... Same as the old boss ....

If the U.S. was aware of these allegations about Allawi before accepting him as leader of the "interim government", and had any cause to believe the allegations true, I can only ask "What were they thinking?"

Iyad Allawi, the new Prime Minister of Iraq, pulled a pistol and executed as many as six suspected insurgents at a Baghdad police station, just days before Washington handed control of the country to his interim government, according to two people who allege they witnessed the killings.

They say the prisoners - handcuffed and blindfolded - were lined up against a wall in a courtyard adjacent to the maximum-security cell block in which they were held at the Al-Amariyah security centre, in the city's south-western suburbs.

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Before the shootings, the 58-year-old Prime Minister is said to have told the policemen they must have courage in their work and that he would shield them from any repercussions if they killed insurgents in the course of their duty.

I am more than a bit concerned by those who grasp this story as a basis to undermine the "interim" government. And if the accusations are false, given the specificity of the accusations it shouldn't be particularly difficult to prove that the prisoners (all named) didn't exist, that some or all of them are alive, or that Allawi wasn't at the prison on the day they disappeared from the face of the earth. Further, Allawi is alleged to have had a U.S. security detail with him at the time, and those soldiers would be aware of the truth or falsity of this accusation. To date, though, beyond a bare denial there has been little or no effort to refute the charges, either by the U.S. or by Allawi. With all due respect to the possibility that the accusation is false, I would like some assurance that Allawi isn't, at best, "Hussein Lite".