Iraqi Deal to End De-Baathification

[Doc31]

By ANTHONY SHADID

Published: May 11, 2010

BAGHDAD — Iraqi politicians have reached an agreement to halt a four-month campaign to bar candidates from politics for ties to the Baath Party, American and Iraqi officials said, papering over the sectarian tensions it unleashed, at least for now, and removing an obstacle in the long-delayed process of forming a new government.

The disqualification of hundreds of candidates threw politics into turmoil before the March 7 parliamentary elections. In the deadlock that followed the landmark vote, the prospect of barring more candidates deepened the sense of crisis here, reflecting the conflicts that still threaten Iraq’s fragile political system.

But officials said this week that an agreement was reached to end the de-Baathification campaign in much the same way that it began in January, in an opaque fashion that has bewildered the campaign’s supporters and opponents and underlined the extent to which tenuous Iraqi institutions can be manipulated by the power of single personalities ... (for more click link)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/world/middleeast/12baghdad.html?hp&ex=&ei=&partner=

[DaveH]

Thanks for the post doc. This is good news if it is true, really who knows with the iraqis. hopefully the seating of the govt moves on