So what's up in the world's newest democracy?!

Certain not anything democratic.

It was clear that Iraq's National Conference was not going to satisfy everybody as it went into an unscheduled fourth day on Thursday. Some delegates independent of the main parties making up the interim government left the conference in protest over what they said was the big parties' dominance of the proceedings.

It chose 81 people to fill the majority of seats on a new advisory council to oversee the interim government pending elections next year. But the council members were selected, not elected in a vote among the 1,300 delegates, as initially planned. Some critics say that process assures the advisory council will mostly be a reflection of the government itself, with little room for independent voices.

You know, Saddam also had a rubber stamp congress, too. Maybe we can call this new government a Selectomocracy!, which has a nice infomercial ring to it. I can picture it now: "It slices! It dices! It's the Selectomocracy! I'm George W. Bush and I approve this message."