Monday's blast highlighted the pervasive lack of security in Iraq at a pivotal and sensitive period in the nation's political transformation. Although U.S. and Iraqi officials had warned that insurgent attacks were unlikely to rapidly diminish after the Jan. 30 election, tight security allowed voting to proceed with fewer casualties than many people expected.

Ongoing crackdowns by Iraqi and U.S. forces have failed to halt the attacks, and the violence has ravaged the nation's infrastructure as well as the public psyche. Violence-weary Iraqis are desperate for the return of a semblance of normalcy and economic stability. Even some ardent critics of the former regime say they yearn for the relative security of the [Saddam Hussein] era, when all they had to fear was the government.

MAP: Hillah, Iraq; CREDIT: Los Angeles Times; A GRIM NOTE: Iraqis view a blood-soaked job application form at the scene of the car bombing outside a clinic in Hillah, south of Baghdad. Many of the victims were waiting in line for medical exams required for positions in the Iraqi security forces.; PHOTOGRAPHER: Ali abu Shish Reuters; CARNAGE: A television image shows an Iraqi transporting an injured victim through an area strewn with bodies after the blast.; PHOTOGRAPHER: Reuters