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Focuses on the author's visit to Iraq after the collapse of the Saddam Hussein regime. Mention of the Ur conference where postwar political issues were discussed by Iraqis; Concern about the different agendas the United States has for Iraq and the development of power among dangerous groups in Iraq; Example of how Iraqis view the U.S. in light of its failure to provide food and water; Suggestion for a role for the Free Iraqi Forces in promoting civil authority in postwar Iraq; Lack of humanitarian aid because areas are not considered safe enough for agencies to begin operations; Details of the Ur conference and lack of division between the internals, or those who remained in Iraq during the reign of Saddam, and the exiles; Optimism for rebuilding Iraq.

Profiles Iraq's Grand Ayatullah Ali Husaini Sistani as one of the 100 most influential people of 2005. Role of Sistani as a moral voice in Iraq; Influence of Sistani in the creation of an elected body to choose representatives to draft Iraq's constitution; Report that Sistani urged Iraqis to vote in the elections.

The article reports on the political ethics adopted by politician Ayatullah Ali Husaini Sistani of Iraq. When he gives an opinion, it is always on a groundbreaking issue of principle. He insisted that only a properly elected body could choose representatives to draft Iraq's permanent constitution. Ayatullah Sistani also demanded a speeded-up timetable for elections in Iraq.

Investigates state rape in Iraq. Violation of women's honor in Arab culture; Honor of a family in Arab-Islamic culture; Political cruelty beginning in the home; Honor and shame traditions leading to private murders; Policy of official rape as a means of controlling Arab or Kurdish society; Same honor and shame system in Jordan and Iraq; Traditional and modern cruelty connected and conceptually separate; Ba'athist state of Iraq.

The author reflects on the reason why he left Baghdad, Iraq and did not return again for 35 years. He mentions that he lived in a glass house in which former President Saddam Hussein did not exist. He describes his experience of returning to Baghdad the week after the fall of Hussein's regime. He relates that he tried to stay in Baghdad for four years, marry the childhood sweetheart he had left behind in 1968 and return to Cambridge, Massachusetts with his wife to live there.