After earlier rumors that a scientist highly critical both of Hussein's regime and of the US occupation would get the nod for prime minister, looks like the job is going to a prime minister all too cozy with the CIA and the Iraqi National Congress: The man chosen to be prime minister, Iyad Alawi, is the secretary general of the Iraqi National Accord, an exile group that has received funds from the Central Intelligence Agency. His ties with the C.I.A., and his closeness to the United States could become an issue in a country where public opinion has grown almost universally hostile to the Americans. The announcement of Dr. Alawi's selection appeared to surprise several at the United Nations. "When we first heard the news today, we thought that the Iraqi Governing Council had hijacked the process," said a senior United Nations official, referring to the American-picked body that voted to recommend Dr. Alawi earlier on Friday. A senior State Department official in Washington, as well as a senior American official in Baghdad, said Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations envoy asked by the United States to choose an interim government for Iraq, had indeed selected Dr. Alawi. The State Department official suggested that the Iraqi council had merely ratified the selection after the fact in order to make it seem that the council was the kingmaker. Looks like contra Rumsfeld's admonition that democracy is messy, this administration is seeking a transition that will be all too clean...