FOR $300,000 YOU TOO CAN BE PRIME MINISTER OF IRAQ. Over at TPMMuckraker Spencer Ackerman has the goods on the $300,000 lobbying contract Iyad Allawi gave to a prominent DC firm in return for its help in building support for installing him, once again, as prime minister of Iraq (because it went so well the first time). Which raises the question: how bad shape is a country in before it's leadership can be bought for a fourth of the price of a Bugatti Veyron? On the other hand, Allawi may be making a savvy investment. Last time he was PM, his supporters managed to steal more than billion dollars from the government.
--Sam Boyd
