Iraq votes to rescind some anti-Baath measures

Iraq:The Iraqi parliament on Saturday adopted legislation to permit former members of the Baath party to resume government jobs and qualify for pensions.

The adoption of the measure, the first of 18 tasks assigned to the national assembly in 2006 by Washington, coincided with President George Bush's tour of the Gulf where he met Sunni Arab rulers who deeply resent the exclusion of members of their sect from politics in Iraq by the Shia and Kurd-dominated government.

Mr Bush hailed the measure as an "important step toward reconciliation". The law will replace the 2003 US decree banning the Baath Party and barring from office many of its 2.5 million members who had run Iraq for 30 years.

This decree deprived the country of educated and experienced bureaucrats, educators and officers and prompted some to join the insurgents.

The measure, adopted by a narrow majority of 143 deputies present and voting in the 275-member body, is highly controversial.

The Bill excludes 3,500 high-ranking party members and provides for potential reinstatement of 13,000-31,000 low level Baathists after vetting by a new committee, appointed by parliament and a judicial board.

However, 27,000 ex-Baathists employed in the defence, finance, interior and foreign ministries could be forcibly retired and pensioned.

Few ex-Baathists are likely to apply for reinstatement because they fear they could be targeted by Shia militiamen if investigated by the new Shia-dominated committee or their records are exposed to public scrutiny.