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Iraq to re-employ Ba'ath cadres

Atul Aneja

Saddam in court for genocide trial, calls for national reconciliation

DUBAI: Fearing a spurt in violence following the passing of the death sentence on the former Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi Government is planning to re-employ former Ba'ath party members in large numbers.

Members of the Ba'ath party, of which Mr. Hussein was the leader, were dismissed en masse following the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. But, Ali Al-Lamy, the head of the De-Ba'athification Commission, which was set up to carry out the purge, has now said that many of the sacked employees could get back their jobs.

A large number of employees who lost their jobs are Sunnis, who have been playing a leading role in the violence that is targeting American troops in Iraq.

Mr. Lamy said a law had been drafted, which would bar only 1,500 top party cadres from returning to work or receiving pensions. "The law will allow Ba'athists to return to their offices but not allow them the ideology of the banned Ba'ath party," he was quoted as saying.

A spokesman for Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said the move was a step towards national reconciliation.

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

Meanwhile, Mr. Hussein appeared in court on Tuesday for the second case of genocide in which he has been accused of killing tens of thousands of Kurds in Anfal in 1988.

In the court, he called for national reconciliation and cited Prophet Muhammad and Jesus Christ who taught forgiveness for all those who opposed them.

"I call on all Iraqis, Arabs and Kurds to forgive, reconcile and shake hands," he said. On Sunday, he was sentenced to death over the killing in 1982 of 148 mainly Shia villagers from Dujail.

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