American soldiers take advantage of increased security in Baghdad to sample the nightlife on Abu Nawas Street, mingling publicly with Iraqis in ways rarely seen in the Iraqi capital.

In the last few months, a wary peace has come to Tobji, a Baghdad neighborhood once plagued by violence and viewed by many as a microcosm of Iraq for its ethnic diversity.

Baghdad's first commuter train carries passengers through calm and dangerous parts of the city.

Fourteen contestants compete in Baghdad's first public beauty pageant in six years.

Iraqi detainees are released in Baghdad after they were transported, hands tied, from the U.S. detention facility Camp Bucca, in southern Iraq.

Many fishermen in Baghdad's Tigris River area are out of work as fish stocks dwindle, and have taken to ferrying people across the water to make money.

Iraqi officials preparing to inherit the U.S. detention system say despite improvements in centers like southern Iraq's Camp Bucca, many prisoners are innocent, with no formal way to challenge their detention.

A seven-year-old girl is taken by her mother to be circumcised in Kurdish Iraq, where more than 60 percent of women have undergone the traditional and controversial procedure.

An elite team of Iraqi Army bomb sweepers works to clear Diyala, an area riddled with hidden roadside explosives and resilient Sunni extremists.

Noria Khalif Abdullah lives with her six children in a trailer community opened by the Iraqi government to house women whose husbands have been killed in violence related to the war.

Iraqi women make long treks to the top of a mountain in Kurdistan where it is believed if they perform certain tasks, their wishes will be granted. For women, it is usually to bring good luck or to encourage fertility.

Sheik Jassim Muhammed al-Sweidawi is part of a new generation of tribal leaders asserting influence across Sunni areas of Iraq.

Female suicide bombers have been a trend in the past year in Iraq, especially in Diyala province. Contracts for the Daughters of Iraq, hired to search women at check points, are set to end at the beginning of 2009, leaving these widows, once again, without a means to support themselves.

Regulars gather in old Baghdad to play chess, dominoes and pay tribute to the late, legendary singer, Umm Kulthum.

The Iraqi Army pays an unexpected visit to Sadr City to distribute food, medical supplies and cooking oil to a desperate crowd of locals.

Tragedy hit one of Baghdad's literary centers last year when a bomb exploded on Mutanabi Street, destroying shops and lives. One year later, the city's bookstores are opening once again.

Suad Muhammed Kadim helps her paralyzed mother and family while enduring the scalding heat of a non-air conditioned apartment in the heart of Baghdad.

Baghdad's bodybuilding obsession is going public after years of repression under the former Iraqi regime. Gyms are opening all over Baghdad, bringing young men new muscles and jobs in security.

Followers of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr protested in Shiite enclaves across Iraq on Friday, May 30, 2008, against plans for a long-term security pact that would allow for an extended U.S. military presence in Iraq.

The U.S. military showcases Fallujah as a model city where security and civil affairs efforts are finally paying off. But peace in the city -- located in the "Sunni Triangle" and the scence of some of the fiercest fighting of the Iraq war in 2004 -- remains fragile.

A Washington Post correspondent and photographer spend five days inside rebel territory during and after a battle between Turkish fighters and Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, guerrillas along Iraq's northern border.

The U.S. military is relying on Iraqi security forces to help patrol a formidable urban stronghold of the Sunni insurgency.

Five years of war have battered the people of Iraq, but the country's medical system often is unable to care for them. Dozens of broken Iraqis arrive in Amman, Jordan, each month, seeking treatment from the Paris-based organization, Doctors Without Borders.

Families missing loved ones look over images of unidentified murder victims at the Baghdad morgue.