Iraqis' Quality of Life Marked By Slow Gains, Many Setbacks

And as the Iraqis become chiefly responsible for security, Rapp said, "maybe we're going to be shifting our real assessment to economic measures."

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The apparent dysfunction within the Iraqi government, however, can make it difficult to obtain accurate information.

The Ministry of Electricity, for example, did not respond to repeated requests for data on power supplied to Baghdad residents. Aides in the office of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said they were also unable to obtain the figures.

"We do not have very good systems in place right now for transmitting information," said one of the aides, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

According to a military presentation based on figures from the U.S. Embassy's Iraqi Transition Assistance Office, however, an average of 15.7 hours of power was provided in October nationwide.

Maysan province in the southeast received the least, 11.6 hours, while Anbar province in the west received the most, 23.3 hours. Baghdad was on the lower end, with about 11.9 hours per day. State Department figures from six months ago showed the city receiving an average of 5.1 hours a day.

'Not the New Iraq'

No residents of Baghdad interviewed for this article said they received power for nearly 12 hours a day. Assad Wazan, 36, a generator operator in Karrada, one of the most stable and prosperous neighborhoods in the capital, said he receives about six hours of power a day. Last month, he said, there was often no power for days on end.

When he called the power company to complain, Wazan said, he was told that nearly all the power was going to the compounds of powerful political figures in the neighborhood, such as President Jalal Talabani.

"These people are getting 24 hours of electricity a day," Wazan said on a recent evening. "It's just not right. This is not the new Iraq we were waiting for."

But there have been some recent improvements, Wazan said. The water they received before was undrinkable. "It looked like this," he said, pointing at a cup of coffee. "Now we drink it, and none of my children have gotten diarrhea," he said. "Yet."

U.S. officials are working with the Iraqi government on projects to improve life for Baghdad residents. A 14 1/2 -mile sewage line on the west side of the city that serves 3 million people went from 35 percent operational in May to 80 percent this month, the military said in a statement. The giant al-Boetha landfill south of the city is 90 percent built.

The Maliki government has also appointed former cabinet minister Ahmed Chalabi to head a committee charged with improving services in Baghdad.

"They're taking a kind of ombudsman approach to solving things now," said the senior U.S. diplomat. "They're talking about one generator, an irrigation pump, how to get doctors into one health clinic. You might say these aren't big strategic decisions, but they're responding to actual, direct, local concerns. That's new."

Mahmoud Sami Fakhrideen, 39, a Sunni spare car parts salesman, said he has noticed an improvement in trash collection in his Zayouna neighborhood. And the electricity has increased from about two hours in the summer to six hours this month. But he is angry about the sewage that flows in the streets, the high price of gasoline and his perception that Shiite neighborhoods are receiving more than Sunni areas.

"It was definitely so much better for us before the war," he said. "We were never suffering the way we are now."

Special correspondents Naseer Nouri and Zaid Sabah contributed to this report.