"Democracy is messy." Oh, Rummy, how right you are. Baghdad Mayor Sacked by Armed Shiites.

Baghdad -- Armed men entered Baghdad's municipal building during a blinding dust storm Monday, deposed the city's mayor and installed in his place a member of Iraq's most powerful Shiite militia.

The deposed mayor, Alaa al-Tamimi, who was not in his office at the time, recounted the events in a telephone interview Tuesday and called the move a municipal coup d'etat. He added that he had gone into hiding for fear of his life.

"This is the new Iraq," said al-Tamimi, a secular engineer with no party affiliation. "They use force to achieve their goal."

Messy indeed.