Complaining About Their Government - The First Right of a Free People

Encouraging signs from Iraq:

BAGHDAD Through 22 months of occupation and war, the word "America" was usually the first word to pass through the lips of an Iraqi with a gripe. Why can't the Americans produce enough electricity? Why can't the Americans guarantee security? Why can't the Americans find my stolen car?

Last week, as the euphoria of nationwide elections washed over this country, a remarkable thing happened: Iraqis, by and large, stopped talking about the Americans.

With the ballots still being counted, the Iraqi candidates retired to the back rooms to cut political deals, leaving the Americans, for the first time, standing outside. In Baghdad's tea shops and on its street corners, the talk turned to which of those candidates might form the new government, to their schemes and stratagems and to Iraqi problems and Iraqi solutions.

And for the United States, the assessments turned measured.

"We have no electricity here, no water and there's no gasoline in the pumps," said Salim Muhammad Ali, a tire repairman who voted in the Jan. 30 election. "Who do I blame? The Iraqi government, of course. They can't do anything."

Asked about the U.S. military presence, Ali chose his words carefully.

"I think the Americans should stay here until our security forces are able to do the jobs themselves," Ali said, echoing virtually every senior U.S. officer in Iraq. "We Iraqis have our own government now, and we can invite the Americans to stay."