Ever since the US-led invasion in 2003, Um Abdullah has kept her four children inside on holidays, terrified by the bombings and kidnappings that were tearing the country apart. But on Tuesday, she set out to reclaim her former life.

“We were like in a prison at home,” she said, sitting on the grass in a western Baghdad park, where revelers celebrating the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr were picnicking, whirling around a merry-go-round and dancing to the beat of a drum. “But now the situation is getting better — though it’s still not good.”