In the depths of Baghdad’s former intellectual enclave, now teeming with turmoil and sectarian strife, resonant themes of torture and sectarian-driven conflict appeared to catch Iraq’s central government by surprise as they dig through rubble strewn with corpses. Balconies torn from oatmeal-colored buildings, some still on fire… mangled cars with cracked windshields… the sounds of weeping mingled with the smell of burned flesh, as shards of paper seemed to flutter endlessly down from the blackened sky.