Young lives on hold: nearly four years after the U.S.-led invasion, the relentless violence is freezing the lives of young Iraqis, and leaving their futures in doubt.

In a dimly lighted living room in central Baghdad, Noor is a lonely teenage prisoner. At 19, he is neither working nor in college. He is not even allowed outdoors.

Nearly four years after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the relentless violence is hitting young Iraqis hard. In Baghdad, many young people say that their lives have shrunk to the size of their bedrooms, their dreams packed away and largely forgotten.

"I can't go outside, I can't go to college," says Noor. "If I'm killed, it doesn't even matter because I'm dead right now."

This summer, the U.S. military began the most systematic series of sweeps of Baghdad since the war began, trying to make the worst neighborhoods safe for a return to normal life. But the violence between Iraq's two Muslim sects--the Sunnis and the Shiites--continues at a frantic pace, prompting a growing number of Baghdad residents to flee. (The Iraqi population is estimated to be 60 percent Shiite Arabs, 20 percent Sunni Arabs, and 20 percent Kurds.)

For Noor, a secular Sunni from a solidly middle-class family, the speed of descent has been breathtaking. After plans to move to the safety of northern Iraq failed, he now spends most days in his living room on the computer. He wants to enroll in college--he even had one of his friends sneak him an application--but his parents won't let him go. Campuses are volatile mixes of sects and ethnicities where sectarian killings have become common.

In the space of a week in October, a Sunni geology professor was gunned down, and the dean of Baghdad University's economics department, a Shiite, was slain along with his family. Last month, dozens of employees at an education ministry office were kidnapped in a daytime raid. (Some were reportedly released within a day.)

VICTIMS--AND PERPETRATORS

As recently as a year ago, most Iraqis dismissed fears of civil war. Iraqis of different sects had always mixed, they said, and no amount of bombing would change that. But the sectarian violence has escalated so much this year that few still cling to that belief.

Young people are not only victims of the violence, they are often involved in it: Most of the perpetrators (and casualties) in the sectarian killings are young men, and with few jobs and little hope for justice through the government, armed gangs and militias can be alluring for young people of both sects.

Safe, a 21-year-old Sunni, is part of his neighborhood-watch group. Three nights a week, he stands guard with a machine gun to protect his block in the ravaged neighborhood of Dora. In the past two years, it's become one of the most lethal areas for Shiites, who report brutal killings for offenses as minor as pinning up posters of Shiite saints in shops. Now, few Shiites remain.

Safe has recently attended more than a dozen funerals for Sunnis who have been killed. He fears Shiite death squads and policemen.

As neighborhoods in Baghdad grow increasingly divided into a Shiite east and a Sunni west along the Tigris River, opportunities for young Shiites and Sunnis to mix are dwindling.

Ali Wahid, 27, works near Sadr City, Baghdad's largest Shiite district, on a water project that is part of the American reconstruction effort. He would never go west of the Tigris, where Sunni neighborhoods are deadly for Shiites like him. A friend says he has not left the neighborhood in two years.

Ali says his life has improved since the U.S.-led invasion. His job has allowed him to pay off debts, buy a house, and even afford to marry. But in some ways, he says, relations were easier when Saddam was in power, because as the ruling class, the Sunnis were less likely to lash out at the Shiites.

"Before, I could joke with Sunnis about Saddam," he says. "Now, if I talk against him, I'm afraid they might hurt me later in a secret way."

NO MORE BASKETBALL

At the Sharqiya Secondary School, a girls' school in Baghdad once known for its basketball team, after-school sports are no longer offered; parents say the security situation is too risky. And enrollment rates are down; the school used to get 150 new students a year, but this year it has about 60.

Like many students here, Sara, a 10th-grader with perfect English and straight As, had planned on going to college, but her parents will no longer allow it.

"The future is totally unclear for me now," she says, standing in the school courtyard.

In a conversation later, Sara confides that her family is trying to leave the country, and that if they can't get out, she would think seriously about marrying straight out of high school.

Her mother married at 24, after she had earned a degree in civil engineering. "Their time was different in a thousand ways," she says. "There's no dream for me. I really, really want to leave Iraq."

By Sabrina Tavernise in Baghdad

Sabrina Tavernise is a reporter for The New York Times, based in Baghdad; additional reporting by Ali Adeeb and John O'Neil.

BACKGROUND

News from Iraq usually focuses on American casualties and on the escalating sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shiites. Behind the headlines are the stories of young Iraqis forbidden by their parents to go to college, play sports, or even to leave their homes because of safety concerns.

CRITICAL THINKING 1

* The article says that the lives of Iraqi teens have been radically changed as a result of the violence in their Baghdad neighborhoods. Ask students to imagine themselves in the place of the young Iraqis. What kinds of things that they normally do would they most miss if they were restricted to their homes?

CRITICAL THINKING 2

* If this hermit-like existence goes on for a long time, how might it affect the teens as they grow older? (Consider their social lives, educations, plans to have a family, and careers.)

* Is there anything in the article to suggest that Sunnis and Shiites will be able to Live together again in peace at some time in the future?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

* What evidence does the article provide that suggests that violence begets violence?

* Should Iraqi teens be able to attend college if they are willing to accept the risks involved?

WRITING PROMPT

* Have students imagine they are one of the teens in the story. Have them write a letter to a cousin in another country, discussing how their lives have changed since the violence began.

FAST FACTS

When present-day Iraq was part of the Ottoman Empire (1299 to 1922), it was not a united country, but was administered as three distinct provinces based roughly along the same ethnic-religious divisions that divide the country today. During World War I, Iraq was occupied by Britain and declared a League of Nations mandate under British administration.

1. One of the safer regions of Iraq today is

a the Sunni Triangle.

b the northern part of the country, where the Kurds predominate.

c the Shiite Triangle.

d the east, near the Iranian border.

2. The article says one reason why young people join gangs and militias is because

a older family members have joined.

b there are few jobs and no hope of justice from the government.

c it is the only way to defend themselves against the Americans

d the gangs and militias pay them.

3. Last month, insurgents attacked Iraq's Education Ministry

a and forced officials to make pro-Sunni broadcasts.

b and killed most of the officials.

c and kidnapped dozens of employees.

d and demanded new histories of the Sunni-Shiite split.

4. The article quotes a Shiite who says that in some ways life was better when Iraq was under the rule of Saddam Hussein because

a Saddam Hussein protected the Shiites.

b there were fewer weapons available to ordinary citizens.

c as the ruling class, the Sunnis were less likely to lash out against Shiites.

d Shiites had more influence in Iraqi society than they do now under the American occupation.

5. The great majority of Iraqis follow the--branch of Islam. About 20 percent follow the--branch of Islam, and another 20 percent belong to an ethnic group known as.--Christians and other religions account for about 3 percent of the population.

IN-DEPTH QUESTIONS

1. If you had the opportunity to meet with some of the young people profiled in this article, what two or three questions would you ask them?

2. Do you think you would be able to cope with the living conditions experienced by the teenagers profiled in this article?

3. Should the U.S. military make a special effort to protect young Iraqis?

ANSWER KEY

1. [b] the northern part of the country, where the Kurds predominate.

2. [b] there are few jobs and no hope of justice from the government.

3. [c] and kidnapped dozens of employees.

4. [c] as the ruling class, the Sunnis were less likely to Lash out against Shiites.

5. Shiite; Sunni; Kurds