Iraq's Former PM: "we are further than ever from national reconciliation."

While Bush asks for another Friedman Unit, and General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker tell us all the good news, Iraq's former prime minister has a different take.

Spiegel Online:

SPIEGEL: What have you -- the politicians -- done with this short breathing space?

Allawi: Today, we are further than ever from national reconciliation. The ethnic-confessional cleansings continue, especially in central Iraq and Baghdad. The exodus and expulsions of Iraqis has taken on a dimension not seen since the founding of modern Iraq in the 1920s. De-Baathification has become a settling of scores with political opponents. There is also absolutely no solution in sight for how to deal with former members of the disbanded army. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers sit at home, deprived and disenfranchised, without a salary.