Iraqis have moved a step further towards reclaiming their country. The Shia coalition that won the elections last December has voted by a narrow majority to get Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the interim prime minister, to head the first constitutional government since the toppling of Saddam Hussein.

Mr Jaafari, an Islamist physician who spent years of exile in Tehran and London, has yet to show the mettle of a statesman. His task is nothing less than to resurrect Iraq.