Iraq Plans To Reinstate Some Former Ba'athists

(RFE/RL) November 7, 2006 -- A senior Iraqi official has said the government is preparing a draft law which could reinstate in government jobs thousands of purged former members of deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party.

Ali Faysal al-Lami, head of the Supreme National Council for De-Ba'athification, said on November 6 that the draft law would soon be sent to parliament for approval.

He said most rank-and-file former Ba'athists would be allowed back into their jobs, but the top 1,500 party cadres that the Iraqi government considers to have been complicit in Hussein's crimes will remain excluded.

Al-Lami's comments come a day after the Iraq High Tribunal sentenced Hussein to death for crimes against humanity.

Most of the dismissed Ba'athists are Sunni Muslims who dominated government structures under Hussein.

(AP, AFP)