Developments in Iraq

Juan Cole at   http://www.juancole.com   reports on some interesting developments in Iraq, particularly new efforts of Ayatollah Sistani to undermine the Interim Gov't and strengthen his call for elections to the council that will write the constitution (known in some quarters as "democracy").  He also reports on a little-remarked effort by the IGC to abrogate the 1958 Civil law and impose shariah (islamic law) on the country, much to the detriment of women.  His conclusion:

"So, the response of the Bush administration to the September 11 attack on the United States by a group of radical Islamist extremists has been to abolish secular law for Iraqi women and impose a fundamentalist reading of Islamic law on them. Yes, it all makes perfect sense."