While the scandal of prisoner abuse by US troops in Iraq continues to provide fodder for headline writers and draw worldwide condemnation, the genteel mainstream news reports have given common Iraqis considerably less attention.

The whole of Iraqi society has suffered from years of war and sanctions, and its poorest people were hit particularly hard under Saddam Hussein's regime, yet the post-invasion stage of reconstruction is in some ways even more difficult.

During the Saddam years the war was at the front line; now it has moved into their own streets.

From the very beginning of its unauthorized war against Iraq, Washington repeatedly pledged to the rest of the world it was sending an army of liberation and that a post-Saddam Iraq would enjoy real democracy, stability and prosperity. But so far the exact opposite has been the case, as the quality of life for Iraq's poor has deteriorated since the fall of Saddam.

Iraqi civilian casualties mount by the hour, and the Iraqi people, who were supposed to get their freedom, are prisoners in their homes while street crime, terrorist violence and insurrection run rampant.

The overarching error of the Iraqi invasion, one that has defined the entire Bush administration, is the gross underestimation of the time it would take to turn Iraq into a stable democracy and the likely cost in money and blood.

A survey conducted by Christian Aid partner, the Iraqi Kurdish NGO Network, presents a stark picture of miserable living conditions among Iraqis -- now greatly exacerbated by insecurity, crime, economic uncertainty, unemployment, inadequate public services and poor housing.

Many Iraqis are very angry that the US troops who came to "rebuild Iraq" have turned out to be mere occupiers. While the Americans are ensconced in air-conditioned rooms at the once beautiful "Saddam's palace," desperate Iraqis rage and swelter outside the fence in unbearable heat. There has been almost no effort from the American-run Coalition Provisional Authorities (CPA) to clean up buildings, remove weapons or repair utilities destroyed by the war.

Dust from the destroyed buildings poses a grave threat to the health of the inhabitants of Baghdad, primarily respiratory disease. Even worse, many depleted uranium (DU) weapons used during the attacks are still lying around the city and countryside in smoldering rubble or destroyed Iraqi tanks.

Poor water supply affects most families, many of which now have no access to a functioning sewage system. Years of neglect have left much of the city's water supply contaminated by sewage. No one has come to fix it, which means Iraqis must drink water mixed with sewage from broken pipes on the street.

Many Iraqis accuse the United States of only focusing on protecting international oil exports, at the same time ignoring the restoration of the domestic supply of gas and electricity.

The United States is, however, able to pay US$30 million to informants who provided the whereabouts of Udei and Qusay Hussein. The Americans are also willing to shell out another US$25 million for "Saddam's head." It doesn't seem, however, there is any spare change for the millions of desperate and unemployed Iraqis.

According to an unofficial survey, Iraq's unemployment rate since the invasion is up to 90 per cent.

Mass redundancy and rising living costs mean more than half the families surveyed need financial help to survive.

Democracy is only a word that has no meaning to the Iraqi people. Their increasing deprivation is likely to feed discontent and insecurity and increase the appeal of radical ideologies.

Decent provision for Iraq's poor is crucial to the country's security and reconstruction.

Needless to say it was a mistake to invade Iraq without United Nations endorsement, and since then we have seen the US notion of establishing a stable democracy is nothing but a dream.

The United States should speed up the transfer of power to the Iraqi people and end the violence-plagued occupation as soon as possible.

(China Daily May 18, 2004)