01-12-2008, 09:04 PM
|
 |
Machiavelli Incarnate
|
|
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Mid-south
Posts: 12,268
|
|
Again, old Bush admin policy is now reversed
Again, this shows how absolutely wrong the Bush policies have been. Now they are giving praise for not cracking down on the Baath party; they absolutley stood by the decision to have the party and members of the party have no status at all. They are more and more going to policies that they ignored, policies that were working in the Clinton administration.
Quote:
Iraq eases restrictions on Saddam's Baath party
Move wins Washington's praise for helping to reconcile warring sects
updated 2:48 p.m. ET Jan. 12, 2008
BAGHDAD - Iraq's parliament passed a law on Saturday to let members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party return to public life, winning Washington's swift praise for meeting a benchmark aimed at reconciling warring sects.
Washington had been pressing Iraq's Shiite Islamist-led government to pass the new law as one of a series of steps to draw the minority Sunni Arab community that held sway under Saddam closer into the political process.
"This law preserves the rights of the Iraqi people after the crimes committed by the Baath Party while also benefiting the innocent members of the party. This law provides a balance," government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said.
Story continues below ↓advertisement
Mirembe Nantongo, U.S. embassy spokeswoman, said: "We congratulate the Iraqi people on the passage of the bill. It is an important step towards national reconciliation and demonstrates that the political process is working in Iraq."
Iraq's failure to pass the bill last year had been seen as one of the main signs that political progress toward reconciliation was stalled even as security improved.
"The law has been passed. We see it as a very good sign of progress and it will greatly benefit Baathists. It was passed smoothly and opposition was small," said Rasheed al-Azzawi, a Sunni member of the committee which helped draft it.
Baathists purged from public life
The Accountability and Justice bill replaces an existing law that Sunnis had complained amounted to collective punishment against their sect.
Washington had introduced de-Baathification when it administered Iraq in 2003-04. A committee was tasked with purging senior Baath Party members from government and tightly restricted the employment of junior party members.
Thousands of Iraqis, many of them Sunni Arabs, were fired from government jobs after Saddam was toppled in the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, fuelling a long-running insurgency against Iraq's new Shiite rulers and U.S. forces.
U.S. officials later acknowledged that the measures went too far and asked for Iraqi leaders to ease them. But Shiite and Kurdish leaders were reluctant to reward people they blamed for persecuting them under Saddam's regime.
The new law will allow thousands of former party members to apply for reinstatement in the civil service and military. A smaller group of more senior members will still be banned from public life but can now receive their state pensions.
Deep divides remain
Support for the insurgency has waned following a rebellion by Sunni tribes against Sunni Islamist al-Qaida, but there is still a deep sectarian divide between Sunnis and Shiites.
U.S. officials hope the new law will go some way towards easing that mistrust. They also want Iraq to pass other reform measures paving the way for local and regional elections and ensuring oil revenue is shared among provinces.
President Bush, who met his Iraq ambassador and top military commander during a visit to neighboring Kuwait on Saturday, said a strategy of sending nearly 30,000 additional troops to the country in 2007 had proven a success.
"Iraq is now a different place from one year ago. Much hard work remains, but levels of violence are significantly reduced. Hope is returning to Baghdad, and hope is returning to towns and villages throughout the country," Bush said. He acknowledged that until last year "our strategy simply wasn't working."
Bush said previously announced plans to withdraw 20,000 troops by mid-2008 were on track. Further troop reductions will depend on the recommendation of the commander, General David Petraeus, who is due to report to Congress in March.
Copyright 2008 Reuters.
|
|
Linear Mode
