Not with a bang, but a whimper
Anyone else smell that strong scent of freedom coming from Iraq? Things sure are different now after the early handover of sovreignty. I guess they decided against a ceremony (that last-minute change must have really chafed the TV network programming fellas). Yep, democracy should be spreading across the Middle East like wildfire....aaaaany minute now.

Juan Cole, a blogger and History prof at the University of Michigan, has the best post on the situation I've read today.