Republic of fear
Two important articles, one in the Washington Post (thanks to Chibli Mallat for the reference) another in the French daily Le Monde, on the entrails of the Baathist security state--both based on interviews and on party and intelligence documents found in the aftermath of the collapse of Saddam's regime. The Post has a long article on the Mother of All Battles branch of the Baath Party in Basra, Le Monde on the journalist's tour of the former General Security (Amn al-Aam) building in the Roussoufiyya district of Baghdad. Edifying.