Life in Iraq Goes from Bad to Worse

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One year after Iraq regained its sovereignty from the United States, the country has made significant political progress, holding a crucial election and forming a new government. Yet relentless attacks have overshadowed the success, leaving Iraqis in a perilous situation - facing the growing prospect of years of violence.

For Washington, that could mean years more of a large and costly military presence in Iraq.

In this hot and very bloody summer in Iraq, sectarian tensions are high, insurgents are maintaining a two-month-old surge in attacks and the Americans show no sign of pulling out.

``Life has become impossible in Iraq,'' an infuriated Rasheed al-Baldawy said as he surveyed the devastation outside his store on Friday.

``It's going from bad to worse. I cannot fully explain it - electricity, water, telephones, and these are just utilities. As for security, just look around you,'' said al-Baldawy, a slender and bespectacled father whose kitchen appliance store was damaged in Thursday's blasts in Karradah.

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the triumph and the Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari that took office in April have failed to make any headway in solving Iraq's major problems: security, crime, corruption, unemployment and crumbling utilities.

A senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters, said al-Jaafari's government was virtually in total control of policy, but that the United States called all the shots on security matters.

Regardless of who is in charge, Iraq is a country that is unlikely to get a respite anytime soon. It's people have been visited by so many tragedies in the past two years that some, from time to time, look back with nostalgia at aspects of life under Saddam.

Since al-Jaafari came to office nearly two months ago, at least 1,240 people have been killed. More than 1,700 U.S. troops have died since the war began in March, 2003.

President Bush and al-Jaafari remained upbeat on the future of Iraq, with both men convinced the insurgency is destined for defeat and that Iraq's U.S.-sponsored political process would be successful.

After meeting Friday with al-Jaafari at the White House, Bush rejected calls for a timetable to withdraw America's 135,000 troops, saying it would be tantamount to conceding defeat. He vowed to achieve victory over the insurgents.

Bush's renewed pledge to stay the course in Iraq and not order troops home until Iraqis are ready to take responsibility for security, came after America's top commander in the Persian Gulf, Gen. John Abizaid, said the insurgency was not showing signs of weakness. Arab fighters, he added, were sneaking into Iraq in growing numbers.

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The most pressing danger facing Iraq, however, is the prospect of civil war as a result of increased sectarian attacks between Sunnis and majority Shiites.

The Karradah bombings followed a spate of car bombings barely 12 hours earlier in Shula, another Shiite area in Baghdad, in whic The latest of these assassination came Friday when gunmen killed Shiite cleric Samir al-Baghdadi along with two of his bodyguards. Al-Baghdadi represented Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, in Baghdad's al-Amin district.