Former Iraqi Prime Minister and CIA asset Ayad Allawi kicks his campaign up a notch to get restored to the premier’s office in an op-ed for the Washington Post, in which he outlines a plan for Iraq.

What’s the plan? (Other than returning Allawi to power, of course.) First: fawn over the United States as having little blame for the problems in Iraq. Second, harshly criticize Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for sectarianism and being unable to organize a two-car parade. (Totally justified charges, by the way.) Three: Know which way the political winds in Washington are blowing and suggest a withdrawal of American troops over the next two years and a change in mission before that.

After that, it’s mostly details. Declare a state of emergency in Iraq (which was pretty much the status quo under Allawi) and absorb the various Sunni and Shi’ite militias into the security forces. Allawi comes out strongly against a loose confederation model for Iraq and praises the Kurds for their democracy. It’s an op-ed long on verbiage, but short on specifics. Just how will he incorporate the militias into a non-sectarian command structure? How will he “empower local and provincial institutions at the expense of sectarian politics and an all-powerful and overbearing Baghdad”? No clue. One of the few specifics: The ex-Ba’athist calls for the reversal of the de-Ba’athification law.

Here you can read an interview I did with Allawi while he was still in office back in 2004.