Bayji, Iraq, Nov. 25, 2004: Under a sooty cloud from a nearby oil refinery, Sgt. Melvin Davis, 32, of Battery B, Task Force 1-7, surveys the empty main street.
By Iraqi standards, this crossroads city of 125,000 on the Baghdad-Mosul highway used to be peaceful. But military leaders worry that a spate of recent attacks have eroded months of U.S. work to rebuild the region.