IRAQI RESENTMENT TOWARD THE INSURGENTS.

Though you rarely see this side covered in the press.

Wednesday's attacks came on the eve of an important holiday during Saddam Hussein's regime that marked the 1968 coup establishing Iraq as a one-party Baathist state. U.S. forces had been warned of a possible upsurge in assaults.

Even on a typical day, a dozen or so attacks take place; overall, relatively few have resulted in U.S. fatalities.

"A curse upon the people making these attacks," said Sayef's grandmother Hasiba Debagh, crying and striking her chest in grief as she waited to learn whether the boy had died. No one had yet told her, but she already feared the worst. "God should not spare them," she said of the attackers. "The Americans are doing their best."

"Just look at this mess," said Jawad Hamed, whose son Qusai Jawad was among the injured. "Of course it is them — those people," he said, referring to loyalists of Hussein's regime.

"Iraqis are just furious because a lot of Iraqis are being hurt," said Motes Mohsen, a bank guard. "Iraqis are hurt more than the Americans."

Story is at The Los Angeles Times. Registration required.