A U.S. soldier watches as a statue of Iraq's President Saddam Hussein falls
in central Baghdad April 9, 2003. U.S. troops pulled down a 20-foot (six
metre) high statue of President Saddam Hussein in central Baghdad on
Wednesday and Iraqis danced on it in contempt for the man who ruled them
with an iron grip for 24 years. In scenes reminiscent of the fall of the
Berlin Wall in 1989, Iraqis earlier took a sledgehammer to the marble plinth
under the statue of Saddam. Youths had placed a noose around the statue's
neck and attached the rope to a U.S. armoured recovery vehicle. PP03040026
Pictures of the month April 2003 REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

GOT 

An explosion rocks Baghdad during air strikes March 21, 2003. U.S.-led
forces unleashed a devastating blitz on Baghdad on Friday night, triggering
giant fireballs and deafening explosions and sending huge mushroom clouds
above the city centre. Missiles slammed into the main palace complex of
President Saddam Hussein on the bank of the Tigris River, and key government
buildings, in an onslaught that far exceeded strikes that launched the war
on Thursday, Reuters correspondents said. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic Pictures
of the month March 2003 Pictures of the year 2003 < GOT/JDP

MIDEAST 

An Iraqi girl holds her sister as she waits for her mother (R) to bring over
food bought in Basra March 29, 2003. Iraqi forces still hold the centre of
Iraq's second city Basra and British troops fighting for control of the
country's southeast do not plan to rush in, a British army spokesman said on
Saturday. REUTERS/Jerry Lampen PP03030076 Pictures of the month March 2003 PP04020111 JFL/ also see RP3DRIQNVKAA 

A body of Iraqi man lies by the road side north of Al Nassiriyah on March
25, 2003. More than 30 men of military age were killed on the key northern
highway by an apparent U.S. air strike on the vehicles carrying the Iraqis.
REUTERS/Damir Sagolj Pictures of the Year 2003 PP04020111
DS/JDP 

A US Army combat engineer, with Psalm 23 written on his kevlar, bows his
head as he takes a short rest after securing an important two lane bridge
over the Euphrates river, about 20 km outside Baghdad to push the 3rd
infantry's convoy of more than 3000 vehicles towards Baghdad April 4, 2003.
U.S. forces seized control of Baghdad's international airport on Friday,
their biggest prize so far in a 16-day-old war to overthrow President Saddam
Hussein. PP03040013 PP04020111
REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach Pictures of the Year 2003 

U.S. Marines from Lima Company, a part of a 7-th Marine Regiment, walk
in front of the Martyrs Monument, during the operation of securing the
centre of Baghdad on April 9, 2003. Iraqis joyously welcomed U.S.
Marines driving through eastern Baghdad on Wednesday and looters moved
in as the remnants of Saddam Hussein's rule collapsed. Hundreds of
jubilant Iraqis cheered, danced, waved and threw flowers as Marines
advanced through eastern Baghdad and into the centre of Saddam's seat
of power. REUTERS/Oleg Popov

OP/AA 

U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman HM1 Richard Barnett, assigned to the 1st Marine Division, holds an Iraqi child in central Iraq in this March 29, 2003 file photo. Confused front line crossfire ripped apart an Iraqi family after local soldiers appeared to force civilians towards positions held by U.S. Marines. March 20 marks the one year anniversary of the beginning of the U.S. led war against Iraq. The war started on March 20 Baghdad local time, March 19 Washington D.C. local time. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj HIGHEST QUALITY AVAILABLE 

A detained Iraqi man with a plastic bag covering his head sits in garden of
a house searched by U.S. soldiers during a night raid in Tikrit October 30,
2003. Soldiers of U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division (Task Force Ironhorse)
raided several houses in Tikrit looking for members of suspected terrorist
cell planing attacks on coalition forces in Saddam Hussein's hometown
Tikrit. Pictures of the month October 2003. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

DS 

Captain Christopher Fallon from Orlando, Florida, of the 1st battalion of
the 22nd regiment of the fourth division of the U.S. army plays baseball in
one of the palaces of the ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein at an U.S.
army base in Tikrit, about 110 miles (180 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad
September 16, 2003. REUTERS/Arko Datta PP03090103

AD/ 

The White House said on October 29, 2003 that it had helped with the
production of a "Mission Accomplished" banner as a backdrop for
President George W. Bush's speech onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln to
declare combat operations over in Iraq. This file photo shows Bush
delivering a speech to crew aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham
Lincoln, as the carrier steamed toward San Diego, California on May 1,
2003. REUTERS/Larry Downing/FILE

KL/GN/GAC 

A soldier of U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division (Task Force Ironhorse) searches through dense vegetation around the Diala river where Iraqi militants are hiding outside Baquba early November 13, 2003. U.S. troops raided several houses outside Baquba just before dawn looking for supporters of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein including an Iraqi man suspected of attacking coalition forces and being an executor for Saddam's regime. HIGH QUALITY FILE REUTERS/Damir Sagolj REUTERS BOOKS ON THE ROAD BOOK DS 

U.S. soldiers pray during a memorial service for late PFC Allen Brenton Jaynes from Texas, in the U.S. forces army camp in Baghdad, January 26, 2007. Jaynes was killed last week by a roadside bomb while four of his colleagues were wounded. REUTERS/Erik de Castro (IRAQ) 

An Iraqi National Guardsman is comforted by soldiers after a colleague was killed in a gunfight with insurgents in Baghdad July 7, 2004. Insurgents battled U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces in central Baghdad on Wednesday as the interim government announced a new security law giving itself wider powers to combat militants and stabilize the country. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra Pictures of the Year 2004 HH/JV 

An Iraqi detainee gestures toward U.S. soldiers through bars of his cell at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad May 17, 2004. [Security concerns and outrage at the treatment of Iraqi prisoners at a jail west of Baghdad have piled the pressure on the U.S.-led occupiers and threatened President Bush's bid for re-election in November.] 

US Marines kick in a door while securing a building next to the main
hospital in central Baghdad April 15, 2003, which will be used as a
temporary Iraqi police headquarters. Thousands of guerrillas, including
Iraqis loyal to Saddam Hussein and foreign fighters, pose a threat to
U.S. troops and complicate efforts to bring stability to postwar Iraq,
defense officials said on Tuesday. "There are still hazards lingering
throughout the country of Iraq," Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks told a
briefing in Qatar. REUTERS/Jerry Lampen

JFL/AA 

A U.S. soldier and Iraqi policeman search a room as an Iraqi child sleeps on
the bed during a joint raid by the 401 Military Police Company of the U.S.
army and the Iraqi police in Tikrit, about 110 miles (180 kilometres)
northwest of Baghdad September 29, 2003. Fifteen houses were searched and
raided in an effort to capture Saddam Hussein loyalists. Four persons were
detained for questioning. Pictures of the Year 2003 Pictures of the
month September 2003 REUTERS/Arko Datta

AD/ 

A row of U.S. Army helmets are perched on M-16 rifles during a memorial at
Al Asad air base November 6, 2003 for the 15 victims of a Chinook helicopter
which was shot down by insurgents on the weekend. Against a backdrop of 15
helmets resting on M-16 rifles, American soldiers on Thursday honoured their
comrades, victims of the single deadliest incident for U.S. forces sinces
they invaded Iraq. Pictures of the Month November 2003 REUTERS/Chris
Helgren PP03110073 IRQI Pictures of the year 2003
CLH/ 

U.S. Marine platoon Gunnery Sergeant, Ryan P. Shane (C), from the 1st Battalion of the 8th Marine Regiment and another member of 1/8 pull a fatally wounded comrade to safety while under fire during a military operation in the Iraqi western city of Falluja, in this handout photograph released on December 17, 2004. Seconds later Sgt. Shane was also injured by nearby enemy fire, U.S. Marine officer said. REUTERS/HO/USMC/Cpl. Joel A. Chaverri pictures of the month December 2004 HH/ 

A bloodied insurgent sits blindfolded in an Iraqi police station after being captured during a morning battle in the southwestern Al-Bayaa district of Baghdad June 20, 2005. Police, U.S. forces, and Iraqi interior ministry forces surrounded the area after an attack on a local police station. Five Iraqi police personnel were killed and 11 insurgents were arrested, police said. REUTERS/Ali Jasim Pictures of the Month June 2005 Pictures of the Year 2005 AW/mk 

Mays, a young Iraqi Shi'ite girl, cries after a mortar shell which landed outside the family's home in a Najaf residential area injured her uncle August 18, 2004. The leader of a Shi'ite uprising in Iraq agreed on Wednesday to leave a holy shrine encircled by U.S. marines, hours after the interim government threatened to storm it and drive out his fighters. But even after the announcement, explosions and gun fire echoed through the streets as U.S. forces battled Sadr's Mehdi Army militiamen, whose two-week-old uprising poses the biggest challenge yet to Iraq's interim government. REUTERS/Ali Jasim Pictures of the Year 2004 CLH/PK 

A man looks at his wife and baby as he is searched by U.S. Army soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division at a traffic checkpoint in Baghdad March 15, 2005. U.S. and Iraqi military forces are maintaining a high profile on Baghdad streets in advance of Wednesday's meeting of the national assembly. Iraq was still without a new government on Tuesday, the eve of its first parliament session, with leading Shi'ites and the Kurds split over the share out of posts and the Kurds seeking greater control of the north. Pictures of the Month March 2005 REUTERS/Bob Strong Pictures of the Year 2005 RCS/MD 

A man looks at the shattered windshield of a car after a bomb attack outside a Sunni mosque in Baghdad July 7, 2006. Bomb blasts rocked two Sunni mosques in Baghdad shortly after Friday noon prayers, killing at least five people and wounding nine, police said. REUTERS/Ceerwan Aziz (IRAQ) 

A man runs down a street warning people to flee shortly after a twin car bomb attack at Shorja market in Baghdad February 12, 2007. Three bomb attacks at markets in Baghdad killed at least 64 people and wounded 150 on Monday as Iraqis marked the first anniversary of a Shi'ite shrine bombing that pitched the country to the brink of civil war. REUTERS/Ceerwan Aziz (IRAQ) Also refer to: GF1DUQQODYAA 

An Iraqi girl holds her hands up while U.S. and Iraqi soldiers search her family house in Baquba early June 30, 2007. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic (IRAQ) 

An Iraqi man suspected of having explosives in his car is held after being arrested by the U.S army near Baquba, Iraq, October 15, 2005. Iraqis headed to the polls in an historic referendum on Saturday, with up to 15 million eligible voters deciding on a controversial new post-Saddam Hussein constitution that its backers hope will unite the torn country. Amid intense security, including a ban on all traffic, voters flowed on foot to polling stations across Baghdad. REUTERS/Jorge Silva HIGHEST QUALITY AVAILABLE 

British soldier jumps from a burning tank which was set ablaze after a shooting incident in the southern Iraqi city of Basra September 19, 2005. Angry crowds attacked a British tank with petrol bombs and rocks in Basra on Monday after Iraqi authorities said they had detained two British undercover soldiers in the southern city for firing on police. Two Iraqis were killed in the violence, an Interior Ministry official said. Pictures of the Year 2005 REUTERS/Atef Hassan FR05090016 also see GF1DTZKTLRAA 

A U.S. helicopter patrols the area around Baghdad November 8, 2005. The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to let the U.S.-led multinational force in Iraq remain in place through the end of 2006, as requested by Iraq's government. Photo taken November 8, 2005. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich Pictures of the Month November 2005 

RNPS IMAGES OF THE YEAR 2007 - U.S. soldiers push the car of an Iraqi man to start the engine at a checkpoint in north Baghdad June 13, 2007. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic (IRAQ) 

U.S. soldiers blindfold an Iraqi man after arresting him during a night patrol at the Zafraniya neighborhood, southeast of Baghdad September 4, 2007. REUTERS/Carlos Barria (IRAQ) 

An Iraqi man unbuttons his shirt as U.S. soldiers point their laser sights on him during an operation near Baiji oil refinery December 24, 2007. REUTERS/Bob Strong (IRAQ) 

Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein argues with prosecutors while testifying during cross-examination at his trial in Baghdad's Green Zone April 5, 2006. Hussein returned to court on Wednesday and, in remarks likely to inflame sectarian tensions, immediately accused the Iraqi Interior Ministry of killing and torturing thousands of Iraqis. REUTERS/David Furst/Pool 

ATTENTION EDITORS - VISUALS COVERAGE OF SCENES OF DEATH OR INJURY
A U.S. soldier displays the picture of the dead Al Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, during a news conference at the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad June 8, 2006. REUTERS/Ceerwan Aziz (IRAQ) 

An Iraqi man holds his hands up as U.S soldiers and Iraqi special police search his house for weapons in Baquba, in Diyala province some 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad late October 26, 2008. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic (IRAQ) 

An Iraqi police officer checks a donkey, pulling a disabled man on a cart, before allowing it to enter a polling station in the country's second largest city of Basra, January 30, 2005. Insurgents unleashed a wave of bloody attacks on Iraq's historic election on Sunday, killing at least 22 people and wounding dozens in suicide bombings and mortar strikes at polling stations across the country. Pictures of the month January 2005 Pictures of the Year 2005 REUTERS/Atef Hassan HH/JV 

An Iraqi baby lies in a cradle while a woman argues with U.S. soldiers of 1/8 Bravo Company searching for weapons, explosives and information about militants in the area during a foot patrol in a neighbourhood of Mosul June 26, 2008. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz (IRAQ) 

Relatives grieve as the bodies of policemen are transported to a hospital morgue in Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, August 12, 2007. Three policemen were killed while three others were wounded by gunmen during an ambush near Kirkuk, police said. REUTERS/Slahaldeen Rasheed (IRAQ) 

Sgt. Joseph Crandell of the U.S. 1st Armored Divison holds his seven month old daughter Lena for the first time as he hugs his wife Layla during a welcome home ceremony at the home base in Wiesbaden, Germany, November 25, 2008. The soldiers of the 1st AD returned on Tuesday from a 15month deployment to Iraq. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach (GERMANY) 

Iraqi police remove a suicide vest from an Iraqi girl in Baquba in this handout photo from the Iraqi police taken August 24, 2008. A teenage Iraqi girl wearing a vest packed with explosives turned herself in rather than go through with a suicide bombing in a violence-torn city north of Baghdad, police and the U.S. military said. The girl was later identified as Rania Ibrahim Mutlib. REUTERS/Iraqi Police/Handout (IRAQ) 

A soldier of the Iraqi army elite mobile 3rd Brigade 1st Division holds a ladder for his comrade at an abandoned shopping mall serving as their base in Baghdad early July 6, 2008. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj (IRAQ) 

U.S. soldiers stand near the Swords of Qadisiyah monument in Baghdad March 13, 2008. Picture taken March 13, 2008. REUTERS/Ceerwan Aziz (IRAQ) 

An Iraqi woman reacts as men are taken out of a house and detained by U.S. soldiers of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armour Division and Iraqi soldiers during a joint military operation in Baghdad's Sadr City July 12, 2008. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj (IRAQ) 

A resident gestures as he talks to a U.S. soldier from 2nd Brigade combat team, 82nd Airborne on patrol in Baghdad's Adhamiya district January 5, 2008. Picture taken January 5, 2008. REUTERS/Mahmoud Raouf Mahmoud (IRAQ) 

A U.S. soldier waves to residents at the newly-opened Mithaq swimming pool in Baghdad's Sadr City August 30, 2008. REUTERS/ Thaier al-Sudani (IRAQ) also see: GF2E4930ZL101 

Iraqi soldiers look at a former colleague as he runs with a new prosthetic leg during the opening of an Iraqi military hospital in Baghdad January 19, 2009. The former soldier lost his leg during a bomb attack in Baghdad. REUTERS/Mohammed Ameen (IRAQ) 

Laura Youngblood, widow of U.S. Navy Petty Officer Travis L. Youngblood, touches his grave stone while visiting his grave in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery during the Memorial Day weekend in Arlington, Virginia, May 24, 2009. Youngblood died of wounds received in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in July of 2005 in Iraq. REUTERS/Larry Downing (UNITED STATES POLITICS MILITARY) 

Residents mourn as they wait to claim bodies of bomb attack victims outside a morgue in Baghdad August 17, 2010. The toll from the suicide bombing at an Iraqi army recruitment centre on Tuesday rose to 47 killed and 77 wounded, a deputy health minister said. REUTERS/Saad Shalash (IRAQ - Tags: CONFLICT) 

An Iraqi boy is taken away from a suspected militant, who has been accused of killing his father at the height of the sectarian slaughter in 2006-07, during a presentation to the media at the Interior Ministry in Baghdad November 21, 2011. A total of 22 suspected militants were presented to the media on Monday as they await their trial, according to the police. REUTERS/Saad Shalash (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CRIME LAW TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) FOR BEST QUALITY SEE GF2E7BM0WYK01 

U.S. Air Force Major Stacie Shafran carries her luggage to a loading paddock while waiting for her departure from Iraq at the former U.S. Sather Air Base near Baghdad, Iraq December 14, 2011. The former base that is currently still operational was handed over to the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center run by the State Department on December 1st. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton (IRAQ - Tags: MILITARY CONFLICT SOCIETY)