Deal to aid Iraq's ex-Baathists imperiled

Source: LA Times

Deal to aid Iraq's ex-Baathists imperiled
The plan to provide jobs or pensions angers Shiites who recall the victims of Hussein's party.
By Alexandra Zavis, Times Staff Writer
March 28, 2007


BAGHDAD — Before the ink was dry Tuesday on a compromise to allow former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party to get government and military jobs, opposition erupted that could jeopardize the measure, one of the "benchmarks" for U.S. troop withdrawal.

The reaction to the proposal to revise one of the laws that has most infuriated Sunni Arabs suggested that the measure could face stiff opposition in the Shiite Muslim-dominated parliament.

"Our opinion is that this is an attempt to return Baathists into the highest echelons of power within the coming six months … without taking into account the many innocent victims who suffered from the Baathists," said Ali Lami, a member of the heavily Shiite commission charged with removing ranking Baath members from government.

"I think there will be great opposition within the parliament concerning this law," Lami added.

The Bush administration considers reform of the so-called de-Baathification process one of the most important steps the Iraqi government can take to reconcile Sunni Arabs with the country's new Shiite leaders and halt deadly sectarian fighting.

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Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-debaath28mar28,1,4115249.story?track=rss

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Put this new law in the same place as the Iraq Oil Law...on the shelf.

is that a euphemism for the bin ? This is yet another example of the illusion of democracy in Iraq.

just posted it in E&O
http://uspolitics.about.com/b/a/208055.htm

I like the Alaska analogy and on a cross link this remark :

Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio), who also voted against the spending measure, said, "This war has been about oil. This occupation is about oil. These benchmarks are about oil," he said, adding that the privatization pressure "confirms the original purpose of the war. … Democrats must take great care so as not to be a party to this gross immorality."

If we ever had a chance to set up anykind of "mulitcultural" government there, it would hve been right after our invasion. Keep the Shia from massacring the Sunni, and convince the Sunni it was in their very best interest to let the Shia into the money & power positions. THEN we might have had the leverage. (This is, of course, without figuring in the all important true agenda of the "grab the oil and run" crowd)