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Images: America’s legacy in Iraq

Posted December 11, 2011 6:45 am

In this Aug. 19, 2003 file photo, the United Nations headquarters at the Canal Hotel is damaged after a bomb attack in Baghdad, Iraq. In the beginning, it all looked simple: topple Saddam Hussein, destroy his purported weapons of mass destruction and lay the foundation for a pro-Western government in the heart of the Arab world. Nearly 4,500 American and more than 100,000 Iraqi lives later, the objective now is simply to get out — and leave behind a country where democracy has at least a chance, where Iran does not dominate and where conditions may not be good but good enough. ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this May 13, 2004, file photo, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, left, listens to Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of the coalition forces in Iraq, during his flight from Kuwait City to Baghdad. ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this April 7, 2003 file photo, U.S. Army Stf. Sgt. Chad Touchett, center, relaxes with comrades from A Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, following a search in one of Saddam Husseins palaces damaged after a bombing, in Baghdad. ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this Sept. 25, 2007 file photo, an Iraqi traffic policeman inspects a car destroyed by a Blackwater security detail in al-Nisoor Square in Baghdad, Iraq. ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this Sept. 19, 2005 file photo, a British soldier makes his way out of a burning Warrior fighting vehicle in Basra, 550 kilometers (340 miles) southeast of Baghdad. ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this June 21, 2003 file photo, U.S. Army Spc. Dandrea Harris handcuffs a family with plastic ties during night raid in Habaniyah, Iraq. ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this April 7, 2003 file photo, Iraqi men wave from a truck as they leave the center of Basra, southern Iraq, after looting shops and houses. ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this series of Dec. 14, 2008 file images made from APTN video, Muntadar al-Zeidi, a correspondent for Al-Baghdadia television, foreground center, throws a shoe at U.S. President George W. Bush, background left, during a news conference in Baghdad with Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, background right. The man threw two shoes at Bush, one after another, and was then taken into custody. Neither man was hit. In Iraqi culture, throwing shoes at someone is a sign of contempt. ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this March 31, 2004 file photo, Iraqis chant anti-American slogans as charred bodies hang from a bridge over the Euphrates River in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, in Iraq. ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this March 29, 2003 file photo, local Iraqis flee from Basra in southern Iraq as smoke looming over the city can be seen in the distance. ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this May 28, 2007 file photo, a young boy seeks shelter behind a soldier with the U.S. Armys 82nd Airborne division after gunshots rang out at the scene where just a few minutes earlier a suicide car bomber blew himself up in a busy commercial district in central Baghdad. killing at least 21 people and wounding 66. ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this Dec. 19, 2004 file photo, a gunman, left, shoots and kills a man lying in Baghdads Haifa Street after being pulled from a car. The man at right on his knees was executed moments later, along with another man not shown in picture. ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007 file photo, Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, then no. 2 commander of U.S. troops in Iraq, meets with tribal leaders in Quarghuli Village, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Baghdad. ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 file photo, a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter flies as the sun sets over Baghdad. ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this Sept. 16, 2007 file photo, a woman takes her dead son, six-year-old Dhiya Thamer, into her arms. Dhiya was killed when their family car came under fire by unknown gunmen in Baqouba, capital of Iraqs Diyala Province, 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad. ASSOCIATED PRESS

n this June 5, 2004 file photo, Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, left, steps from an office building in Najaf, Iraq. ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this March 20, 2003 file photo, smoke rises from the Trade Ministry in Baghdad after it was hit by a missile during US-led forces attacks. ASSOCIATED PRESS

n this March 16, 2009 file photo, detainees pray at former U.S. military detention facility Camp Bucca, Iraq. ASSOCIATED PRESS

n this April 9, 2003 file photo, Iraqi civilians and U.S. soldiers pull down a statue of Saddam Hussein in downtown Baghdad, Iraq. ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this April 4, 2005 file photo, Combat Support Hospital Army Nurse supervisor Patrick McAndrew tries to save the life of an American soldier by giving him CPR upon arrival at the Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad, Iraq. ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this Sept. 22, 2004 file photo, a U.S. military Humvee burns after a car bomb exploded in the Mansour neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq. ASSOCIATED PRESS

n this May 18, 2003 file photo, Paul Bremer, the new US administrator in Iraq, center in dark suit, walks with US Commander Maj. Gen. David Petraeus, left, past a defaced mural of Saddam Hussein on their way to visit a police station in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this March 31, 2003 file photo, an Iraqi prisoner of war comforts his 4-year-old son at a regrouping center for POWs captured by the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division near An Najaf, Iraq. The man was seized in An Najaf with his son, and the U.S. military did not want to separate father and son. ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this Jan. 29, 2006 file photo, former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein gestures during his trial in Baghdad, Iraq. ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this Dec. 14, 2003 file image taken from video, captured former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein undergoes medical examinations in Baghdad. ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this July 13, 2010 file photo, U.S. Army soldiers from 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division board a C-17 aircraft at Baghdad International Airport as they begin their journey to the United States. ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this March 7, 2010 file photo, two Iraqi women display their inked fingers after casting their vote in the parliamentary elections in Baghdad, Iraq. ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this Dec. 23, 2007 file photo, U.S. Army soldiers from Blackfoot Company, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, run to take defensive positions during a firefight on the outskirts of Muqdadiyah, in the volatile Diyala Province, about 90 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad. ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this Nov. 8, 2007 file photo, U.S. Army soldiers from Demon Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division react after coming under fire, leaving one soldier wounded, right, in western Mosul, 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad. ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this undated U.S. Department of Defense file photo made available by thememoryhole.org, flag-draped coffins of U.S. war casualties are seen aboard a cargo plane in Dover, Del. ASSOCIATED PRESS

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