Editorial: IRAQ: Postwar Is Hell.

Some soldiers are killed in pitched battles, some are murdered in public by brazen assassins. As combat deaths in Iraq have edged over 30 since April, it has become clear that the war did not end there when Saddam Hussein's statue fell.

Wars often outlast their supposed end-points. Grant and Lee met in a burst of magnanimity at Appomattox, but lynching, banditry, and other violence sputtered on for years; one of the casualties was President Lincoln, slain by a Confederate agent. How in the present case does the United States protect its soldiers, its interests, and the future of Iraq?

One great problem is restoring the nation's infrastructure. Washington underestimated the difficulties this would pose. With its oil wealth and its secularist veneer, Iraq had the face of a modern nation. But war, embargo, greed, and mismanagement had rotted it from within. As Paul Bremer, head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, told Time, "Saddam took 35 years to run the place down, and it's not going to take 35 days to fix it. People need to be patient. And I know that's hard when the temperature's 124 and the electricity goes off. But that's the message, and that's the only message there is."

Partly because of its own self-restrained battle tactics, the coalition confronts a sullen and still-hopeful enemy. Saddam's loyalists expect the return of their malign Bonnie Prince Charlie, encouraged by his recent supposed taped message to them. A corpse or three of Saddam and his sons would be most welcome. The diehards appear to be composed of Baathist minions, members of the formerly favored Sunni minority, criminals, and foreign jihadists. One reason for continuing casualties has been that American troops are seeking the bad guys out, patrolling Baghdad's streets and sweeping the so-called "Sunni triangle" northwest of the capital.

The diehards are targeting the Iraqi people as well as coalition troops. Iraqis ...