Information Age an Uneasy Time in Baghdad

The electronics business is booming in Baghdad five years after the US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein's regime, the LA Times reports. Repressive controls on foreign TV and Internet access are gone and shoppers are free to buy DVDs of the latest Hollywood movies—but too often, they are investing in home entertainment because they are afraid to go out.

Sectarian killing has slowed since the surge, but has far from vanished. The fear of bombings, kidnappings, and religious extremists keeps the mood in Baghdad grim and contrasts sharply with the hope many felt in the early days of post-Saddam Iraq. "We thought: 'We'll be able to go out and talk to anyone. We'll be free.' It didn't turn out that way," a computer shop owner said. (More Baghdad stories.)