America’s New Iraqi Order: Promising Democracy While Protecting Abusers

“A free and democratic Iraq will begin today,” Jay Garner, the retired American general overseeing the politics of the new Iraq, told opposition and community leaders in the southern town of Nasiriya this week. At the same time, however, at the other end of the country, US troops were protecting a man whom many Iraqis consider one of the worst of the old regime - a Sunni tribal leader who gained a fearsome reputation as a personal bodyguard to Saddam Hussein.
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The "Nightmare Scenario"

Some of the most powerful images of Iraq's newfound freedom have been the pictures of the Shiite pilgrimage to Kerbala, a holy ritual long forbidden to under Saddam's rule. Now that Hussein and his primarily Sunni Baath party are gone, many Shiites now say they welcome the promise of a democracy. But it may be a form of democracy the Bush administration has very little interest in seeing.
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Gunfire interrupts first press conference by 'Pentagon's man'

As Ahmed Chalabi, the Pentagon's candidate for leader of Iraq, was being asked if he was a thief, the sound of gunfire interrupted the press conference. Mr Chalabi insisted his conviction for embezzling $60m (£38m) was all a plot.

Outside, one of his supporters, Haqi Ismail, sat in shock dabbing the graze on his nose from one of the eight bullets fired into his pick-up truck.
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Senator: New Iraq Government Could Take Five Years

A leading Republican lawmaker said on Sunday it could be at least five years before a new government is up and running in Iraq.
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I don't think that this is what the Iraqi's have in mind.

Shiite Clerics Face a Time Of Opportunity and Risks

Now, by birth and choice, the 30-year-old Sadr, his hands soft from a life of religious study, has inherited his family's mantle of leadership.

In the void left by the precipitous fall of Hussein's government after a U.S.-led invasion, Sadr and his followers have overseen checkpoints to end looting and moved, with the force of arms and power of persuasion, to restore authority in the streets. They have kept a distance from U.S. forces, suspicious of their motives. Sadr and his men are cognizant that their authority derives from their independence. With little hesitation, Sadr has reached out to Iraq's powerful tribes for support and rallied his followers from the pulpit of Friday sermons.

In words lacking the usual subtlety of religious discourse, Sadr's message is clear: He is both a political and religious leader, carrying the still-resonant banner of the Sadr name. The future of Iraq, he insists, is in the hands of the Shiite majority he hopes to represent.
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