WHEN IN CHARGE, TAKE CHARGE

That is one of my very favorite military sayings. And it sure looks to me as if Prime Minister Allawi is attempting to do just that.

Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said yesterday that he plans to resurrect domestic-intelligence services to combat the country's persistent lawlessness and violence.

He also said ministers in his interim government, appointed June 1, also were considering bringing back the death penalty to combat "the evil forces trying to spread their poison and damage Iraqi society."

"We need to reconstitute or build an internal security apparatus similar to [Britain's] MI5 or the FBI, which has power of interrogation and detention," Mr. Allawi told The Washington Times at a reception honoring Iraqi women.

UPDATE: The Christian Science Monitor agrees:

Iraq has nearly three weeks to go before sovereignty, but its new prime minister is already acting like a sovereign. Since his appointment June 1, Iyad Allawi has defused two explosive issues: the status of US-led forces in Iraq, and the rights of Iraq's Kurdish minority.

Me...I'd have chosen the word "leader" instead of "sovereign", but obviously the CSM was attempting a parallel construction to the lead clause. We won't quibble...they've also noticed an Iraqi taking charge in Iraq.