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After years resembling ghost towns, markets and parks are teaming with life. People still tread very carefully but hope is also clearly evident.

Army Sgt. First Class David Rhodes of Odenton, Maryland enjoys a cigar during tea with Sheik Hachem Khalaf Al Delayan in the coutyside outside of Tikrit, Iraq. More Sunnis are co-operating with U.S. troops, helping to stabilize their own regions.

Ordinary Iraqis were promised democracy. Instead, they were caught between a violent insurgency and an occupation by U.S. troops. But after years of killing, an almost surreal calm has taken root. Violence in Iraq has dropped to 2004 levels. The…

Despite Mardi Gras, the work continues. Christopher V. Winston, 19, constructs a house foundation in the lower ninth ward. Signs in the ward say it all, 'Rebuild or Leave.'

Melissa Smith throws beads from the balcony of the Royal Sonesta Hotel on Bourbon Street. The French Quarter has no major parades but it is the center Mardi Gras decadence. Tourists housed in tony hotels are shielded from reality of Hurricane Katrina…

Camara DeVan, 6, and the North Side Bone Gang parade through the streets of the Treme in New Orleans. The historically black neighborhood is rich in Mardi Gras traditions. Walking krewes and the Mardi Gras Indians were born there.

Mardi Gras decorations cover spray paint markings left during Hurricane Katrina in the Holy Cross neighborhood of the lower ninth ward. Signs of Mardi Gras are sparse in areas devastated by the storm. The neighborhood still looks like a vast…

Young women dance during the Zulu Parade on Mardi Gras day. The parade returned to its original route for the first time since Hurricane Katrina. Historically black neighborhoods were the last to be re-included in Mardi Gras.

Members of the Krewe of Zulu gear up to second line during the Zulu Lundi Gras Festival on the New Orleans riverfront.

Spectators wait for the North Side Bone Gang to parade through the streets of the Treme neighborhood in New Orleans. Bone Gangs are the original scared straight program in the city. They try to scare kids into good behavior on Mardi Gras morning.…