Penny Splinter, left, comforts her daughter, Rachel, during the funeral of her husband U.S. Army Maj. Christopher Splinter in Platteville, Wis., Friday Jan. 2, 2004. Splinter, 43, a Dodgeville native, was killed Christmas Eve by a roadside bomb near Samarra, Iraq.
A little girl clings to her father's legs as a US soldier frisks him at a checkpoint in Baghdad. US troops have arrested an Iraqi believed to be smuggling foreign fighters into Iraq from Syria and captured 10 Muslim fundamentalists northeast of the capital.
wo Iraqis wounded in a car bomb explosion Thursday, Jan.1, 2004, in Baghdad, Iraq. At least five Iraqis were killed and 24 others wounded by the powerful explosion in a luxurious restaurant in Baghdad.
People load the body of Ali Fadel on the back of a pick up truck in Basra, Iraq (news - web sites), Thursday Jan. 1, 2004. Fadel was gunned down by unknown assailants in his shop in an apparent revenge killing because his brother was a Baath party member.
President Bush (news - web sites) waves as he boards Air Force One at the TSTC airfield in Waco Texas Thursday Jan. 1, 2004. Bush was enroute to meet his father George Bush in South Texas for a day of hunting before returning to his ranch near Crawford, Texas.
U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites) briefs the press at the airport of Brooks County, Texas, as security scans the area from rooftop, on a number of current issues at the end of a day of hunting on a ranch in remote Falfurrias, Texas, January 1, 2004. Bush predicted that '2004 is going to be a great year' and hoped for peace, security and full employment for all. Bush said he bagged five quail, the hunting limit, with his father, former President George H.W. Bush.
US President George W. Bush holds 9-month-old Liana Flores (L) as he greets a small crowd at Brooks County Airport after Air Force One landed in Falfurrias, Texas.
Another bad day in Iraq. One helicopter down, with one dead and one injured. Large explosions rocked Baghdad on Friday night, as US forces targeted insurgents in the Iraqi capital. Two Kurds have been stabbed to death and an Arab killed in clashes with police in the Iraqi oil town of Kirkuk.
And in the meantime, Bu$h spent another day out of sight on vacation. Yesterday, Bu$h celebrated New Year's Day by going hunting with his father and showed signs of getting back to business as he assured Americans it was safe to eat beef.