corruption? are baathists more honest than your average iraqi? i realize people who used to work in saddam's government are more experienced at running a government, but it's really bizarre for the secretary of defense to come down so objectively pro-baathist. why just two years ago, rumsfeld listed among his core principles for a free iraq:
De-Baathification. The Coalition will work with forward-looking Iraqis and actively oppose the old regime's enforcers--the Baath Party leaders, Fedayeen Saddam, and other instruments of repression--and make clear that it will eliminate the remnants of Saddam's regime.i'm not trying to be simplistic here, but rummy at least owes us an explanation why de-"baathication = good" was the line two years ago but today it's "de-baathication = bad." it seems to me that rumsfeld's position has more to do with who is doing the de-baathifying, someone handpicked by the bush administration like allawi (himself a former baathist), or one of those shi'ite politicians that overwhelmingly trounced allawi in the january election.
