Draft law to allow Saddam's backers to return to jobs

A day after Saddam Hussein was sentenced to hang, the Shiite-dominated government offered a major concession to his Sunni backers that could see thousands of members of the ousted dictator's Baath party reinstated in their jobs.

With a tight curfew holding down violence after Saddam’s guilty verdict and death sentence, the government yesterday reached out to disaffected Sunnis in the hope of enticing them away from the insurgency, which has killed tens of thousands of Iraqis and is responsible for the vast majority of US casualties.

The US military announced the deaths of five more American troops, two in a helicopter crash north of Baghdad and three in fighting west of the capital. The deaths raised to 18 the number of US forces killed in the first six days of November.

Relentless sectarian killings also persisted despite the security precautions. Fifty-nine bodies were discovered on Sunday and yesterday across Iraq, police said.

However, with no surge in violence, authorities were gradually lifting the restrictions in Baghdad and two restive Sunni provinces. Pedestrians were allowed back on the capital’s streets late yesterday afternoon, and the international airport reopened this morning.

Around the country, jubilant Shiites celebrated the verdict while Sunnis held defiant counter-demonstrations.

Iraq’s appeals court is expected to rule on an appeal by Saddam’s lawyers by the middle of January, the chief prosecutor said yesterday, setting in motion a possible execution by mid-February.

Sunday’s verdict and Monday’s opening to the Sunnis were seen as a welcome break for the US, which had recently called for the Iraqi government to stop purging members of Saddam’s Baath party from their jobs. Prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, however, has balked at US requests to set up an amnesty for insurgents.

Al-Maliki has been engaged in a public feud with US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad since last month, when the prime minister disputed the envoy’s announcement that he had agreed to a timeline for progress in quelling violence and encouraging Sunnis to join the political process.

Yesterday, there were indications Khalilzad was preparing to leave his post.

The US dissolved and banned the Baath party in May 2003, a month after toppling Saddam. The US later softened its stance, inviting former high-level officers from the disbanded military to join the security forces.

About 1.5 million of Iraq’s 27 million people belonged to the Baath party - formally known as the Baath Arab Socialist Party – when Saddam was ousted. Most said they joined for professional, not ideological, reasons.

Career advancement, university enrolment and specialised medical care depended on party membership. However, those who advanced in the party were expected to spy on fellow Iraqis and to join militias that were accused of helping suppress Shiite and Kurdish revolts after the 1991 Gulf War.

Yesterday’s political concession to the Sunnis was detailed by a government organisation that had been charged with removing Saddam loyalists from state institutions.

Under a draft law, which the Shiite-dominated parliament must approve, the organisation now plans to amend its rules to enable thousands of former Baath party members to win back their jobs.

“Such a move will be in the interest of Iraq because a Baathist, like any Iraqi citizen, has the right to get back his job,” said Ammar Wajih, of the Iraqi Islamic Party, the country’s largest Sunni group.

“This decision could move the country toward stability and could be a way to open bridges between the resistance and the Americans,” Wajih said.

Under the former de-baathification protocols, 10,302 senior party members had been listed for dismissal. The draft law, however, includes the names of just 1,500 Baath party members, said Ali al-Lami, the commission’s executive director.