Lucas Jackson/Reuters
Members of the media are reflected in the windows of the 100th floor observation deck in the One World Trade Center in New York, April 2, 2013. Port Authority officials unveiled Tuesday the stunning view from the top of One World Trade Center, a 360-degree eagle’s eye panorama that will instantly become one of the city’s premiere tourist attractions when it is completed in 2015.
A Laiki Bank manager tries to calm depositors waiting for the opening of the bank's branch in Nicosia March 28, 2013. Banks in Cyprus opened their doors on Thursday for the first time in almost two weeks, with tight controls on transactions to prevent a run on deposits after the island was forced to accept a stringent EU rescue package to avert bankruptcy. (Yannis Behrakis/Reuters)
Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters
A boy smeared with colours reacts as another boy pours water on him during Holi celebrations in the southern Indian city of Chennai March 27, 2013. Holi, also known as the Festival of Colours, heralds the beginning of spring and is celebrated all over India.
Marcelo del Pozo/Reuters
Penitents wait before taking part in the procession of "Santa Genoveva" brotherhood during Holy Week in the Andalusian capital of Seville, southern Spain, March 25, 2013. Hundreds of Easter processions take place around the clock in Spain during Holy Week, drawing thousands of visitors.
Ricardo Arduengo/AP Photo
A Puerto Rican fan waves his country's flag as he watches a live telecast of the World Baseball Classic championship game between Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic in San Juan, on Tuesday, March 19, 2013. The Dominican Republic beat Puerto Rico 3-0 to win the championship on Tuesday night at AT&T Park in San Francisco.
It was a decade ago today that U.S. bombs first rained down on Baghdad, Iraq, while in Washington, then-President George W. Bush announced the start of hostilities — a U.S.-led coalition with the U.K. and other forces — on March 19, 2003. It was already the early hours of March 20, 2003, in Iraq when the airstrikes began.
The military action quickly ousted Saddam Hussein, but led to years of bloodshed as Sunni and Shiite militants battled U.S. forces and each other, leaving nearly 4,500 Americans and more than 100,000 Iraqis dead.
At the end of 2011, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta officially declared the Iraq War over with the last U.S. troops withdrawing from Iraqi soon after. Iraq's alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction that posed a threat to the coalition, prompting the invasion in 2003, were never found in these 10 years following the start of the invasion.
A decade later, Iraq’s long-term stability and the strength of its democracy are uncertain. While the country is freer than it was during Saddam’s murderous rule, its Shiite-led government is arguably closer to Tehran than to Washington. It faces an outpouring of anger by the Sunni minority that was dominant under Saddam and at the heart of the insurgency that followed his ouster.
With files from the New York Times and Associated Press.
Smoke rises from the Trade Ministry in Baghdad on March 20, 2003, after it was hit by a missile during U.S.-led forces attacks. (Jerome Delay/AP Photo)
A U.S. Marine watches a statue of Saddam Hussein being toppled in Firdaus Square in downtown Baghdad on April 9, 2003. (Jerome Delay/AP Photo)
Piles of torn and burned Iraqi currency bearing the portrait of Saddam Hussein lie in ashes on the floor of the burned Baghdad Central Bank on April 18, 2003. (David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)
More photos after the jump.
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Firefighters put out a Falla during the last day of the Las Fallas Festival on March 20, 2013 in Valencia, Spain. The Fallas festival, which runs from March 15 until March 19, celebrates the arrival of spring with fireworks, fiestas and bonfires made by large puppets named Ninots.
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Cypriots show their palms reading "No" during a protest against an EU bailout deal outside the parliament in Nicosia on March 18, 2013. Cyprus's parliament has postponed until March 19 a session to vote on the bailout deal that slaps a levy on all Cypriot bank savings, as negotiators scrambled to soften the blow for small deposit holders. AFP PHOTO/PATRICK BAZ
Lucas Oleniuk/Toronto Star
Seminarians from Togo (left) and Burkina Faso (right) gathered at St. Peter's Square in the Vatican to wait for results of the conclave on Wednesday, March 13, 2013.
—@canice
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© NAOMI HARRIS
The Sikh Motorcycle Club of Vancouver, B.C. The club formed during the fight to win the right to wear turbans while motorcycling in B.C.
See more of Naomi's photos here.
