Is Iraq becoming unmanageable?

Roger Hardy
BBC Middle East analyst

Air strikes by US planes on the Iraqi town of Falluja on Monday followed one of the country's most violent days in recent months.

Falluja has been a thorn in the side of coalition forces

A string of attacks on Sunday in Baghdad and other parts of the country left dozens dead.

American officials in Baghdad and Washington had hoped that the birth of an interim Iraqi government at the end of June would mark the beginning of the end of the violence.

As Iraqis began to feel they were in charge of their own destiny, the thinking went, the number of attacks would go down, and the American and other foreign forces could begin to think about a phased withdrawal.

But Iraqis by and large do not think very highly of their new government, they do not believe the foreign occupation is over and, far from subsiding, the insurgency is both spreading and intensifying.

Some are now questioning whether elections will be possible in January - despite repeated assurances from Iraqi officials and the Bush administration that they will go ahead.

Official picture contradicted

Insecurity is not just poisoning the country's political prospects - it is holding back much-needed reconstruction.

I can't see the insurgency stopping or even slowing down until the coalition stops using such strong-arm tactics Rob, Brighton, UK Click here to have your say

A report last week from a Washington think-tank - the Centre for Strategic and International Studies - flatly contradicts the rosy picture painted in official US statistics.

More than half of all Iraqis live below the poverty line.

Unemployment is anywhere between 25% and 60%.

Sewage systems are worse than they were under Saddam Hussein.

Half of the country's children drop out of school before the age of 12.

Corruption is rampant, including in government ministries.

And so the litany of problems goes on. US officials should set realisable goals, the report concludes, not trumpet their alleged successes - or, worse still, start planning their exit strategy.