Iraqis see chaos after U.S. hires Saddam generals

BAGHDAD, May 2 (Reuters) - Washington risks plunging Iraq into further chaos by employing Saddam Hussein generals to appease an anti-U.S. insurgency, Iraqi leaders once in the forefront of opposition to the ousted dictator said on Sunday.

U.S. forces turned to General Jasim Mohamed Saleh, who headed a battalion in the disbanded Republican Guards, and another Sunni Muslim general for help in pacifying Falluja after U.S. forces besieged the city west of Baghdad for nearly a month.

U.S. military leaders insist, however, Saleh has not been given control of Falluja.

While acknowledging that Saleh, from the Sunni Muslim Dulaimi tribe, could help calm Falluja, politicians and Governing Council members said Iraq would become more unstable in the longer run as the United States puts defeated Baath Party members back in senior positions.

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