US Marines of the 1st Division dressed as gladiators stage a chariot race reminiscent of the Charlton Heston movie-complete with confiscated Iraqi horses at their base outside Fallujah, Iraq, Saturday, Nov. 6 , 2004. For U.S. Marines tapped to lead an expected attack on insurgent-held Fallujah, the bags have been packed, trucks have been loaded and final letters have been sent, leaving one final task - the 'Ben-Hur.'

This is a still taken from a video supplied by an Iraqi insurgent group calling itself 'Omar ibn Alkhatab brigade attached to the Islamic Anger Brigades' in Iraq, which the insurgents claim shows a stationary vehicle exploding as an American convoy passes on the northern outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq Monday Jan. 3, 2005. There was no confirmation of casualties from the U.S. military

An Iraqi youth leaves the area where 14 of his relatives were buried after they were killed in a blast near the northern city of Mosul, January 8, 2005. Nearby residents said a civilian house was flattened during an overnight U.S. air strike over the village, killing 14 people including women and children.