And, overall Iraq has less electricity each day than a year ago. Oil production has slipped below 2004's disappointing levels and 60% of the people depend on food handouts.

Two years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, much of Iraq's infrastructure remains impaired and insurgents are working to wreck the economy as fast as the U.S. and Iraqi governments can restore it.

The tattered and struggling country has become one of the world's poorest -- ranking at the level of Haiti and Senegal -- and economists see little hope for major improvements this year.

Yet some Iraqis say parts of their lives are improving. The country now boasts a freewheeling consumer economy flush with cell phones, Internet cafes and independent newspapers, along with plenty of high-paying government jobs.

12,000 to 20,000 guerrillas stage nearly 40 attacks a day, according to Pentagon figures, and do their best to tear down an economy that the U.S. and Iraqi governments are struggling to rebuild with $18.4 billion in U.S. taxpayer money.
Iraq Occupation Watch