Iraq: Inside the Citadel

Dimiter Kenarov, for the Pulitzer Center
Baghdad, Iraq

Friday. A day for prayer. Two days before the national elections. Still warm and sunny.

A lieutenant from the US Army offers to escort me inside the compound of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC). It is, supposedly, the most heavily-guarded building in Iraq right now, the high fortress of democracy, the central control room of the Iraqi parliamentary elections. I haven't registered with the IHEC, so I doubt they will let me in but decide to try my luck anyway.

A man at the reception searches fruitlessly for my name in the list of accredited journalists. "Sorry," he says. "You can't go in"...