… and so has Nouri al-Maliki. Via Farls and Yglesias, there was never ever ever any coup in the Iraqi Interior Ministry:

 Iraq’s interior minister on Friday angrily dismissed reports that a group of officials from his ministry was plotting to overthrow the government and said the arrests of the men were politically motivated.

"It is a big lie. The public must understand this," Jawad al-Bolani told reporters at a news conference, referring to the accusations against the men. "It was clearly motivated by politics and was not related to security."

Maliki doesn’t just look craven at the moment, he looks impotent. Bolani said the two-dozen-or-so purged officials will all be reinstated. This violates the first rule of purgery! The purged must stay purged.