And so this is the beginning of the road back to a dictatorship in Iraq.
As U.S. troops have sharply disengaged from Baghdad in recent months, local representatives say they are feeling powerless and abandoned. The Iraqi government has taken no steps to hold elections for the councils, and the Baghdad provincial council is culling them of members it deems unqualified or unfit for service.
The looming demise of the local councils -- at least as the Americans established them -- is an ominous sign of the brand of democracy that is likely to reign in Iraq as the Americans depart, council members say. They worry that constituents will no longer have grass-roots representation and that power will become far more centralized in the hands of a few.
Council members, who in recent years became top targets of insurgents, are among a growing number of Iraqis who feel that the impending American pullout will leave them exposed and helpless.
"I never expected we'd come to this point," said Shama, the head of the Sadr City District Council. "The U.S. Army and the U.S. Embassy have abandoned us. After six years of very hard work, we're worthless. They call us agents, spies for the Americans."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/07/AR2009100703932.html?hpid=artslot