Lingering effects of Baghdad blasts on Iraqis

Recent bombings that hit government buildings in downtown Baghdad killed more than 250 people and wounded hundreds more. The blasts also had a wider effect: slowing down the government services Iraqis use on a daily basis.

The bureaucratic snarl adds to the blow that the attacks inflicted on public confidence in Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ahead of national elections in January. Infuriated Iraqis have wondered how the blasts could happen in what was supposed to be one of Baghdad's safest neighborhoods.

While other bombings have targeted locations such as mosques or restaurants, these explosions targeted the heart of the government: the Foreign and Finance Ministries in August, and the Justice Ministry, the Baghdad Provincial Administration and the Ministry of Municipalities and Public Works in October.

Weeks after the Oct. 25 blasts, the Baghdad administration building, akin to a city hall, is still almost uninhabitable. Some employees work out of rooms in the far back of the building away from the street, which was the least affected by the blast, but closer to the street, there are no phones, no floors and no walls.

A mound of mangled concrete and broken glass is piled up in the intersection between the Justice and Municipalities Ministries. A long Iraqi flag hangs down the face of the Justice Ministry, partially covering the blown out walls and windows.

At the Foreign Ministry, employees have begun to move back into some offices even as construction crews noisily work to rebuild the walls, windows, ventilation and elevators damaged in the blast. Out in the parking lot, dust-covered desks and coffee tables and ripped office chairs from the gutted building are piled up.

Rashid put off her attempt to finish her compensation paperwork until a week after the bombing. Amid the destruction, she appealed to a security guard, showing him her pink folder full of documents and asking him where she should go.

"I just need a stamp," she told him.

Rashid's family was forced by sectarian fighting to leave their home in Youssifiyah, 12 miles (20 kilometers) south of Baghdad. Now she seeks the compensation that al-Maliki's government has offered to each returning family in hopes of reversing the exodus caused by years of vicious Sunni-Shiite violence.

"We returned to our house because the government said it was safe," Rashid told The Associated Press. "We need the money to rebuild and eat."

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