BAGHDAD: Explosions rip through marketplaces, scattering blood and vegetables and leaving women wailing in the alleys. Bodies bob in rivers and are dug up from garbage dumps and parks. Kidnappers troll the streets, sirens howl through morning prayers and mortar rounds whistle against skylines of minarets and billowing “abayas.” Iraqis awake each day to the sounds of violence. With little respite, many wonder whether strange, terrible forces are arrayed against them. They fear weeks of sectarian and clan violence, claiming everyone from imams to barefoot fishermen, are a prelude to civil war.

“I’m worried 24 hours a day,” said Zainab Hassan, a university student majoring in computer science. “Whenever I hear bomb or shooting I call my mother and husband to check if they’re OK. I can see a civil war coming, it’s obvious. Everybody is talking about it. We have to be more careful.”

Iraqis like Abu Mohammed, a balding book seller along the Tigris River, struggle to comprehend how the euphoria of January’s election has withered so quickly. They find bewilderment and contradictions, but few answers. If a better life was coming, many Iraqis believe it never made it here, and there is plenty of blame to go around. Life has become a vicious thrum, where boys stay close to courtyard walls and gun battles beneath the date palms appear live on TV.

Interviews with Iraqis from Basra to Baghdad to Mosul suggest that much of the nation fears the intensifying strains between Sunni and Shias could ignite a conflict that would overwhelm the new Iraqi government and 140,000 US troops. Abu Mohammed blames, among others, Saddam Hussein, who, even from his jail cell seems to taunt the country.

“Saddam created hostile sentiments between Sunnis and Shias,” said Mohammed. “It was like a fire hidden under a cover and waiting to turn into a blaze. The remnants of Saddam Hussein are now trying to stoke and enlarge this fire.” In recent weeks, nearly 700 people have been killed in car bombings and by shootings and beheadings. What concerns US officials and everyday Iraqis is that militant leaders such as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi are attempting to instigate a two-track war: one, the continuing battle between insurgents and American and Iraqi forces, and another between Sunnis and Shias that could draw in Kurds from the north. “It’s time for Iraqis to stand together to foil the dirty attempts of the enemies to implant sectarian war on this injured country,” said Naim Salman, a civil servant in Baghdad. “The government is trying its best, but it is still not enough. It is a new government and it needs time, especially when terrorists are infiltrating ministries.”

The Sunnis were the beneficiaries and power behind Saddam’s Baathist regime. Many of them, including influential leaders, opposed the new Shia-dominated government. Some Sunnis have begun to rejoin the political process. But so far, the government has been unable to persuade the nation’s 20 per cent Sunni population to abandon its suspicions and the squabbles in the corridors of the National Assembly have inspired religious and clan motivated violence.

Nafi Alfartoosi, editor of a newspaper in Samawa in Shia-dominated southern Iraq, said: “The failure of the government to stop sectarian terrorism of Sunnis against Shias has deepened the gap between the government and the people. I am sure that many of the millions who voted are sorry for going out on January 30. This weakness in stopping sectarian terrorism and halting bloodshed is encouraging (those seeking a civil war).” Sunni and Shia organizations, along with Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, have sought to calm tensions over the last week. But the effort is hindered by an upward spiral in violence that since April 29 has resulted in the killing of at least 10 Sunni and Shia clerics, including the slaying of Mohammed Tahir Allaq, a representative of one of the nation’s top Shia leaders, Ayatollah Mohammed Saeed Hakim. Some Shia and Sunni leaders have blamed one another for assassinations.

Images of the coffins of clerics being carried through the streets have unnerved a public that has had scant peace since Saddam was toppled two years ago and the country occupied by US-led forces that quickly encountered an insurgency. The January elections brought a brief gust of normality, but that has shattered with the recent surge in car bombings. A recent poll by Baghdad University found that earlier this year more than 80 per cent of Iraqis believed their government would become stronger in coming months. That has dropped to 45 per cent today. With the insurgents killing more civilians with impunity, anger against American forces has intensified. Many Iraqis view the United States as an unwanted godfather, who despite his prowess and streams of military convoys, can’t give them the basics let alone protect them from extremist elements that badger the nation with Internet screeds and radio rants of jihad.

“I only want to put this question to you,” said Sana Abdul-Kareem, a dentist with four children. “Why can’t the US, with all its might and capabilities, impose security here? How come with all our oil they cannot provide us with electricity? My son was so happy when the American soldiers first came. But after two years of failure to make good on their promises, he abhors them.” Baghdad resident Ali Jalal said: “The Americans are behind these problems. They don’t want the country to be stabilized. . . .The Iraqi government is like a doll in the hands of the Americans.”

Many Iraqis choose denial to cope with the seething times around them. A Shia will tell you he is married to a Sunni; a Sunni to a Shia. They will tell you their families are an intermingling of Iraq’s classes and religions, and that they have lived in harmony for generations. But everyday new families line up outside the morgues and new names are added to graveyards. They blame it on terrorists and outside forces, who, they say, manipulate their lives much like Saddam did.

“It’s a policy of divide and conquer being applied by our occupiers,” said Abu Izz, a Baghdad antiques dealer who was born in Fallujah, adding that a civil war will not succeed because Iraqis are all brothers and relatives. “You may not believe this, but some of my relatives are pro-mujahudeen (Sunnis), and others are members of the Badr Brigade (Shias), and others are clergy. This is how we are interrelated.” “Iraq is one nation, one land and one heart,” said Sinaa Ali Musa, a state worker from Samawa. But Musa, a Shia, conceded there are divisions. “I think the Shias are being subjected to all kinds of terrorism because the Sunnis are losing power.” Others claim the Sunnis are victims. Navigating such chaos psychologically, and even on rural roads and city streets, has trapped many Iraqis. “It’s the same problem everyday, traffic, traffic, roads are closed and in addition to that we have national guards aiming their weapons towards us,” said Tanya Mazin, a student at Baghdad University. “We are living in stress and fear. I do not think this will end one day because it’s going from bad to worse.” —Dawn/LAT-WP News Service