Baghdad June 2008: Bird’s eye view of a wounded city

Baghdad’s normally crowded Al Khalany Square was deserted due to a complete all-day curfew.  (Saad Khalaf / Los Angeles Times)

The massive Rahman Mosque in Baghdad’s Mansour district was meant to be one of Saddam Hussein’s crowning achievements. Construction of the mosque was interrupted by the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 and never resumed.  (Saad Khalaf / Los Angeles Times)

Baghdad’s main public bus garage was full of idle vehicles due to the daytime curfew.  (Saad Khalaf / Los Angeles Times)

Baghdad’s main auto graveyard.  (Saad Khalaf / Los Angeles Times)

The Gazali cemetery, an exclusively Sunni Muslim graveyard.  (Saad Khalaf / Los Angeles Times)

The Blackhawk helicopter releases flares designed to confuse incoming missiles as it flies over the New Baghdad district.  (Saad Khalaf / Los Angeles Times)

A view over the side-gunner’s shoulder as the Blackhawk flies over the desert south of Baghdad.  (Saad Khalaf / Los Angeles Times)

Baghdad’s Tahriat Square.  (Saad Khalaf / Los Angeles Times)

The main Baghdad telephone exchange remains gutted from the March 2003 bombing campaign.  (Saad Khalaf / Los Angeles Times)

The Armenian Orthodox Church in Baghdad’s Karada district.  (Saad Khalaf / Los Angeles Times)

The Tigris River winds through the center of Iraq’s capital.  (Saad Khalaf / Los Angeles Times)

On the way back to the Green Zone, the Blackhawk swoops low over the Tigris.  (Saad Khalaf / Los Angeles Times)

Baghdad’s once-famous Zawra Tower on the grounds of the Baghdad Zoo. In Saddam Hussein’s time, the tower’s bulbous top housed a fancy restaurant.  (Saad Khalaf / Los Angeles Times)