Resentful Iraqis Find U.S. Optimism Hard to Share

[phillybri]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030930/wl_nm/iraq_frustration_dc&cid=574&ncid=1480

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Bush administration says Iraq (news - web sites) is a better place to live than before the war. Try telling that to Baghdad citizens, whose frustrations are growing daily.

Months after Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s fall, frequent power cuts and water shortages disrupt the city's rhythms, unemployment and crime loom large, and anger is rising against a U.S.-led occupation that shows few signs of ending soon.

Makeshift checkpoints are becoming permanent, webs of razor wire and concrete slabs divert traffic, frisking and demands for identity cards humiliate a nation renowned for its pride.