Puppet. Joker. Irrelevant.

This guy is probably going to get picked off by an insurgent. Who’d want this job? In preparation for the mighty assault on Fallujah, Iraq’s Allawi Declares Martial Law. (AP):

Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, grappling with the violence blighting Iraq, lived up to his tough image on Sunday by declaring martial law.

Barely more than four months after he took over from Iraq’s U.S.-British occupiers, Allawi’s government announced a state of emergency for 60 days, but it was far from clear what impact this would have on a raging insurgency.

Marked for assassination by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Allawi has sworn to crush the foreign fighters and die-hard Baathists he says are operating from the rebel Sunni Muslim cities of Falluja and Ramadi.

He has said the window for a peaceful solution in Falluja is closing. U.S. Marines poised on the edge of the city say they are only awaiting his orders to smash their way in.

Now that they’ve dropped the “evacuate now” flyers, they’ll just carpet/smart bomb the place. Unfortunately with all the media attention about this assault coming up for weeks on end, I’m sure any insurgent with a brain has already left town.