The French are going ahead with crushing religious liberties:

The French National Assembly has overwhelmingly approved a proposed controversial ban on Muslim headscarves and other "conspicuous" religious symbols in French schools.

The vote was 494 in favor and 36 opposed, giving President Jacques Chirac a victory. The measure now has to go to the Senate.

Where it will most likely pass, since 70% of French people support it.

This is a good object lesson for the fledgling democracy in Iraq. Democracy in and of itself, that is, simple majority rule, is not a very good or humane form of government. Democracy, coupled with safeguards and protections for the rights of minorities (both racial and ideological), is to date the best form of governance any civilization has yet devised.

This is apparently also a lesson that the French seem to have forgotten.