Yes, you thought I was talking about Saddam Hussein. I'm talking about Iyad Allawi, the new Prime Minister of Iraq.

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.

...

One of the witnesses claimed that before killing the prisoners Dr Allawi had told those around him that he wanted to send a clear message to the police on how to deal with insurgents.

Of course, we have to rely on a newspaper in Australia to tell us these things. As John Stewart said on Larry King, the U.S. media and the government are a single organism.

[Via Eschaton and Blogging of the President]