Slightly more than a year after US forces deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, on June 28, 2004, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice passed President George Bush a note that Iraqi sovereignty had been transferred back to Iraqis. Bush wrote in reply, "Let freedom reign!"
Not many would say freedom has reigned in post-Saddam Iraq. Iraq is now in its seventh week of popular uprisings calling for a change of government. Iraqi security forces have killed at least 350 people and wounded 15,000, with large numbers being abducted by unknown militias.