Photos: Iraq then and now
March 19, 2013
The crossed swords monument at the site of a photo of U.S. soldiers taken by Associated Press photographer Karim Kadim on Nov. 16, 2008. The crossed-sword archways Saddam Hussein commissioned during Iraq's nearly eight-year war with Iran stand defiantly on a little-used parade ground inside the Green Zone, the fortified district that houses the sprawling U.S. Embassy and several government offices. Iraqi officials began tearing down the archways in 2007 but quickly halted those plans and then started restoring the monument two years ago. Photo taken on March 14, 2013. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) ( APTOPIX Mideast Iraq On This Site )
Shoppers walk in Baghdad's busy shopping district of Karrada, at the same site of a photo taken by Associated Press photographer Hadi Mizban on Monday, Sept. 29, 2008 after a bombing that killed 22 people. Bloody attacks launched by terrorists who thrived in the post-invasion chaos are painfully still frequent, albeit less so than a few years back, and sectarian and ethnic rivalries are again tearing at the fabric of national unity. Photo taken on March 16, 2013. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) ( Mideast Iraq On This Site )
Abu Nawas Street in Baghdad, Iraq, at the site of a photograph of Iraqi orphan Fady al-Sadik waking on the street taken by photographer Maya Alleruzzo in April, 2003. The park that runs along Abu Nawas Street, named for an Arabic poet, is now a popular destination for families who are drawn by the manicured gardens, playgrounds and restaurants famous for a fish called mazgouf. Ten years ago, the park was home to a tribe of children orphaned by the war and was rife with crime. Photo taken on March 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) ( APTOPIX Mideast Iraq On This Site )
Motorists fill the main street in Baghdad's busy shopping district of Karrada, at the same site of a photo taken by Associated Press photographer Hadi Mizban on Friday, March 7, 2008 after a bombing that killed 53 people and wounded 130. Bloody attacks launched by terrorists who thrived in the post-invasion chaos are painfully still frequent, albeit less so than a few years back, and sectarian and ethnic rivalries are again tearing at the fabric of national unity. Photo taken on March 16, 2013. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) ( Mideast Iraq On This Site )
Iraqi policeman Ahmed Naji stands on the grounds of the Iraqi National Museum at the site of a photograph showing a U.S. Army tank parked outside the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad taken by Associated Press photographer Murad Sezer on Tuesday, May 6, 2003. Tens of thousands of artifacts chronicling some 7,000 years of civilization in Mesopotamia are believed to have been looted from Iraq in the chaos which followed the the US-led invasion in 2003. Despite international efforts to track items down, fewer than half of the artifacts have so far been retrieved. Photo taken on March 13, 2013. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) ( Mideast Iraq On This Site )
Iraqi policeman Ahmed Naji stands on the grounds of the Iraqi National Museum at the site of a photograph of U.S. soldiers on guard outside the museum taken by Associated Press photographer Anja Niedringhaus on Nov. 11, 2003. Tens of thousands of artifacts chronicling some 7,000 years of civilization in Mesopotamia are believed to have been looted from Iraq in the chaos which followed the the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Despite international efforts to track items down, fewer than half of the artifacts have so far been retrieved. Photo taken on March 13, 2013. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) ( Mideast Iraq On This Site )
A woman and her child look at a camel at the Baghdad Zoo, as Abdullah, 8, poses with a photograph taken by Niko Price of the Associated Press on July 20, 2003 at the same site showing a U.S. soldier visiting the newly-opened zoo. The zoo was decimated during the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, when the staff fled and looters gutted the zoo and the park surrounding it. Only a handful of animals survived, and later the grounds were used as a holding facility for looters detained by U.S. soldiers. The zoo reopened in July 2003, after being rehabilitated under the care of U.S. Army Capt. William Sumner and a South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony. Today, it houses over 1,000 animals and is a popular destination for families. Photo taken on March 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) ( Mideast Iraq On This Site )
Abu Nawas park in Baghdad, at the site of a photograph showing Iraqi orphans playing soccer with a U.S. soldier from the Third Infantry Division taken by photographer Maya Alleruzzo in April, 2003. The park that runs along Abu Nawas Street is now a popular destination for families who are drawn by the manicured gardens, playgrounds and restaurants famous for a fish called mazgouf. Ten years ago, the park was home to a tribe of children orphaned by the war and was rife with crime. Photo taken on March 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) ( Mideast Iraq On This Site )
Street photographer Raad Mohammed poses with a photograph of Baghdad's Tahrir Square showing an Iraqi soldier manning a checkpoint after the Iraqi capital was subjected to a vehicle ban in an effort to prevent reprisal attacks from suicide car bombs after the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi taken by photographer Khalid Mohammed on Friday, June 9, 2006. Today, the square is the site of anti-government protests and a place for candidates in the upcoming election to display their campaign posters. Photo taken on March 16, 2013. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) ( Mideast Iraq On This Site )
Firdous Square at the site of a photo of the statue of Saddam Hussein as it is pulled down by U.S. forces and Iraqis taken by Associated Press photographer Jerome Delay on April 9, 2003. Ten years ago on live television, U.S. Marines memorably hauled down a Soviet-style statue of Saddam, symbolically ending his rule. Today, that pedestal in central Baghdad stands empty. Bent iron beams sprout from the top, and posters of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in military fatigues are pasted on the sides. Photo taken on March 13, 2013. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) ( Mideast Iraq On This Site )
Hussein, 3, poses in Firdous Square in Baghdad with a photograph of the same site showing the statue of Saddam Hussein being pulled down by U.S. forces and Iraqis by Associated Press photographer Jerome Delay on April 9, 2003. Ten years ago on live television, U.S. Marines memorably hauled down a Soviet-style statue of Saddam, symbolically ending his rule. Today, that pedestal in central Baghdad stands empty. Bent iron beams sprout from the top, and posters of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in military fatigues are pasted on the sides. Photo taken on March 14, 2013. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) ( Mideast Iraq On This Site )
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