“We expected this to happen after the fall of Saddam Hussein,” said Hameed Hashim, a teacher, adding gloomily that the US-led occupation meant “Iraq is now the state number 51” of the United States.

“Till now there is no government, so the decision is useless,” Hashim said. “But we hope that America and Britain will use the decision for the benefit of the Iraqi people.”

The UN Security Council voted 14-0 on Thursday to end 13 years of sanctions and grant the United States and Britain broad powers to run Iraq and sell its oil to fund reconstruction until a new government is established. Iraqis leaving mosques after yesterday prayers said the decision meant nothing under current conditions because what they needed most were security and functioning utilities. “I did not feel happy. Nothing will make me happy now but a normal life with electricity, water supply and security on the streets,” said Ahmed Hassan, a street vendor. “In fact, the sanctions were lifted when America invaded Iraq. The embargo had become no more than ink on paper,” he said. “People will feel happy when they feel safe and secure.”

Nearly two months after the fall of Saddam Hussein, life is difficult in Iraq, a once prosperous nation brought low by years of war and international isolation. The absence of basic services, on top of war, bombing and occupation by a foreign power, has left Baghdad’s residents feeling desperate and isolated. For many, the lengthy cuts in water and electricity supplies are the last straw.

Electricity has been restored in some parts of the capital, but power cuts can last more than 12 hours a day — inflicting real suffering in a country of long, hot summers — and at night Baghdad is plunged into utter darkness. Most Iraqis accuse Washington of dragging out the transition process so as to continue running the country and controlling its oil revenues.

“The UN decision did not surprise me because America came to Iraq to control oil and this decision give it the right to administer oil revenues,” said Ali Saad, a taxi driver. “They did not do enough to fight crime in the streets to delay the handover of power to an Iraqi interim government,” he said. “The Iraqi political parties have to end their quarrels and agree on a government.” A top Iraqi Shiite cleric warned the United States yesterday that it risked violent confrontations with Iraqi citizens unless it improved its understanding of how Iraqi society works.

The Americans lack knowledge of the people whose country they will be occupying for some years, Sayyed Fateh Kashef Al-Ghata, the representative of the top Shiite theology college (Al-Hawza) in Baghdad, told Reuters in an interview. “If they continue to misunderstand our reality, the result will be bad for America first and bad for my people second,” Kashef Al-Ghatta said.

He said Iraqis had hailed the US-led invasion to end Saddam Hussein’s autocratic rule, but were angered by the United Nations resolution that gave Washington and London — not the Iraqis — the mandate to run Iraq and control its wealth.

“America wants to control Iraq and seeks to make it America’s regional policeman,” said Kashef Al-Ghata, a renowned cleric who belongs to one of the most important families in the city of Najaf.

“In 2003, we have no choice yet but to confront the occupation through peaceful means ... But I am saying yet, because we are waiting to see how the occupation will behave,” he said.

“I really hope the occupying powers will not force the Iraqi people to resort to violence, and that could be achieved through understanding and respecting the Iraqi political, social, religious and economic reality,” said the cleric, wearing a white turban and long black cloak. The Hawza is the highest religious authority for Iraq’s Shiite majority. Kashef Al-Ghata did not say what the US-led administration was doing wrong, but noted the importance of finding a balance between Iraq’s different ethnic and religious groups.

Since the fall of Saddam’s government American troops occupying much of Iraq have faced widespread looting but no organized opposition. Yesterday the US-led administration disbanded the Iraqi armed forces and several security bodies and said it would build a new army from scratch.

US/UK Forces to Ban Heavy

Weapons In Iraqe

BAGHDAD — The US-led coalition in Iraq expects to ban all heavy and automatic weapons and require permits for small arms within 30 days, Lt. Gen. David McKiernan told reporters yesterday. The new ban, which has yet to be approved by the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, would not come into effect until after an amnesty period to hand in weapons, expected to last two weeks, he said.

“The policy will be that you must come to one of the designated areas, which will probably be police stations, and apply for a weapons permit,” he said.

“The issuance of the weapons permits would be done jointly by Iraqi police and coalition forces,” McKiernan said.

The US commander of ground forces here added that celebratory fire would also be outlawed, but Kurdish peshmerga (fighters) in the formerly rebel-held areas of northern Iraq would be allowed to retain heavier weapons.