Fallujah violence has Baghdad on edge

BAGHDAD - At a Friday prayer here, a worried congregation looked to the imam for reassurance.

"Fallujah," he said from the pulpit, but had to stop, wiping tears from his eyes.

“We must stand together against terrorism,” the imam told the congregation. “It is destroying the country.”

Already, the violence has driven many Iraqis abroad. Those who've stayed, and can afford it, now have protection. But ordinary citizens don't have bodyguards. They simply have to put up with the constant danger.

Iraq is a fragile place, and the last thing it can stand right now, Gilani said, is the return of al Qaeda.

“Iraq now is not safe because, you know, a car bomb here, fighting here, shooting here, sniper,” Gilani said.  

“But if al Qaeda involved, al Qaeda will kill all. Shi'a and Sunni.”

But with little confidence in Iraq's corrupt political leadership, it's hard for anyone here to know what to do.

Elizabeth Palmer

Elizabeth Palmer is CBS News' senior foreign correspondent. She is based in the CBS News London Bureau, and reports on major events across Europe and the Middle East. Palmer was previously based in Tokyo, and before that in Moscow, for CBS News.