The Transition In Iraq
Mahdi
Mahdi flings a scouring pad into a pile in Baghdad's Monsour district on Wednesday, January 21, 2009. Mahdi lost both legs shortly after the United States invaded Iraq in the early 1990s. A US State Department initiative in 2009 placed him in a Baghdad industrial park packaging scouring pads and steel wire.
British Contractors 2
A British mercenary takes aim at a firing range in Baghdad on Monday, June 1, 2009. Dozens of private security companies have sprung up in the Iraqi capital hiring ex-military personnel as body guards for dignitaries and businessmen. These private firms have also been recruiting and training Iraqi locals as hired guns.
Displaced 2
Displaced Aaras Island children return to their encampment on Monday, May 25, 2009. Hundreds of displaced families have taken refuge on the Tigris River island, building houses out of garbage and the remains of abandoned buildings, since sectarian violence divided the capital in 2006.
