From Today’s New York Times story about Iraq:

Consider the latest caricatures of Mr. Maliki put up on posters by the followers of Moktada al-Sadr, the fiery cleric who commands deep loyalty among poor Shiites. They show the prime minister’s face split in two — half his own, half Saddam Hussein’s. The comparison is, of course, intended as a searing criticism.

What a beautifully self-negating bit of propaganda. Any comparison of Maliki and Saddam in a poster or cartoon is bound to fail because the lampooning of Saddam in such a way was punishable by death. There’s something gorgeous about this irony being lost on the protesting Iraqis. The emergence of off-the-wall anti-government criticism is a robust sign of political health. And don’t we know it.