"Freedom is on the march."

At the end of an AP story covering the U.S. assult on Mosul, and the investigation of a Marine who apparently killed an unarmed Iraqi prisoner in a mosque, comes this strange tidbit:

In Baghdad, U.S. forces arrested Naseer Ayaef, a high-ranking member of an influential Sunni political party, the Iraqi Islamic Party, in a dawn raid on his home, party official Ayad al-Samarrai told The Associated Press.

"This action is a kind of punishment to the (Iraqi) Islamic Party because we object to what is happening in Iraq, especially Fallujah and to the security policies adopted by the Americans and the Iraqi government," al-Samarrai said.

Ayaef is a member of the interim Iraqi National Council, a government oversight body. Last week, the Iraqi Islamic Party withdrew from Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's government to protest the U.S. assault, saying it "has led and will lead to more killings and genocide without mercy from the Americans."

Wha? Are U.S. forces being used to solidify Allawi's position as strongman? Is protesting the occupation now considered a crime in Iraq?

More to the point, who is in charge of directing U.S. troop actions in Iraq right now?

This really cries out for more thorough reporting.