Salam Pax, a Sunni Iraqi, gives us a peek at how democracy is working out in Baghdad, where wearing shorts can get a man killed:
Kadhimiya is set up these days like a fortress. Entrances are tightly controlled, no unknown cars get in and they basically had their own secret police there; when I lingered too long with my camera in front of the shrine I was quickly called inside and a security guard demanded IDs and wanted to look through the film, I thanked heavens again for the NUJ card.
So people I give you the future of Baghdad. Districts will become tightly controlled fortresses that are ethnically/religiously homogeneous. Outsiders are only let in after being inspected and checked. I really want to go back to Kadhimiya but only after I get my fake Shia ID.
George Bush has given the Iraqis the freedom to have no freedom, the freedom to repress, the freedom to be bigots, the freedom to persecute women, the freedom to have no electricity, the freedom to be blown up by roadside bombs, the freedom to pillage, the freedom to live in fear.
Freedom is just another word for nothin' left to lose.
Soylent Green?