IRAQ: THE DAY OF RECKONING EYEWITNESS: INSIDE THE SUNNI TRIANGLE Suicide bombers, rocket blasts, curfews, boycotts and election candidates too scared to be identified . . . is there any hope for democracy in Iraq's most dangerous warzone?

Nearby, in another scorched pick-up truck, four Iraqi policemen whose vehicle had been rammed, lay torn and bleeding from shrapnel wounds caused by the blast. "Welcome to Baquba and the Sunni Triangle, " said an American soldier coming up alongside me. "Not much left of the bad guy, eh?" he pointed out casually, before strolling off while wiping the dust from his wraparound sunglasses.

What had been billed as a pre-election Peace Day gathering of local leaders and US military officials in Baquba, had just been about to start when the suicide car bomber struck. Today, as Iraq goes to the polls in its first free election, across many parts of this restive country any hopeful anticipation of this exercise in democracy is tempered by an ever-present dread.

Over the past week it has seemed strange to queue in Baghdad for the accreditation needed to witness Iraq's first tentative step towards democracy as the sounds of bombs echoed around the city. Or to listen to an election official in Saddam Hussein's old stronghold of Tikrit tell of how his staff had resigned after threats to their lives.

Even if ordinary Iraqis turn out in numbers today to vote, it is hard to imagine the "bad guys" or insurgents and Islamic extremists here being in any hurry to throw in the towel.

Only two weeks ago, a report released by the CIA's in-house think tank, the National Intelligence Council, warned that Jihadists such as those belonging to al-Qaeda-linked terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, are transforming Iraq into another Afghanistan. It is becoming a "training ground" for a "new class of terrorists who are professionalised and for whom political violence becomes an end in itself, " the document concluded.

Knowing Afghanistan well, the parallels are obvious. Flying just above rooftop level in a US Black Hawk helicopter as it made its way from Baghdad to the Sunni Triangle last week, time and again I looked down to see Iraqi children below. While some waved, other boys would raise their arms, pretending to fire a gun or missile at the passing helicopter. Years ago, during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, I saw little boys - many of whom no doubt grew up to become members of the Taliban - do exactly the same thing.

If the war in Afghanistan provides one sense of deja vu to what is happening in Iraq, so too does Vietnam. Iraq is full of Vietnam-style flashbacks. Prisoners kneeling in the dirt, their hands tied behind their backs and heads covered with bags. Terrifying state-of-the-art helicopters sweeping over ramshackle villages so low they almost tear off the flimsy roofs.

At night, on what is known as FOBs (Forward Operational Bases), flares light up the chill night sky, alongside the arc of mortar fire aimed at ensuring ''terrain denial'' to the insurgents. Inside the FOBs ringed by razor wire, concrete and bomb-proof cladding, US soldiers eat mashed potatoes and corn dogs cooked by Bangladeshi contractors while watching Fox News or CNN in hangar-sized ''chow halls''. Iraq is cold and wet at this time of year and outside the US troops accommodation trailers and tents, their Humvee vehicles and Abrams tanks sit in ankle-deep mud being revved up for the next mission out beyond the wire into the badlands of Baquba.

''This is RPG [rocket propelled grenade] alley, '' Sergeant Tom Martinez of the 3rd Brigade 1st Infantry Division told me as we made our way across Baquba in a heavily armed convoy to deliver ballots for today's election.

''They used to fire from around those palm groves almost every day, '' Martinez told me, eyeing the treeline and tall grass that ran along the roadside which skirts Diyala province and cuts through the heart of the triangle. When not waiting for RPGs or Kalashnikov fire to come hurtling out from adjacent buildings or undergrowth, there is the ever present threat of VBIEDs (vehicle borne improvised explosive devices) to contend with. Or put quite simply - suicide car bombers.

''Sometimes you notice the car sagging from the weight, or badly patched-up holes in the bodywork that have been filled with explosives, '' explained Martinez, continuing a running commentary that had me breathing a sigh of relief every time a dilapidated slow moving car passed our convoy on a quiet street.

Against the backdrop of these threats, the US 1st Infantry has been actively implementing one of its mottos - ''A Bias For Action'' - along with the Iraqi Army and police in an attempt to subdue insurgents in Baquba before today's poll. Just over a week ago, the home of a former Iraqi army general was raided in the town on an intelligence tip-off.

Though the general escaped, documents were found that showed plans for attacks in the days leading up to and during the election.

Only yesterday, I joined the 1st Infantry's Bravo Company, second platoon, on what was described as an early morning ''search and destroy mission''. The US forces were following up on information provided by an Iraqi informant that a substantial arms cache was hidden in the al-Sadah district of Baquba.

On the walls of Bravo Company's briefing room, posters on the walls showed pictures of Baquba's "most wanted terrorists''. Other than a few former Baathists, almost all the insurgents were described as being members of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's network. The head of the Iraqi intelligence Service, General Muhammed Shahwani, now puts the number of insurgents across Iraq at 200,000, of whom about 40,000 are said to be the hard core and the rest active supporters.

Driving into al-Sadah district was a tense affair, as the company splits up to surround the palm grove where the arms were said to be hidden, and arrest any ''runners'' who might be in the neighbourhood and try to slip the net. Sitting next to me in the Humvee was the Iraqi informant, dressed in US fatigues. His face and head covered with a keffiyah scarf, dark glasses and helmet, he was impossible to identify but was clearly very nervous at the prospect of going into his own village on a raid with the American patrol.

Dismounting from the armoured vehicles is at once to feel exposed and vulnerable in the narrow alleys of the village and undergrowth of its surrounding palm groves. There is little consolation in knowing that here in the Sunni Triangle US and Iraqi forces conduct about 1000 foot patrols every day.

''American?'' enquired one group of little boys curious as to my civilian clothes and different-coloured helmet and flak jacket. ''Sahafi [journalist]" I replied, to which one of them instantly offered me one of the sweets he was eating.

Using a mine detector and the informant's directions, within an hour Bravo Company had found what they were looking for. ''Look here, at this motherf***ing thing, '' announced one of the soldiers, digging up a canvas sack from next to a mud wall. Minutes later, three more were found, the final haul included RPG launchers, a mortar and dozens of rounds, as well as large artillery shells of the kind often customised for roadside or car bombs.

After confiscating the grenade launcher to hand over to the Iraqi army, the search patrol laid charges and blew up the ordnance before leaving a note nailed to a palm tree on the village's outskirts, reminding locals that Bravo Company Ist Infantry had paid them a visit, but would be back. In the past few weeks leading up to the election, more than 700 insurgents have been arrested and 80 arms caches discovered in search and destroy operations against insurgent hideouts.

Given the existence of such threats, it is hardly surprising that, in the run up to today's election, Baquba, like so many other parts of Iraq, has had no candidates touring the streets making speeches. No canvassing.

No rallies or debates. Indeed, many voters don't even know who is on the ballot.

Instead, there is only the rumbling of US Bradley fighting vehicles, and overhead unmanned surveillance drones. At polling stations not already mortared, masked Iraq police officers and soldiers guard the surrounding area, patrolling neighbourhoods on foot and manning checkpoints throughout the town of 300,000 people.

"If fellow residents of my neighbourhood discover I work with the police, it will create problems, first of all for my family, " said a policeman who identified himself only as Abu Fatima. Perhaps one of the most serious security concerns over today's election, stems from the ability and loyalty of the Iraqi Police Service (IPS) should insurgents launch an election offensive. Last year hundreds of fighters attacked Baquba's police stations and other government buildings and, while the army stood its ground, the police cut and ran.

"I believe that the Iraqi army in Diyala province is capable of standing firm, but the IPS just don't enjoy the darkness, '' was how one US military source expressed his concern.

Perhaps the most tangible reason for the IPS's divided or wavering loyalties is the fact that many officers have not been paid in months . . . a state of affairs which, according to Major General John RS Batiste who commands the US 1st Infantry, does not exclude the police above all else from having "overall responsibility for what happens during voting day".

Today, the job of providing security at the 5900 polling stations nationwide will fall mainly to the Iraqis - 150,000 US troops will try to fade into the background but will be there if needed. There is a dawn-to-dusk curfew and a restriction on travel which started yesterday, including a total ban on car traffic in major cities, which means voters will have to walk to polling stations. ''We have orders to shoot anyone in the streets of the city after 9pm, and arrest anyone we find between 7pm and 9pm, '' said Captain Sallah Abdul Satar, of the Diyala province police force.

Since insurgents set off roadside bombs with mobile phones, network services are today shut down or blocked. As for voters themselves, many here in Baquba and the Sunni Triangle will boycott the ballot out of conviction, others out of fear.

Saib Mahdi al-Mayahi, who lives near a polling station, said he will not participate in the elections because he is afraid. ''I am sure that I'll die if I vote, " said al-Mayahi. "I won't die for the sake of voting for a candidate whom I don't know.'' Some residents meanwhile expressed anger and disappointment at the deteriorating security situation. Ammar Jameel, a bus driver who travels between Baghdad and Diyala province, said it would have been better for Iraqis if Saddam Hussein had stayed in power.

"Now there is no fuel, no gas, no kerosene, no electricity, no security, '' said Jameel. ''There is nothing at all."

But even here in one of Iraq's most militant areas, others were hopeful that the elections would bring an improvement in Iraq's security situation.

''All of this will come to an end, " said Naji Ubaid Al-Rubaii, the owner of a barber shop. "What matters is that we've got rid of Saddam Hussein. There will come a day when we get rid of his followers who are planting the car bombs.'' Some families have decided to leave districts around polling stations, out of fear that they may be targets for suicide bombers and other attacks. Each polling station has a 123 emergency number, which patches into the election Joint Co-ordination Centre ( JCC) should any attack take place.

Um Haider, a teacher at al-Jawahiri school, said she would be among those temporarily leaving the area, and housewife Um Samah told me: "My family and I will be taking part in the elections, but our house is so close to the polling centre that we will leave our home on election day."

With no tradition of open elections to draw on, most Iraqis are confused by the complicated proportional representation system that has been adopted and by having to vote for lists not individuals. Most of the coalitions and factions are new, many of the candidates, unknown - in some cases literally because they have been too frightened to declare themselves.

Despite all these problems, the outcome across the country will be important.

Will the Shia masses, who make up 60-per cent of the voters tilt towards the religious parties headed by Abdul Aziz Hakim, raising fears of Iranian influence? Or will they favour the secular alternatives, such as the coalition, headed by the Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who is strongly backed by the Americans? What will become of the few Sunni candidates who did have the courage to stand - especially in areas like Baquba - and whose active presence will be vital if this patchwork country is somehow to hold together? It is often forgotten that this is a transitional election, with another one by the end of the year, once the new parliament has produced a constitution.

America and the coalition forces hope that today's vote signals hope of an exit strategy and the beginning of the end of their stay here in Iraq.

But for the time being, it seems the country may inherit the role that Lebanon had in the early 1980s, as the battleground where all the region's struggles are fought out.

"People just have to step out today and say enough is enough, " says US Major General Batiste, whose 1st Infantry Division will be on high alert in the Sunni Triangle.

Such remarks are easier said than done, especially when the likes of Abu Musab alZarqawi's men inhabit your neighbourhood.

FACTS & FIGURES

Iraq will have about 5200 polling stations in its 18 governorates manned by more than 140,000 volunteers.

100,000 police will guard polling stations, backed up by about 60,000 Iraqi National Guards and US troops.

7700 candidates are competing for seats on the 275 -member national assembly.

The ballot will cost more than dollars-150 million ; the US, Japan, and the European Union have pledged nearly dollars-120m . 1.2 million of Iraq's 15.5 million eligible voters live abroad Of the 16,000 Iraqis in Scotland, around 1000 registered to vote.

As of Friday, 21-per cent of those registered to vote in Scotland had done so.