reading "to grant Iraqi children better Iraq" in Baghdad, Jan. 11. 2005.
Aftermath of attack on police station, Basra, Iraq, video still, Jan 11, 2005.
An armed Iraqi guard stands besides an election poster showing the portrait of the Shiite cleric Ali al Sistani, in front of a bank in Azamiyah district in Baghdad, Jan. 10, 2005. The election planned for Jan. 30 is the first democratic vote in Iraq since the country was formed in 1932.
U.S. troops secure the scene after an explosion outside the police station in Baghdad's neighborhood of Zafarniyah, Jan. 10, 2005. A suicide car bomb exploded in the courtyard of a police station in southern Baghdad, killing at least four policemen and injuring 10 others. A fake police car packed with explosives was used in the attack.
Iraqis look over the wreckage of a car bomb that exploded when a U.S. military convoy passed in Baqouba, Iraq, Jan. 10, 2005. There were no casualties.
An Iraqi woman reacts after her home was struck with a rocket, in Bagdad's neighborhood of al Zafranea, Jan. 10, 2005. Two children were injured when a rocket was fired by the unidentified attackers at the residential part of Baghdad.