Would this have happened a week ago?

Unfortunately, it's inevitable that there are a lot of old scores to pay. It happened in Europe after the end of the Nazis, and it's been delayed in Iraq by fear of the return of Saddam, but it may be beginning now. The most challenging period may lie immediately ahead, in the struggle to prevent a full-fledged civil war, and keeping the whole country from being thrown out with the Ba'ath water.

[Update at 3 PM PST]

Here's a more in-depth story from the WaPo.

Nima said the assassinations have centered on Hussein followers implicated in violence, not all former party members. The murders seem meticulously planned, and the perpetrators leave behind no clues, he said. With few leads, detectives have made little progress in figuring out who is killing the Baathists, but Nima said this does not trouble him.

"There's only a limited number of them. Once they're all dead, this will have to end," he said.

"Ba'ath water"

Admit it Rand! You have been looking for an excuse to use that for 8 months!

My heart ain't exactly bleeding over this, but it does make it harder to maintain law and order. And if they can't give up their petty tribal rivalries and 'eye for an eye' crap, it's going to be a real challenge to get them to adhere to a real legal system with courts, set procedures and rules of evidence.

My "give-a-shit" meter seems to be stuck at zero on this one. As the man said, it will stop in good time.

Professional hits in Iraq? Who has an interest in silencing Baathists?

A grisly but encouraging sign. There needs to be a purge to clean out the ba'athists, I thought it would have happened already, but the specter of Saddam had kept people back.

I wish the kid been orphaned instead, as by all accounts his mother was a nasty piece of work.
But he himself was just as innocent as her victims. I hope his killing was "collateral damage", and not deliberate. But I suspect it was just payback being the usual bitch.

I'm sorry for him. Yet another victim of the Ba'athists, this time an indirect one. May Their Socks Rot.

I wish the kid been orphaned instead, as by all accounts his mother was a nasty piece of work.
But he himself was just as innocent as her victims. I hope his killing was "collateral damage", and not deliberate. But I suspect it was just payback being the usual bitch.

I'm sorry for him. Yet another victim of the Ba'athists, this time an indirect one. May Their Socks Rot.

This is worrisome to me. It's too calculated, and too neat. It sounds like someone trying to get rid of witnesses.