Developing

Iraqi Coup Foiled

Generals hoped to reinstate Saddam’s Baath regime.

Four generals are among 35 Iraqi officials in the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior have been arrested in a plot to reinstate Saddam Hussein's Baath Party. Among the ringleaders was Ahmed Abu Raqeef, the ministry's director of internal affairs. The raids were carried out over the last three days by an elite counterterrorism force, which reports directly to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal Al Maliki. "The arrests reflect a new set of political challenges for Iraq. Mr. Maliki, who has gained popularity as a strong leader but has few reliable political allies, has scrambled to protect himself from domestic rivals as the domineering influence of the United States, his leading backer, begins to fade," writes The New York Times.