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Just such a corrective exercise took place last week at the Ministry of Industry. Forty top officials had gathered in a boardroom when Carney, the U.S. adviser, walked in, downed a glass of sweet tea and announced something unthinkable under Saddam's rule: a free election. Carney, a former ambassador to Sudan and Haiti, had discovered that the man the U.S. had put in charge, ex-deputy minister Ahmed Rashid Gailini, was disliked by many of his subordinates for his ties to Saddam's regime. Rather than dismiss Gailini, Carney had persuaded him to step down and put his name up for re-election against another candidate, Mohammed Abdul Mujib, a ministry official in charge of investment. Carney and the two candidates left the room, and the attendees began a vigorous debate and then voted. When the results were announced, Abdul Mujib was in; Gailini was out. The vote was 38 to 2. U.S. officials had already dismissed four other Industry Ministry officials, either for Baath Party connections or for abrasive management style, but removing someone as powerful as Gailini was a delicate task. "This is the time of democracy," he said, clearly crestfallen. "Should I leave now?" Abdul Mujib, magnanimous in triumph, asked him to stay on as an adviser. --With reporting by Joshua Kucera, Terry McCarthy and Michael Weisskopf/Baghdad and Mark Thompson/Washington