Baghdad, Iraq, February 19, 2008A man rides his bike through a residential neighborhood during a sandstorm.

Iraq's desert storms can be debilitating. This week's storm shut down the Baghdad airport and filled hospitals with respiratory cases, according to the Associated Press.

Powdery sand often blankets the capital in reddish haze that is sometimes so thick that it reduces visibility nearly to zero.

Sandstorms delayed for several days the U.S. military's 2003 invasion of Iraq, and 2005 saw some of the worst storms in recent memoryincluding this one, photographed on April 29, 2005.

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