An Iraqi band plays during a ceremony that marked the re-opening of al-Rasheed Street in central Baghdad, Iraq on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2008. The street was reopened for traffic for the first time in four years.
A US soldier plays soccer with an Iraqi kid during a routine patrol in the village of Talia'ah, 20 miles north-west of Diwaniyah, Iraq, Sunday, Oct. 19, 2008.
A US soldier jokes with an Iraqi child during a routine patrol in the village of Talia'ah, 20 miles north-west of Diwaniyah, Iraq, Sunday, Oct. 19, 2008.
An Iraqi man prays inside the Imam Abbas Shrine during Friday prayers in the holy Shiite city of Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Oct. 17, 2008.
A young boy watches worshippers as they attend Friday prayers in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City, in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Oct. 17, 2008.
A U.S. soldier stands guard while Awakening Council members sit around during a ceremony marking reopening of a renovated primary school in Karaghol, 20 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2008.
Bahnan Alias, an Iraqi Christian eats breakfast inside a Christian school in the village of Bartolla, eight miles east of Mosul, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2008.
An American soldier stands guard, watched by a dog, during a routine patrol in the neighborhood of Dora in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2008. Yellow haze is caused by a heavy dust storm.
A man sells face masks during a heavy sandstorm in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2008. The sandstorm turned Iraq's capital into a pinkish haze Thursday, sending dozens of people to the hospital with respiratory problems and delaying a number of international flights.
Iraqi Shiite women react over the loss of their relatives outside a morgue in Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq, on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008.
A man holds a skull believed to be of his relative in Karbala's hospital morgue, about 50 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq, on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008. Bodies of 22 shepherds, apparently killed by gunmen more than one year ago, were found in a mass grave in al-Rufe'a area, in western Karbala, the police said.
An Iraqi homeless woman sleeps with her child at the back of a cart, in a street of central Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2008. In Iraq, a country with vast potential wealth from natural resources, large sections of the population are living in poverty.
A U.S. soldier inspects a hole near a wall of a building after a bomb went off in Dora neighborhood, southwestern Baghdad, on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008, wounding four Iraqi soldiers and five Awakening Council members, police said.
A U.S. soldier inspects a building after a bomb went off in Dora neighborhood, southwestern Baghdad, on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008.
Assyrian church priest Tomas Hanna Chamoun, center, and Moustafa al-Jibouri, leader of Awakening Council in southern Baghdad, second right, lead a demonstration in Dora neighborhood, Baghdad, Iraq, on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008, demanding a halt to violence against Christians in the city of Mosul.
Catholic Iraqi women pray in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary at the yard of Mar Yousif church (Saint Joseph) in Karada neighborhood, Baghdad, Iraq, on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2008.
Relatives of Mandaean student Saif Majik mourn next to his coffin at his home, during a funeral in the predominantly Shiite Bayaa district, southwestern Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Oct. 13, 2008. Saif, 26, was one of seven people killed Sunday by a car bomb explosion in a commercial street in the Bayaa district. The Mandaeans are a pre-Christian sect that follow the teachings of John the Baptist.
A Christian boy looks on as he sits at the back of his family car after leaving Mosul, at a checkpoint of Qaraqosh area about 18 miles east of Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, Iraq, on Monday, Oct. 13, 2008.
Qutaiba Majik, left, grieves with a relative during the funeral of his brother, Mandaean student Saif Majik, in the predominantly Shiite Bayaa district, southwestern Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Oct. 13, 2008.
A wounded Iraqi police officer is seen outside the Al Kindi hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, on Monday, Oct. 13, 2008.