Meet The New Boss.

Via Juan Cole (who may just as well change his first name to "The Invaluable"), Christopher Allbritton's account of a press conference (attendance at which was, umm, pressed on the press) held by the police chief of Najaf, Ghalib al-Jazairi.

"The Shrine would be stormed tonight, he said, and we would be allowed to get on a bus and go visit it tomorrow to see the damage the Mahdi Army had done to it. The Sistani protesters in Kufa were really Mahdi guys and they had to be killed. Oh, and thank you for coming. A few of us put up a fight, demanding why they couldn’t just invite us down for a presser instead of kidnapping us. Oh, no, the commander said, that must have been a mistake. I just asked them to bring you to me… There was no order to brandish weapons, push journalists around and fire into the air. One cop, a lieutenant, just smiled at us when we pointed our fingers at him and said he was the one leading the raid, yelling and pointing his side arm at us. These are Najaf’s finest. They’re like the old regime, only less disciplined."

Way New™ brand sovereignty by Bushco®.

Same as the old boss.

Update: The also invaluable Jeanne has more at Body and Soul. No summary could do her justice. Go there now.