Normal life was picking up in Baghdad, with traffic jams clogging some streets, businesspeople cautiously reopening their stores and hawkers again selling fresh produce on the sidewalks.

But smoke still rose from a number of public buildings, with the bomb damage providing a stark reminder that little more than a week ago this city was still engulfed by war.

The capital of five million people still needs power and running water if it is to return to day-to-day routine completely.

"The priority among priorities is electricity," said Osama Zubeidi, an electrical engineer who came to US forces' coordination office at the Palestine Hotel in hopes of resuming his work.

Zubeidi was among 200,000 employees of Iraq's state-run power company, of whom 50,000 were based in Baghdad. He said he decided to return to his duties after seeing "an overall improvement in the security situation".

No less than 2,000 workers were already on the ground doing repairs and much of Baghdad's electricity should be back on in a week, said Zubeidi's colleague Ibrahim Saidi, citing information from power company authorities.

Saidi, a works engineer, believed the most pressing need to bring back electricity was to repair major power lines.

Zubeidi and Saidi paid a visit to the major power plant, Al-Dura in southwestern Baghdad, which they said was in good shape and untouched by coalition air strikes.

Water is already back on in certain parts of Baghdad including the central area of Al-Mansur and, farther south, the Saydia quarter, with taps running for a few hours a day, according to residents.

A return of electricity would also help Baghdad's water woes by bringing power to the distribution system.

As for the police, who disappeared from the streets when Saddam Hussein's regime crumbled April 9, the number of candidates looking to return to the job has steadily increased.

"There were 100 on Sunday, 400 on Monday and the number hasn't stopped growing," said Lieutenant Abdul Wahed Rifai, who was one of the first to join the ranks of Baghdad's post-Saddam police force.

"Ten joint patrols with the marines were sent onto the streets Tuesday and there are 19 today (Wednesday)," said Rifai, a former police academy instructor.

But he cautioned that the return of police would not be enough to completely end the looting that has ravaged Baghdad since the US forces' arrival. The new police are unarmed and do not have any detention centers in which to place miscreants, he said.

For many workers who were paid by the state under Saddam's socialist-influenced system, the concern is whether they will still be receiving their salaries, said Bashar Abbas, a doctor who has stayed at his post at the downtown Al-Khazimya hospital.

He said several of his colleagues who left during the war were hoping to resume their jobs soon but lacked reliable transportation.

"Thousands of cars have been stolen and people no longer have a way to get to work," he said.

The emergency specialist said he has sometimes operated with a gun over his shoulder to guard against the looters. For now, he does not believe the issue of a post-Saddam transitional government is the most pressing.

"That's a question for later. What's important now is to get the country back to work," he said.

SPACE.WIRE