Holding aloft signs reading “we are all Abadi” and waving national flags, Iraqis packed a central Baghdad square in a weekend show of support for their prime minister. The display of solidarity for Haidar al-Abadi as he targets the corrupt and shrinks his government was a welcome change at a pivotal moment for a leader more used to bad news. Swathes of Iraq are under Islamic State control, sectarian divisions fester and the economy is slumping. “Abadi’s got the people on his side as well as the religious authorities,” said Sajad Jiyad, an analyst at the Baghdad-based Iraqi Institute for Economic Reform . “If he makes the reforms stick and improves people’s lives, we’ll look back on this as a defining moment,” he said. If he can’t and his rivals fight back, “things could take a turn for a worse.” After weeks of street protests against graft and poor […]