Security issues plague Iraq and threaten homesick U.S. troops

Iraqi police are manning checkpoints in Basra, southern Iraq

Iraq's new governing council is promising to represent the "national will" of all Iraqis. The statement comes as the group addresses the need for increased security in its country, and as the U.S. troops who are currently providing much of Iraq's security face the possibility of having to stay in the Gulf nation for months longer than they expected.

The 25-member governing council met for the first time on Sunday, July 13. It is composed of representatives from Iraq's various ethnic groups, religious groups, and political parties. The council has been granted some executive powers in Iraq to help the country make the transition from being controlled by U.S.-led forces to being run by Iraqis.

One of the group's first acts was to abolish holidays associated with former leader Saddam Hussein and his Baath Party. The council also created a new holiday on April 9 that commemorates the date of Saddam's fall. In the future, the council will work to establish a constitution in Iraq, which would lead to national elections, and to appoint ministers and diplomats within the new government.

SPECIAL REPORT • What will it cost to rebuild Iraq? • Oil will shape Iraq's future • What will happen to Iraq's debt? • Companies battle to rebuild Iraq • Mideast firms seek Iraq contracts • Russian taxis stranded • Gallery: A brief history of Iraq's oil • CNN/Money: Rebuilding Iraq SPECIAL REPORT • Interactive: Who's who in Iraq • Interactive: Sectarian divide • Timeline: Bloodiest days for civilians • Coalition Casualties • Special Report RESOURCES • Holt, Rinehart and Winston: Operation Iraqi Freedom  • Holt Researcher  • Holt, Rinehart and Winston: American Government  • The National Archives  • CIA: Factbook  • Country Profile:Iraq  • ICL: International Constitutions  • CNN.com: Special - The New Iraq  IRAQ PARTIES The seven main political parties represented by the new governing council: • Patriotic Union of Kurdistan • Iraqi National Congress • Kurdistan Democratic Party • Islamic Dawa Party • Iraq Democratic Party • Iraqi National Coalition • Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq

On Monday, July 14, the Iraqi governing council announced that it intended to send a delegation to the United Nations. The three-member delegation is scheduled to attend a meeting of the U.N. Security Council, which hopes to determine how it can play a greater role in Iraq's reconstruction. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has urged the international community to support reconstruction efforts in Iraq "regardless of the differences that existed between nations before the war."

Some Iraqis are skeptical about their new government. Because many members of the Iraqi governing council are former exiles, critics question how effectively the new leaders can run a country from which they have been absent. One skeptic said that the new leaders "spent 30 years not feeling the people's suffering." Many say that insensitivity to the suffering of the Iraqi people led to the overthrow of the country's monarchy 45 years ago.

One immediate challenge before the Iraqi council is increasing security in the Gulf nation. Adnan Pachachi, a council member, said that the group would increase the country's police force in an effort to improve security.

Some of the U.S. troops who are currently providing some of Iraq's security have been showing signs of homesickness. Members of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division have seen their role in Iraq change from toppling Saddam's regime to keeping the peace in the Gulf nation, but the leave they eagerly anticipate has been repeatedly delayed.

"I felt probably a level of hopelessness that I have never felt before in my life," said Sgt. Eric Wright when he heard his leave had been postponed. He added, "Some would hope that they get wounded so that they can go home."

Maj. Gen. Buford Blount of the 3rd Infantry Division said that though officers were trying to help the soldiers obtain redeployment, the troops still had "to stay focused on the mission."

That mission remains dangerous. An attack on a convoy of U.S. occupation troops on Wednesday, July 16 left one soldier dead and three others wounded. Since May 1, when major combat operations in Iraq were declared at an end, at least 85 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraqi occupation.