This is actually a pretty depressing statement from Allawi and Co

This is actually a pretty depressing statement from Allawi and Co., since it sounds like something Paul Bremer

would announce in both substance and tone and in its sleight-of-hand duplicity. Not that I’m surprised, but it

would have been nice if the New Puppets would have come up with some actually constructive move to do something

decent for the MBT sport 2 is. Wouldn’t it be a smarter move to have the New Puppets fix up the horrible

children’s hospitals or something?

UPDATE: Clearly, this is a Bremer deal, as I thought. AP reports:

Under the agreement, most of the militias are to be phased out by 2005, in a countrywide program worth about

$200 million.

The militias who signed up would be treated as army veterans – eligible for government benefits, including

pensions and job placement programs, depending on their service, according to coalition officials, speaking on

condition of anonymity.

Participating militias would hand in their weapons to the Ministry of Interior and join the program as

individuals, not as units or groups, coalition officials said.