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systematic terror with which Saddam ruled.
Now the terrorized are ruling with the same precision and meticulous attention to detail.
You don't find many people in Iraq who aren't pleased that Saddam Hussein is gone. But it's even harder to find anyone who doesn't think the current situation is worse for most Iraqis, and about to get even worse than that.
One of my old Iraqi friends told me a story that's typical of life in Baghdad today. Picture a traffic jam at the gas station, one of those endless snaking lines you see all over this city. A young man looking in his rearview mirror sees armed men the people believe are members of Sadr's Mahdi Army going to each car, asking to see official Iraqi identity cards and pulling people aside.
This young man is a Sunni, living in a Shiite neighborhood and he believes the Mahdi Army are taking people aside because they're Sunnis. And he believes they will all be killed by them.
So he doesn't wait for them to get to his window - he runs. Trying to get away, running for his life. But they see him running and he is gunned down. Shot in the back. In broad daylight. Dead. Now the house a few doors down from my friend is locked and empty. The dead man's family has fled the neighborhood in fear of their lives.
Welcome to the Baghdad of today.
Where police checkpoints can mean the end of your life. Where the wrong surname in the wrong neighborhood is a death sentence. Where a life-saving visit to a hospital can bring your life to a bloody, violent end.
When you hear that, you start counting the checkpoints your Sunni colleagues have to get through to get to work every day. You start making plans for an emergency evacuation, and how you're going to cover the civil war.
It's not that Sunnis are the only ones suffering and dying. Iraq's Shiites are brutally murdered every day in bombings, shootings and, in some cases, execution-style killings.
But the bulk of the death squads operating in Baghdad today are believed to be Shiites, and as the clear majority in the country, their control in government and their reach across all layers of society is far greater. That has been exploited by their leaders, some hungry for power, some seeking revenge and others simply powerless to do anything.
In this environment, the failure of the U.S. to bring security to Iraq is stark. Many Iraqis say that's the main reason they face this situation today. And others express disbelief that the most powerful nation on earth has not delivered more - and crushed its enemies.
What is clear, as the U.S. military announces heavy casualties and with roadside bombs at an all-time high, is that American soldiers are bearing the burden of a failed strategy and being forced to fight with one hand tied behind their backs, suddenly caught in the midst of two distinct wars: a counter-insurgency and a rapidly escalating sectarian conflict.
And their partners in the counter-insurgency war are participating in the sectarian conflict they're being asked to stop.
To many here, that's so obviously "mission impossible."
But as one American officer said to me when I asked if he felt like they were fighting a war that cannot be won:
"What else can we do at this point? You do the best with what you have."
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