Tortured and struggling in daily violence after more than five years following the US-led invasion, Iraqis are yearning for security and social stability as the war-torn state is filled with deadly violence and sectarian strife that seem to be endless.
On the day that marks the second anniversary of Saddam Hussein's execution, some Iraqis, however, tend to miss the stable and prosperous times when their toppled former president was incumbent.
"Today I miss Saddam, because under Saddam's rule, we had at least security. But now I can't even visit my adjacent neighbourhood due to sect difference," Muhammad Abdullah, a 39-year-old teacher in Baghdad neighbourhood of Mansour told Xinhua.
Abdullah used to be happy about Saddam's death and his toppled regime when the former Iraqi leader was executed on December 30, 2006. However, he is now frustrated as his dream, like that of most of other Iraqis, of a safer and prosperous Iraq turned into no more than chaos and confusion.
"I was dreaming that democracy and freedom would prevail in my country, but instead, I am disappointed that we even no longer live like human beings because of false democracy and freedom of killing," he added.
After more than five years of the US-led invasion on Iraq, the oil-rich state is far less liberated, secured or prospered as the Bush administration has once promised to Iraqi people when, despite overwhelming objections, waging this cruellest war of the 21st Century.
Instead, people in the war-torn country today are still suffering from social instability and death threat as violence and sectarian strife are still prevalent and have no sign of vanishing.
Countless explosions and cross fires plaguing Iraq days and nights have claimed more than 100,000 innocent civilian lives, and innumerable casualties, according the Iraqi Body Count, a website focusing on updates on civilians killed in the Iraq war and US occupation.
Different from side effects of Saddam's era when Iraq suffered from years of wars and international sanctions, Dr Nu'man al- Jamali, a Professor of Sociology College in Baghdad University, believes that the post-war era, however, marks a society deeply separated and being torn apart.
"With the collapse of Saddam regime, sectarian and racial differences created serious cracks in the Iraqi society, making the Iraqi factions who lived together for hundreds of years to fight each other for the first time in our history," Jamali said, comparing to Saddam's time when "Iraq was one homeland and single society".
Since US forces immediately claimed victory months after the war on March 2003, Iraq has been plunged into chaos by restive anti-US insurgents and sectarian strife fighting for power and interest.
Despite that both US and Iraqi forces have claimed a relative security gain in general since last year, daily explosions and crossfire claiming civilians' lives never stopped.
For most Iraqis, it has been hard to forgive and forget because of the current inconvenient truth, and even harder to expect better lives ahead, which seem to be so untouchable. Instead, what they could do is no more than just to face the truth and survive.
"Saddam regime is now only part of history. We have to forget about him. He made crimes and mistakes and he was punished. We have to think about the future of our country and our generations, "said 45-year-old Haider Abdul Ameer.
"We need to take lessons from his mistakes so that we can have a better life," he added.