Global Policy Forum

By Jonathan Steele and Michael Howard

An odd, green metal sculpture, apparently symbolising peace, now adorns the plinth from which US marines pulled Saddam Hussein's statue three months ago. Below it, someone has daubed a misspelt message to the Americans: "All donne, go home."

Though few expect the advice to be taken, and many Iraqis say they would be anxious if the Americans did decide to pull out immediately, the United States has squandered most of the credit it enjoyed at that symbolic moment of liberation.

One exception is the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, where more than 4 million Kurds are more pro-American than they were before. But elsewhere in Iraq relief that the terror and arbitrary nature of the old regime were over quickly evaporated in the postwar chaos. Two American soldiers were killed on Wednesday, bringing the total number of US combat deaths since May 1 to 31.

The violence against US and British forces suggests that the circle of people supporting the guerrilla resistance is wider than a handful of Saddam Hussein diehards. The attacks are happening in Shia areas of Baghdad which suffered under Saddam as well as in the so-called Sunni triangle.

When attacks on Americans occur, people in the crowds which quickly gather rarely tell reporters they feel sorry for the dead young soldiers. More often they join in a postmortem celebration of the resistance fighters' deeds.

In a typical case in central Baghdad last week when a gunman fired a grenade at an American Humvee before vanishing into the teeming backstreets, adults and children stomped on the roof of the crippled vehicle in delight before setting it on fire.

Privately, most Iraqis express horror at the attacks. "People are being paid to do these things by former members of the Ba'ath party. There's a rumour that there's a bounty of 5m dinars [£2,000] for every American soldier killed," said Zaid Shaker, 26, who owns a grocery shop in one of Baghdad's leafier suburbs.

The Americans joined the bidding this week, announcing a reward of $2,500 (£1,600) for information leading to the arrest of anyone who shot or killed a coalition soldier or an Iraqi police officer.

The shopowner's ceiling fan was idle. Tins of soft drinks in his fridge were sweating. "After the first Gulf war in 1991 Saddam gave us electricity back quickly. Everyone's asking why the Americans can't fix it," he said.

He was delighted that the dictator had gone. The war meant he only had to serve two months in the army before running away from his unit at the start of the bombing this spring. But like most Iraqis, the daily struggle to survive dominates his life now, pushing gratitude for liberation way back in his memory.

US officials still talk in bullish tones. "The voice of freedom is upon the land," Paul Bremer, Iraq's US administrator, declared recently. Although he admitted the number of attacks on US troops was growing, he saw this as a sign of success. "As freedom becomes more entrenched, the few remaining individuals who cannot fit in are becoming more desperate," he said. For most Iraqis security and normality are higher priorities than political freedom - safety on the street and after dark, predictable supplies of electricity and water, and jobs.

While the Americans worry about armed attacks, Iraqis fear muggings and carjackings and the lack of law and order. "I used to close my barber's at midnight in the summer," said Mohammed Abdul Salam, 24. "Now I have to close at 7pm. Two weeks ago when I was carrying my day's takings home, thugs surrounded me and I only just managed to escape." Concern about deteriorating law and order is such that some women have stopped driving to work or coming at all.

Others have given up their jobs to accompany children, who used to go to school by themselves. "I'm nervous when I go to the office. I don't know anyone who's been robbed, but I just feel unsafe," said Jinan Salim, a chemical engineer, as she waited for a bus. New police and security guards are being trained, but not enough are yet in place.

Superficially, life on Baghdad's streets looks bustlingly normal. Three-quarters of the shops are open, and pavements in middle-class areas are piled high with newly delivered stocks of TV sets, satellite dishes, fridges, fans, and air conditioners. But the power supply on which they depend is erratic. Repeated blackouts keep people's nerves on edge in the fierce heat of summer.

Even in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq the economy has been hit hard. Lucrative revenues from cross-border trade have dried up and the region's 13% slice of national oil revenues under the oil for food programme is under threat. Civil servants and other workers have gone unpaid and unemployment is rising fast.

Hundreds of civil servants in Baghdad have lost their jobs. The closing of the information ministry threw the "minders" who spied on foreign journalists out of work but thousands of translators and editors in magazines and broadcasting who did a non-repressive, professional job are also on the street. Some have found work at the new newspapers which have emerged.

Three months is too short a period to restore a war-damaged country and a society repressed by 30 years of political tyranny. But the ease with which people give their opinions and the wide range of views expressed in the newspapers are a dramatic sign of change. They also undermine the coalition's claims that Iraqis need time to be allowed to govern themselves. Iraqis want the coalition to help to provide security and restore an economy crippled by sanctions. On the central issue of governance they want to do things on their own.

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