Iraq's US-appointed interim health chief has resigned amid heavy criticism over his career as a senior Baath party official, a top US general said today.
Major General Glenn Webster said Mr Ali Shnan al-Janabi had quit after refusing to unequivocally renounce Saddam Hussein's former ruling party, which he served as number three in the health ministry.
"Most of the folks we're hiring back will be Baath party members. Down the road, when we see what their true colours are, some of them will have to go," Major General Webster said at Baghdad's airport during a visit by General Richard Myers, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"One of those was the health minister yesterday," he said.
Following a meeting on Iraq's battered health sector on Saturday, Mr Janabi wavered when asked to confirm a pledge he signed renouncing the party.
"Under the old regime it was part of your identity, we had to be part of the party. I'm not an active member of the Baath party anymore," Mr Janabi told a heated press conference after the meeting attended by retired US general Jay Garner, the top US civil administrator in Iraq.
"But if you ask someone to change their personal ideology that is something different," he said.
AFP