Iraqi cabinet unveils sweeping reform of Saddam law

by weslin3 Mon Apr 08, 2013 6:41 pm

weslin3: Interacting Investor; Posts : 7463
Join date : 2012-12-19

Post n°1

Iraqi cabinet unveils sweeping reform of Saddam law

by weslin3 Mon Apr 08, 2013 6:41 pm

Iraqi cabinet unveils sweeping reform of Saddam law
Gulf Today - 08 April, 2013

Iraq’s cabinet unveiled sweeping reforms to a law barring members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party from public life on Sunday, in a bid to head off months of rallies by the country’s Sunni Arab minority.

“Cabinet today approved an important amendment to the law of Justice and Accountability,” Deputy Prime Minister Saleh Al Mutlak said in a statement summarising the reforms, referring to the formal name for Iraq’s De-Baathification law.

“This law has excluded many talented people and prevented the country from (benefiting from) their services.”

“This is a step towards moving to a new phase, away from phobia of the Baath party,” said Ihsan Al Shammari, a politics professor at Baghdad University. “I think the government made a good move here.”

But, Shammari said, the proposal was likely to face opposition in the Shiite-dominated south of Iraq that, along with the northern Kurdish region, faced the brunt of Saddam’s wrath.

Ministers on Sunday approved a draft amendment that would allow Baath branch chiefs, or firqa-level members, to rejoin the civil service, and would provide for pension payments for many members of the Fedayeen Saddam, a paramilitary organisation loyal to the now-ousted ruler.

According to John Drake, an Iraq specialist at risk consultancy AKE Group, the fall of Baghdad is “often seen as a more emotive date for Iraqis than the actual invasion so insurgents may very well seek to mark it with more acts of violence.”

The amendment to a De-Baathification law still need to be approved by parliament but if implemented would mark a key concession to demonstrators in Iraq’s north and west who have alleged the current rules promote unfair targeting of their community by the Shiite-led authorities.

It would also put a time limit on the law, ensuring that only names blacklisted by the end of 2013 would be restricted from public life.

In all, the draft law would allow thousands of people to either enter the civil service or receive pensions.

A decade after US-led forces took control of Baghdad on April 9, 2003, sealing the ouster of Saddam’s regime, Iraq remains plagued by deadly attacks and never-ending political crises.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]