In a BBC interview on Wednesday, Kofi Annan, the United Nations' secretary-general, reiterated his worries that the continuing violence could make it impossible to conduct the elections. (He also annoyed America and its allies by asserting that the Iraq invasion had been illegal.) Earlier in the week, Iraq's interim president, Ghazi al-Yawar, had said that the elections should go ahead unless the UN insisted otherwise.
ECONOMIST: Security first, sewers later | The