Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=06/28/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=IRAQ/UNREST (L)

NUMBER=2-304846

BYLINE=CHALLISS McDONOUGH

DATELINE=BAGHDAD

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Another U-S soldier has been killed in Baghdad. Daily attacks on coalition troops are continuing, amid rising discontent among ordinary Iraqis over the continued lack of security and basic services. V-O-A Correspondent Challiss McDonough has more from the Iraqi capital.

TEXT: A U-S military spokesman says one soldier was killed late Friday in a grenade attack on a U-S convoy in northern Baghdad. Four more soldiers and a civilian Iraqi interpreter were wounded.

The incident took place in the Thawra neighborhood, an impoverished and largely Shiite area that was called Saddam City before the war.

It was the latest in a string of daily attacks on coalition troops in recent weeks. At least four U-S soldiers have been killed in similar attacks since Thursday, and two more are missing. Several key oil installations and the Baghdad power grid have also been damaged, leaving the capital with only sporadic electricity service.

With temperatures climbing into the mid-40's, the lack of electricity -- and thus air-conditioning -- has meant tempers are near the boiling point.

U-S military officials blame the attacks on remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime, who are trying to destabilize the country even further than it already is. But popular discontent is also rising, with Iraqi civilians complaining vocally about the lack of security and electricity, and blaming the Americans for failing to provide them.

Unemployment has also been high since the war, with many parts of the Iraqi economy still shut down. Several thousand Iraqi men gathered outside the Baghdad zoo Saturday to find out which of them would win the handful of coveted jobs being offered by Iraq's coalition administrators.

Thirty-five-year-old Adil al-Juboory was carrying his three-year-old son through the crowd.

/// AL-JUBOORY ACT IN ARABIC, ESTABLISH AND FADE ////

He says he used to work as a painter, but now he is unemployed. He says his wife is threatening to divorce him, because he has no salary and no money.

A U-S soldier standing guard nearby said he thought there might be about 80 jobs available for security guards.

Most people in the crowd had no idea how many jobs were actually on offer. They did not even know what kind work they were applying for.

Amid the confusion, the crowd was growing anxious.

/// HUSSEIN ACT IN ARABIC, ESTABLISH AND FADE ///

Muaid Hussein says, "I want you to ask those Americans, if they really have jobs for us Iraqis, or if they are just playing some kind of game."

Mr. Hussein says he hopes this will be a good chance for jobless Iraqis like him to start earning a living again. (SIGNED)

NEB/CEM/DW/TW