Huge smoke billows behind the former Presidential Palace of toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein at the heavily fortified area known as the "Green Zone," a base for coalition forces and civilian personnel, after another explosion Sunday evening March 7, 2004, in Baghdad, Iraq.
Iraqi hotel workers and foreign journalists leave the Palestine and Sheraton Hotels after traffic was halted for hours as U.S. troops (unseen) inspected a truck loaded with rocks after sniffer dogs found traces of explosives as it entered a checkpoint Sunday, March 7, 2004, in Baghdad. U.S. troops were on high alert on the eve of the historic signing of the new Iraqi interim constitution.
U.S. troops put plastic cuffs to a striking Iraqi health worker after flushing him out as he tried to ransack the Health Ministry office in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, March 6, 2004. He and other dismissed health workers tried to storm the building to demand back wages but were flushed out by responding U.S. and new Iraqi Army troops, who made a few arrests.
An Iraqi lights candles after placing flowers by the side door of Kazimiya Shrine, which was damaged by Tuesday's coordinated suicide attacks in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, March 4, 2004. Tuesday's coordinated attacks in Baghdad and the holy city of Karbala, which killed more than 100 people and injured hundreds more, was the bloodiest attacks carried out in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Iraqi Shiites pray under a heavy security for their regular Friday prayers on March 5, 2004, at the Shiite-populated Sadr city in Baghdad, Iraq. Security has been tightened at Shiite mosques and public gatherings following the coordinated attacks Tuesday in Baghdad and the holy city of Karbala, which killed 181 people and injured 573 others.
Iraqis raise empty coffins in a symbolic funeral Friday, March 5, 2004, at the Kazimiya Shrine to honor the victims of Tuesday's suicide attacks in Baghdad and at the holy city of Karbala. U.S. officials put the death toll in Tuesday's twin suicide bombings at 181 with 573 more injured, the bloodiest attacks in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
An Iraqi man pushes his wife on a cart as they pass by a blood-stained plastic bag outside a hospital in the Kazimiya neighborhood in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, March 3, 2004. The bloodstains were from the victims of Tuesday's series of suicide attacks at the Al-Khadum mosque in Baghdad which killed 58 and injured more than 200.
Bodies of Iranian pilgrims killed in Tuesday's suicide attacks are claimed by fellow Iranian pilgrims to be brought back to Iran at a hospital morgue in Karbala, south of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, March 4, 2004.
An Iraqi shouts slogans as a funeral of a victim of Tuesday's suicide attacks turns into an anti-American protest Wednesday, March 3, 2004, at the Al-Khadum Shiite Mosque in the Kazimiya district of Baghdad.
An Iraqi woman pleads Tuesday, March 2, 2004, to get inside a hospital near Khadimiya section of Baghdad, where two women from her family were being treated for injuries from a bombing at a Shiite shrine.
U.S. Army soldiers detain an Iraqi after after a stone-throwing mob attacked U.S. forces outside Camp Bonzai in Baghdad Tuesday, March 2, 2004. The soldiers had been treating Iraqis injured from multiple explosions at the nearby Imam Kadhim Shrine when the mob attacked the troops, many of whom were medics.
An angry mob of Iraqis throw rocks at U.S. troops after retreating back to their camp following a series of explosions near a Shiite mosque in Khadimiya in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, March 2, 2004.
Moments after the attacks, a youth runs past the victims and burning debris at the site of several bomb blasts, which exploded in densely-occupied areas, during the holy day of Ashoura, a Shiite festival, in the holy city of Karbala, Iraq, Tuesday, March 2, 2004.
A U.S. soldier prepares to extinguish a fire that engulfed a Hummer military vehicle following an attack in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday morning, March 2, 2004, killing a U.S. soldier. It was one of a series of attacks on Tuesday, which killed scores of people as Shiites marked the final day of Ashoura, the 10-day mourning of the death of one of their most important saints, Imam Hussein.
The flash from an explosion is seen between two buildings in the holy city of Karbala, Iraq, Tuesday, March 2, 2004, during the holy day of Ashoura, a Shiite festival.
In this four-second exposure, gathered Shiite Muslims look on as a candlelight procession weaves its way among them on its way out of the Imam Hussein shrine compound, on the eve of the final holy day of Ashoura, in the the Shiite city of Karbala, Iraq, Monday, March 1, 2004.
A Shiite Muslim pilgrim crawls into the compound of the Imam Hussein shrine, in recognition of the Ashura holy days, in the holy Shiite city of Karbala, Iraq, Monday, March 1, 2004.
Shiite Muslims walk around the Imam Hussein holy shrine in Karbala, Iraq, Monday, March 1, 2004. Hundreds of thousands of Shiite Muslims from around the world are gathering with Iraqis for the Shiite religious festival, which marks the battle of year 680 A.D. in which Imam Hussein, the grandson of Islam's Prophet Mohammed, was killed. During the rule of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, such rituals were banned in Iraq.
Iraqi Shiite men wear 7th century battle armor as they reenact an important Shiite historical event during the Ashoura festival in Karbala, Iraq, Monday, March 1, 2004.
An armed Iraqi guard watches thousands of Iraqi Shiites who gather at Al-Khullani Mosque to mark the Shiite festival of Ashoura, the mourning of the death of one of their most important saints, Imam Hussein, in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, March 1, 2004.