Our Sonofabitch

John Lee Anderson has done an extensive profile of Iyad Allawi for The New Yorker, and, no, there is no new incontrovertible evidence that the interim Iraqi prime minister shot seven prisoners (one survived) in cold blood last year (as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald). Anderson does quote one of the alleged witnesses to the killings, and a "well-known former government minister [who] told [him] that an American official had confirmed that the killings too place, saying to [the minister]: 'What a mess we're in--we get rid of one son of a bitch only to get another."

Personally, I think Allawi perfectly capable of shooting people, as any successful Baathist official, present and former, is likely to have the skin of a crocodile; and if Allawi didn't do it, he's most probably not averse to letting such a rumor spread in Iraq anyway, to come across as someone ruthless.

Among the interesting, entirely parochial Lebanese tidbits in the piece is that Allawi's mother hailed from the prominent Lebanese Shiite Osseiran family. Lebanese Shiites have enduring relations with their brethren in both Iraq and Iran, which underlines how what goes on in Iraq, particularly a successful election come the end of January, will have a significant impact on other countries where Shiites live, through the community's familial and other networks.

Comments

[R C Dean]

I seem to recall that someone reconstructed his movements on the day(s) in question, and it would have been nearly impossible for him to pop by the station to bust some caps in some terrorists.

Not to mention the discrepancies between the two "eyewitness" reports (in one they are hooded, in the other they are close-cropped and bearded, etc.), the implausible but irresistable details (they were beaten 8 hours a day before being shot, they were dumped in the desert) that the purported witnesses had no way of knowing.

Not to mention the double anonymous hearsay of the most recent report (an anonymous American from Syria told an anonymous government functionary who told me, or something like that).

Urban legend, folks. A convenient one for Allawi, perhaps, but an urban legend.

[Brett]

Slight off topic, but has anybody here read John Lee Anderson's bio on Che? I was just curious what sort of treatment he gave him, whether it was a fair portrayal or whether it was a 500+ page love fest.

[thoreau]

to come across as someone ruthless

I can't see H&R's very own Ruthless doing something like this. Anarchist he may be, but he's a peaceful anarchist and a teddy bear at heart!

[Douglas Fletcher]

Depends on whether he's keeping to his meds or not.

[Ken Shultz]

"Lebanese Shiites have enduring relations with their brethren in both Iraq and Iran, which underlines how what goes on in Iraq, particularly a successful election come the end of January, will have a significant impact on other countries where Shiites live, through the community's familial and other networks.

I think I have a basic understanding of neoconservative, reverse domino theory, but I'm not sure I understand the idea that democracy jumps across the branches of the family tree.

What would an unsuccessful election come the end of January look like? Wouldn't they have to misplace every single ballot? So long as there are votes to count, won't the election be successful?

...Or does successful mean that the insurgents will stop the bombing after the election? Why would the insurgents do that?

[Ken Shultz]

"I think I have a basic understanding of neoconservative, reverse domino theory, but I'm not sure I understand the idea that democracy jumps across the branches of the family tree."

Really, I'm trying to think of examples in which democracy followed family lines or some other similar network lines, and I'm only coming up with bad examples--like Cuba.

Poland maybe? I don't think Poland is comparable.