Returning to tyranny

Eight years have passed since the United States-led invasion ended Saddam Hussein’s totalitarian reign and promised Iraq a democratically elected alternative respectful of its citizens’ rights. Today, Iraqis are still waiting. The country is at a crossroads: either Iraq will embrace due process and take human rights protection seriously or it will risk reverting back to a police state. Recent developments are ominous. Protests sweeping the Middle East have motivated thousands of Iraqis from all walks of life to demonstrate in cities across the country. They are making more modest demands than their regime-change-seeking neighbors; for now, they are content in calling for an end to a chronic lack of basic services and widespread corruption. But the democratically elected Iraqi government has reacted to these protests in much the same way as its despotic counterparts around the region. While authorities in Erbil and Baghdad profess the right of citizens to