I've been waiting

for the Sunday talk shows' reaction to al-Maliki's "reconciliation plan"--which in repeated statements by the Iraq government (which I've followed on this blog) proferred amnesty to Iraqi insurgents who'd killed American troops. But now it appears that as finally submitted to Parliament, the plan so softens the amnesty provisions as to make them ineffective. Juan Cole says that Bush pressured al-Maliki to delete the amnesty provision--the only place on the web that I could find that so suggested. In any event, the talk shows were, as always, silly and redundant.

Update: The NYT noted the absence of the amnesty plan, but finessed the issue of its deletion from earlier descriptions of its effect. Note that it's our ambassador, not an Iraqi official, who's quoted about the absence of amnesty for Iraqis who killed Americans. If such a provision, which may indeed have helped quell the violence in Iraq, was deleted because of pressure from the US administration, then the word "puppet government" could not be more apt.

More discussions of amnesty are here, here and here.