Shock and Anger in Baghdad Greet the Abu Ghraib News

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But in recent weeks, even the majority Shi'ites—who most benefited from the fall of Saddam and from the democratic process the U.S. helped set in motion—have come to distrust the U.S. Many Shi'ites complain U.S. forces aren't doing enough to stamp out the insurgency, but are instead targeting Shi'ite militias who—in their view—are merely protecting the community from Sunni attacks.

Shi'ite anger has been stoked by rumors, currently rife in Baghdad's political circles, that the U.S. is seeking to replace the Shi'ite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki with a more secular leadership, perhaps including some elements of Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath party. Unsurprisngly, relations between al-Maliki and the U.S. have turned distinctly prickly. Sources tell TIME that the Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the supreme religious figure in Iraqi Shi'ism, has been alarmed by these rumors and asked al-Maliki about them when the Prime Minister visited the cleric in Najaf last month.

What Sistani—and other religious figures—will make of the Cardona debacle can only be guessed. The news broke too late to be brought up at the Friday prayers, traditionally the pulpit from which the Muslim clergy (Sunni and Shi'ite alike) comment on the important political developments of the week.

One final note: Many observers here are perplexed that the U.S. military would risk another p.r. debacle over a low-ranking soldier. "It is not as if this guy is some great commander, whose presence will make a big difference to the American military effort," says the diplomat, who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak with the media. "He's not a strategic asset, but he's become a tremendous strategic liability for the [U.S.] military."

—With reporting by M. Ezzat/Baghdad