Baghdad, Iraq ? After risking their lives to vote and then watching the political leaders they elected haggle fruitlessly for almost three months, many Iraqis have concluded that their new national assembly is incapable of producing a government that can unify and pacify the country.

On Monday the politicians failed again to negotiate a coalition government, following earlier predictions that they would succeed.

Even when they finally do, the hard part will come after they’ve formed a government. They’ll face daunting challenges to their cohesiveness, and Iraq’s Shiite Muslim leaders will have to run a country dangerously close to splintering.

“It is not a national government. It is a sectarian government,” said Nuaman al Shamiree, 24, while working at a central Baghdad kebab stand.

Since the Jan. 30 election, Iraq’s major political factions have been jockeying for key government positions. Secular and religious, Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni leaders have yet to agree on who should run 31 ministries and serve in the three deputy prime minister posts.

Meanwhile, insurgents have staged a series of bloody attacks after what seemed to be a post-election lull, possibly aiming to take advantage of the political uncertainty. They’ve attacked military, civilian, Iraqi and foreign targets with coordinated bombings and well-planned assaults.

Bombs have ripped into Shiite neighborhoods and mosques, including two closely timed blasts in Baghdad that killed at least 15 people Sunday night. Shiites and Sunnis have swapped threats and accusations of attacks and reprisals.

Three roadside bombs aimed at U.S. military convoys exploded in the capital Monday, including one that killed an American soldier, said Lt. Col. Clifford Kent of the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division. At least 1,569 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003.

Militants also launched two attacks Monday aimed at Iraq’s oil industry in the north, setting fire to pumps near Kirkuk and opening fire on police guarding a convoy of tanker trucks. Two policemen were wounded and three insurgents arrested in a gunbattle over the convoy, police said.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has, in recent days, had contacts with a number of Iraqi leaders to discuss the situation, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said Monday. She urged Iraqis to speed up their efforts to form a government.

The Shiites’ reaction to the attacks has so far been restrained, but that might change.

On Monday, in the southern city of Najaf, hundreds gathered for the funeral of 19 Shiite fishermen who were kidnapped and executed in Sunni-dominated western Iraq. The crowd chanted, “Sunnis are the enemy of Allah” and “Where is the government? Where is the law?” Some said they were close to striking back.

“We’re waiting for orders from the marjaiya,” said Jassim Ubaidi, referring to the council of top Shiite clerics in Iraq, which so far has counseled moderation. “We’re more than them (Sunnis) by number and force. We have thousands, and we can respond.”

Shiites constitute about 60 percent of Iraq’s 26 million people. Sunnis, who were favored by Saddam Hussein and who largely boycotted the election, constitute about 15 percent to 20 percent. Kurds, who mostly live in the north and were oppressed under Saddam, constitute about 20 percent.

Amid the turmoil, the laborious bargaining to create a governing coalition of political, ethnic and sectarian groups looks like a waste of time to many Iraqis.

“We wanted that election. We had that election. What happened? Nothing,” said al Shamiree. “What do we want from the government? We want security and we want jobs.”