I feel terribly sorry for those Iraqis who are stuck in Baghdad and other big cities now. Violence will never stop, it seems. How horrifying it should be to live like this, how numbing - and how not worth it...

Here's one of the latest AP stories from Baghdad, on the pre-election violence:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - In a brazen attack in downtown Baghdad, nearly 30 gunmen ambushed a car carrying employees of the Iraqi organization running next month's elections, killing three of the workers, an election official said.

Adel al-Lami, a member of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, said the early morning attack happened in downtown Baghdad's Haifa Street, the scene of repeated clashes between security forces and insurgents.

Al-Lami said about 30 militants attacked a car carrying five employees working for the commission's Baghdad office, hurling hand grenades and firing with machine guns.

Three employees, including a security guard, were killed while two escaped unhurt.

The militants "tried to drag them out of the car," he said.

Witnesses said the attackers later set fire to the vehicle and wandered the street openly brandishing their weapons.

I can't imagine something even remotely close to this happening here in Kyiv... And I can't imagine being able to live through a single day of this...