US troops on edge in Baghdad

By Richard Galpin
BBC correspondent, Baghdad

This is Fardus Square, the place where that statue of Saddam Hussein was so famously pulled down, back in April.

And looking around me, certainly life does appear to be reasonably normal.

US troops are feeling edgy

There is plenty of traffic on the streets, there are plenty of people out and about and the shops are open.

But if I look just to my side here, I can see the two main hotels where foreigners stay, and here in recent days huge barbed-wire barricades have gone up, manned by large numbers of American troops looking rather edgy, fearing further attack.

There is a pervasive sense of lawlessness across this city - not least because so many people have weapons and also because the unemployment rate is so massively high - more than 60% at the last count.

'Go home'

A night-time curfew is still in force.

And everywhere you go, it is obvious that the basic services upon which a capital city like this depends have not yet been restored.

Some Iraqis miss the relative stability of life under Saddam

The most important of these, of course, is electricity.

And the people here really are suffering in the mid-summer blazing heat.

An indication of just how much resentment is building up amongst the population here are the rumours which sweep the city - one of which is that the Americans are deliberately shutting off the electricity to punish the population for the attacks which American troops are suffering almost every day.

And one final thought: underneath that statue I was referring to here is some graffiti aimed at the Americans. It says: "All done. Go home."