I was afraid of this

Chanting “Yes, Yes, Islam, No America, No Saddam”, a slogan they never dared to whisper under the old regime, Shia religious leaders led a demonstration of more than 3,000 men to protest against the US-led attempts to build a new government.

Watched by hundreds who did not agree with what they were saying but who celebrated their newly found freedom to say it, the first organised mass demonstration in Iraq could not quite shake off the hangover of 30 years’ dictatorship.

Spittle flying as they hammered out their demand for an Islamic state, where women wear the hijab and prayers are held five times a day, aggressive young men manhandled dissenters on to the pavement.

“I love George Bush, I love Tony Blair,” was all one elderly man managed to splutter before he was ushered away. “Don’t write that down,” a young man told reporters. “He is a stupid man, a thief.”

Iraq is 60% Shi’ite Muslim, the same type of fundamentalist Muslim sentiment that you find in Iran. Under the Ba’athists, Iraq was a secular state, and probably the most liberal towards women next to Syria. Under a Shi’ite government (or any type of Islamic government), all that goes away. Hopefully the new Iraqi federalism that the Iraqi National Congress hopes to install will allow Shi’ites to find their voice in Iraq.