tom_thinks

There's an interesting report, about Iyad Allawi personally executing insurgents:

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 center, in the city's south-western suburbs.
They say Dr Allawi told onlookers the victims had each killed as many as 50 Iraqis and they "deserved worse than death".
The Prime Minister's office has denied the entirety of the witness accounts in a written statement to the Herald, saying Dr Allawi had never visited the center and he did not carry a gun.

Of course this is just according to these two 'witnesses' so it can't be just accepted as fact, but

But in a sharp reminder of the Iraqi hunger for security above all else, the witnesses did not perceive themselves as whistle-blowers. In interviews with the Herald they were enthusiastic about such killings, with one of them arguing: "These criminals were terrorists. They are the ones who plant the bombs."

Is Illawi trying to demonstrate his 'strongman' abilities to prove himself capable of ruling Iraq? The report is frightening given the fact that Illawi has been discussing martial law and postponement of elections, not to mention the fact that he himself is a 'former' terrorist. Maybe this shouldn't be such a surprise coming from Bush's man in Iraq; Bush loves a good execution and has made it clear he's no fan of democracy; "A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question about it,"