Monday, March 05, 2007
Debaathification law to be revised
Politics, Security
(Azzaman) Iraq is in need of former intelligence and security personnel, National Security Minister Shirwan al-Waili said. He said the decision to dismantle the security organization under former leader Saddam Hussein was wrong. “Not everyone in the security services had blood on their hands. Many were merely professional people who could have helped a great deal,” the minister said. He said there were 200,000 people working in the country’s former security services and many of these had a lot of experience in their areas.
As part of the measures to reconcile the disparate factions of the Iraqi society, the government says it is revising a so-called U.S. law of debaathification under which all former party members as well as the army, security and intelligence personnel lost their jobs. “It is still possible to make use of many of them particularly those with professional and security expertise,” he said. Waili said the debaathification, now partly blamed for the upsurge in violence, did not distinguish between those had blood on their hands and those who were merely professional civil servants. “The way the law was translated into action was not practical and in fact backfired,” he said.
As part of the measures to reconcile the disparate factions of the Iraqi society, the government says it is revising a so-called U.S. law of debaathification under which all former party members as well as the army, security and intelligence personnel lost their jobs. “It is still possible to make use of many of them particularly those with professional and security expertise,” he said. Waili said the debaathification, now partly blamed for the upsurge in violence, did not distinguish between those had blood on their hands and those who were merely professional civil servants. “The way the law was translated into action was not practical and in fact backfired,” he said.
Labels: debaathification, National Security Minister Shirwan al-Waili
