Ban on Baathists to be eased....

[magomago]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6123182.stm

Iraq Baathists ban 'to be eased'
Sunnis protest against Saddam's sentence in Tikrit
The plan is partly a response to fears of Sunni arrest
A senior Iraqi official has said plans have been drawn up to allow former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party to return to government jobs.

Supreme National Council for De-Baathification head Ali al-Lamy said the plans could mean the reinstatement of more than a million ex-activists.

The activists were sacked immediately after the US-led invasion in 2003.

Most of them were from Iraq's Sunni minority and the Americans hope the move will contribute to reconciliation.

The most senior former Baath officials, who were close to Saddam Hussein, will remain excluded.

'Terrorist elements'

Mr Lamy said a draft law had been prepared which would allow all but the top 1,500 party cadres to return to work or get pensions.


======Reconciliation is open to all Iraqi parties, even those who carry arms, but whose hands are not stained with Iraqi blood
Nuseer al-Ani
Presidential spokesman=============

"The law will allow Baathists to return to their offices but not allow them the ideology of the banned Baath party," he said, quoted by AFP news agency.

"We consider those who insist on remaining in the Baath Party to be terrorist elements."

Nuseer al-Ani, a spokesman for Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, said anyone without blood on their hands would be considered.

"Reconciliation is open to all Iraqi parties, even those who carry arms, but whose hands are not stained with Iraqi blood," he said.

Correspondents say the government has been under pressure to revise de-baathification laws to encourage Sunni parties to take a greater part in the reconciliation process.

There are also fears of increased unrest from Sunnis following Sunday's verdict against Saddam Hussein.

The former Iraqi president was sentenced to death by hanging over the killing of 148 people in the mainly Shia town of Dujail following an assassination attempt on him in 1982.

A step in the right direction...although OG Baathist ideology dating from its founder is truly something admirable. Too bad it was never implemented at all. If those workers ideology dates back to its founder then I don't see why it shouldn't be bad ecause it is about democracy and human rights...but if its about putting Saddam in power, wellll that is another story and is almost the anti thesis of what the Baath party really stood for before it became marginalized b Assad and Saddam to prop up their dictatorships.

Hopefully this can put more people into the work force and out of the fighters. This is the best thing that can be done - engage people so they have that economic incentive to work. If you ban them from taking positions in areas where they have always worked, of course they'll be wanting to fight back more.
Of course like the spokesman of the president (who needs to be put on trial IMO) said: only those free of Iraqi blood can work...and this is a huge chunk of people simply because many were part of the party just so they could actually preform tasks that were reserved for Baathis.

 

[Balt]

Way too late, unfortunately.

 

[magomago]

Better late than never...whether or not it is truly too late is someting that remains to be seen. We should always prepare for the wrost but hope for the best...so we might as well not cut off our hope (but of course, still preparing for the worst)

 

[senseamp]

It was stupid idea from the beginning. They should have differentiated between those who joined for career reasons and the true believers. Instead, they alienated both.
Even for immigration, US makes exception for former Communist party members who joined for career reasons to get a promotion or pay increase. Most people in the party had to join to pursue their careers as teachers, engineers, military or what not.
So it was stupid to ban the best educated and trained echelons of society from participating in it. There is a Frontline documentary on it.

 

[magomago]

Originally posted by: senseamp
It was stupid idea from the beginning. They should have differentiated between those who joined for career reasons and the true believers. Instead, they alienated both.
Even for immigration, US makes exception for former Communist party members who joined for career reasons to get a promotion or pay increase. Most people in the party had to join to pursue their careers as teachers, engineers, military or what not.
So it was stupid to ban the best educated and trained echelons of society from participating in it. There is a Frontline documentary on it.

:thumbsup: Absolute truth. My uncle on my mom's side was a professor in Economics and had his PhD in Econ and taught at Baghdad University I think. He is qualified of course for the position and enjoys researching and teaching, but so he could get that position he had to be a Baath Member and when the invasion came...whelp there went his job out of the window. I've heard from their friends similar stories where you have guys who have PhDs in Engineering and other sciences selling falafels (assuming Iran hasn't banned those yet) on the street because it is the only job they can find since they can't get hired.

 

[ProfJohn]

We did the same thing in Germany when we purged all the Nazi party members.

Hopefully this will be the start of moving in the right direction.

Despite the calls of so many on here I don?t think it is hopeless over there. A few simple actions like this may undercut the violence down and lead to a workable situation.
Getting the economy going is key, people with jobs are to busy to worry about killing each other.
Also a march in the right direction will lead to a backlash against Iranian supported groups. Eventually people will get tired of the deaths and just want to live normal lives. We see that in Lebanon where there was little popular support for the war against Israel, outside of Hezbollah?s key support groups.