I mean bad as in good.  Remember this? (just cancel the english pack) I remember reading somewhere (Juan Cole maybe?) that he feels so strongly about helping the Iraqis because he's Algerian, and so he is especially sensitive to the Iraqis' situation because of the Algerian's previous "problems" with the French.
OT Did you ever see "The Very Last RE-Make of BEAU GEST? It had Marty Feldman in it, and maybe Mel Brooks. Very Funny (or was at least when I last saw it at 10 years old)
I remember there was some rethug sniping at him a while 'cause he's Sunni and there's all those "CRAZY" Shi'ia in Iraq.
Maybe I'm naive, but I think guys like Brahimi, Annan, and their peers really try to do the most human thing, they just have to work in a world real politique run by psychoticsImean... er... so-called "World Leaders" :-}