Iraqis May Allow Baathists to Return

[sabra]

Source: AP

BAGHDAD — Iraq's prime minister and president will introduce a bill in parliament as early as Tuesday that allows former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party to return to government jobs and join the military, two Iraqi officials said.

The measure - long demanded by the U.S. to appease Sunnis - provides for a three-month challenge period after which Saddam's ex-followers - including those who worked in the feared security apparatus and paramilitary forces - would be immune.

The measure goes to parliament under the names of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, and President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd. Shiites and Kurds make up nearly 80 percent of Iraq's population and both were severely repressed by Saddam's largely Sunni regime.

"We present the draft law of Accountability and Justice to parliament to build an Iraq that is accessible to all Iraqis determined to build a new, democratic Iraq that is far from sectarianism, racism, tyranny, discrimination, exclusion and disenfranchisement," al-Maliki and Talabani said in a joint statement released late Monday.

Read more: http://www.wral.com/news/national_world/world/story/1248413/

[Robbien]

1. Are any of them still alive?

Why would any Baathist go to work for the government. Just paint a bullseye on them why don't you.

[yava]

2. for cash

[Eugene]

3. Iraqi plan to rehire Saddam supporters draws fire

Source: Reuters

REFILE-Iraqi plan to rehire Saddam supporters draws fire
27 Mar 2007 15:58:30 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Ross Colvin

BAGHDAD, March 27 (Reuters) - A draft law to allow thousands of former
members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party to return to public life would
fuel sectarian violence in Iraq, a panel enforcing the ban on Baathists
said on Tuesday.

The De-Baathification Commission, which was set up under U.S. military
rule in 2003 to purge party officials, said it had not been consulted
on the law agreed by Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and President
Jalal Talabani, a Sunni Kurd.

"This allows the return of the Baath and its members to power ... This
will not lead to reconciliation ... It will push Baath victims to seek
revenge. It will fuel violence which will never be extinguished," the
committee said in a statement.

"This draft law was created in a hurry before wounds were healed."

-snip-

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/COL744743.htm