Check out who writes for Benador Associates. As I wrote earlier, I think the Times may have given the dispiriting title to the article. My take on the article is that it's a plea to amend the Iraqi Constitution. http://www.benadorassociates.com/members.php
Well, you're right that there's a ton of good people on their list. I don't know all of them, but most of those I know are either conservatives (like Herb London) or at least honest liberals (A. M. Rosenthal).
Maybe I was put in a bad mood by the opening of this piece. But the problem is, many newspaper readers tend to go mainly by the headline and the opening paragraphs. So, if he put that in to placate the Times's editors and slip something through, I'm not sure how well it will work.