Iyad Allawi

I don't understand why Anthony Shadid is so impressed with Iyad Allawi (former Iraqi puppet prime minister/car bomber/Saddam's henchman/embezzler-in-Yemen).  This profile is quite hagiographic.  He mentions that he left Iraq in 1971, but does not mention that he continued to work for Saddam into the mid-1970s (it is mentioned to be fair but as an in passing claim by rivals).  His tale of an ax attack, has never been verified, to my knowledge.  Also, look at this: why does Shadid seem impressed with the upper class background (and bragging) of Allawi, and even romantically shares his nostalgia for colonial days.  Look: "“I was raised in a different way,” he told me in one of our first conversations. Born to a wealthy Shiite family, Allawi was never in need. His father was a doctor and a member of Parliament; his mother hailed from Lebanon’s Osseiran family, one of the most prominent clans in that country. (“A decent background,” Allawi says nonchalantly.) His Baghdad was a different city: fashion on River Street and culture on colonnaded Rashid Street, with its restaurants and cinemas. Nearby shops offered the tastiest pastries, the best coffee and the most delicious ice cream. Officials, sheiks and men of letters chatted at the Parliament Cafe. Allawi has a picture hanging in his home of Rashid Street circa 1937."