Iraqi Lawmakers Pass Key Benchmark De-Baathification Law

Fox New ^ | 01-12-2008 | Associated Press

[MNJohnnie]

Iraq's parliament adopted legislation Saturday on the reinstatement of thousands of former Baath party supporters to government jobs, a key benchmark sought by the United States as a step toward national reconciliation.

The bill was approved by a unanimous show of hands on each of the law's 30 clauses. Titled the Accountability and Justice law, it seeks to relax restrictions on the rights of members of Saddam Hussein's now-dissolved Baath party to fill government posts.

It is also designed to reinstate thousands of Baathists in government jobs from which they had been dismissed because of their ties to the party.

The dismissal of thousands of Baath Party supporters from these jobs after Saddam was toppled in 2003 deepened sectarian tensions between Iraq's majority Shiites and the once-dominant Sunni Arabs, who saw the de-Baathification process as targeting their community.

[PGalt]

GRRRREAT news! Thanks to all posters for a great thread.

[kipita]

A better response.....

In short, in institutions like the military and business, America is the best because they are run as meritocracies. However, the US government is being run as a nepotistic Aristocracy and we are getting predictable results.

[Chode]

i thank you Sir... 8^)

[jveritas]

Much more political progress than our own US Congress. What say you traitors Reid and Pelosi?

[thelastvirgil]

This puts the Iraqi parliament one meaningful piece of legislation ahead of our own nit-picking bunch of worthless b*st*rds. What will Nancy and Dingy say now?

[elfman2]

"Then the insurgency started and the death rate soared. But what would one expect 100,000s of low level military and government Sunnis to do? "

Yes, We should have expected an insurgency like you say. We now know that we should have been prepared to stop the looting, and we shouldn't have aborted plans for a continuous roll in of forces, and we shouldn't have totally scraped plans for post invasion security, and we should have anticipated al-Qaeda to bet the farm on stirring the Sunnies and had counter insurgency operations prepared for them. Now we know.

But NO, we should not have left "mid level" Baathists to undermine reform before there was a reliable method of vetting them, reliable Shiites in power places, leaving friends of the old regime to first take the good spots, wiggling into intractable positions to corrupt and intimidate weak malleable new officials at their most formative stage who might actually be trying to modernize and reform systems. No, that's a shortcut with predicable results, we shot for something MUCH more ambitions, and fresh start at government with all the good and bad that goes with it and have paid now rather than later.

[smoothsailing]

Good news for Iraq, Bad news for the cut-and-run crowd.

Thanks for posting.

The American Thinker has picked up the story as well.

[MNJohnnie]

Thank you from proving my point. Your motivation here is not to seriously address the issue, your motivation is, obviously, to manufacture some excuse to avoid having to give Bush the credit for the win.

You stated expectations of how and what can be achieved in what time frame in a Counter Insurgency are based wholly on uninformed, US Junk Media manufactured unrealistic expectations being shamelessly exploited by politicos, like John McCain, who want to appear as being on both sides of the issue of Iraq

Counter Insurgency is by far the hardest of all military mission. It takes time and lots of patient to do right. Iraq has been by far the most successful Counter Insurgency mission in history. While it is true mistakes happen and any mission can be done better, the political spin about "mistakes in execution of the mission in Iraq" by McCain and others is pure nonsense.

The whole reason the US's strategy is working in Iraq is because we did not Americanize the war when things were not going perfectly in 2004-2005 as people like McCain screamed for. That would of been a disastrous mistake. That is the disastrous mistake LBJ made in Vietnam.

The notion that Iraq was some how flawed because it took time and effort is the opinion of people in DC, and the US Junk Media, who have never actually been involved in winning a Counter Insurgency and are clinging to those opinions based on domestic political calculations of how they can exploit such myths for political gain. They have no real understanding of the mission in Iraq nor of how Counter Insurgency works and have no interest in learning.

The notion that the USA can simply snap their fingers and order everything to be as they wish it to be anywhere in the world is nothing but an absurd Hollweird manufactured myth that has no base in any factual reality.

[Pride in the USA]

ping

[enough_idiocy]

January 12, 2008
Iraq Quagmire Alert: Another Democratic Talking Point Takes A Hit
Most Democratic politicians have had to confront the reality that the Petraeus counter insurgency strategy has succeeded in increasing security in Iraq and dramatically reducing US casualties.
Yet many have found comfort in pointing out that political progress has lagged. “The Benchmarks! The Iraqis aren’t meeting the benchmarks”, they screech.
Well, today the Iraqi Parliament passed the so called “de-Baathification”, one of those benchmarks we hear so much about.
The bill approved Saturday, titled the Accountability and Justice law, seeks to relax restrictions on the rights of members of the now-dissolved Baath party to fill government posts.
It is also designed to reinstate thousands of Baathists dismissed from government jobs after the 2003 U.S. invasion — a decision that deepened sectarian tensions between Iraq’s majority Shiites and the once-dominant Sunni Arabs, who believed the firings targeted their community.
…The law will allow low-ranking Baathists not involved in past crimes against Iraqis to go back to their jobs. High-ranking Baathists will be sent to compulsory retirement and those involved in crimes will stand trial, though their families will still have the right to pension.
The Baathists who were members in Saddam’s security agencies must retire — except for members of Fidayeen Saddam, a feared militia formed by Saddam’s eldest son, Oday. They will be entitled to nothing.
Of course this won’t stop the Democrats in their push to surrender (though there’s really no one left to surrender to any more). No, in Hugh Hewitt like fashion this setback for their position will be ignored or spun in to some kind of proof that it means the exact opposite of what it obviously is.
The Iraqis still have much work to do but to use the words of one prominent Democrat, it would take a willful suspension of disbelief to believe the Democratic line on Iraq.
posted by DrewM. at 12:36 PM
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/251802.php

[Tears of a Clown]

Great news. The Rats are scurrying to find better talking points to give AQI hope and lessen the positive impact the US and Iraqi soldiers are having.

How about: “Yeah, well, WHEN WILL THE IRAQIS BRING UP UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE? HMMMM!?!! Bush’s fault!!”

[smoothsailing]

Hi, Jaz. If I remember correctly, this means that 10 of the 18 Iraqi benchmarks have been achieved. That's a glass more than half full.

[MNJohnnie]

Looks like it to me

http://usliberals.about.com/od/homelandsecurit1/a/IraqBenchmarks.htm

(i) Forming a Constitutional Review Committee and then completing the constitutional review.

(ii) Enacting and implementing legislation on de-Baathification.

(iii) Enacting and implementing legislation to ensure the equitable distribution of hydrocarbon resources of the people of Iraq without regard to the sect or ethnicity of recipients, and enacting and implementing legislation to ensure that the energy resources of Iraq benefit Sunni Arabs, Shia Arabs, Kurds, and other Iraqi citizens in an equitable manner.

(iv) Enacting and implementing legislation on procedures to form semi-autonomous regions.

(v) Enacting and implementing legislation establishing an Independent High Electoral Commission, provincial elections law, provincial council authorities, and a date for provincial elections.

(vi) Enacting and implementing legislation addressing amnesty.

(vii) Enacting and implementing legislation establishing a strong militia disarmament program to ensure that such security forces are accountable only to the central government and loyal to the Constitution of Iraq.

(viii) Establishing supporting political, media, economic, and services committees in support of the Baghdad Security Plan.

(ix) Providing three trained and ready Iraqi brigades to support Baghdad operations.

(x) Providing Iraqi commanders with all authorities to execute this plan and to make tactical and operational decisions, in consultation with U.S commanders, without political intervention, to include the authority to pursue all extremists, including Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias.

(xi) Ensuring that the Iraqi Security Forces are providing even handed enforcement of the law.

(xii) Ensuring that, according to President Bush, Prime Minister Maliki said `the Baghdad security plan will not provide a safe haven for any outlaws, regardless of [their] sectarian or political affiliation’.

(xiii) Reducing the level of sectarian violence in Iraq and eliminating militia control of local security.

(xiv) Establishing all of the planned joint security stations in neighborhoods across Baghdad.

(xv) Increasing the number of Iraqi security forces units capable of operating independently.

(xvi) Ensuring that the rights of minority political parties in the Iraqi legislature are protected.

(xvii) Allocating and spending $10 billion in Iraqi revenues for reconstruction projects, including delivery of essential services, on an equitable basis.

(xviii) Ensuring that Iraq’s political authorities are not undermining or making false accusations against members of the Iraqi Security Forces.

[jazusamo]

Hiya, Smooth. It’s a hoot to see that with each bit of progress over there the RATS keep getting quieter, of course many of them have switched their carping to our economy. I think they’re going to lose on that too.

[smoothsailing]

of course many of them have switched their carping to our economy.

LOL!!!

Now I know what the Dems mean when they talk about change!

"Quick, CHANGE the subject!"

[Norman Bates]

Political progress! This is good news.

[G8 Diplomat]

The Iraqi Congress has been more effective than our own.

[kipita]

Thank you from proving my point. Your motivation here is not to seriously address the issue, your motivation is, obviously, to manufacture some excuse to avoid having to give Bush the credit for the win.

You're right, I give no credit to America's nepotistic Aristocracy. I give the US military full credit for being good politicians, good diplomats, good strategist and doing their job as the US military.

You stated expectations of how and what can be achieved in what time frame in a Counter Insurgency are based wholly on uninformed, US Junk Media manufactured unrealistic expectations being shamelessly exploited by politicos, like John McCain, who want to appear as being on both sides of the issue of Iraq

I don't know if you're cutting and pasting comments in but this doesn't address any comments I've made.

Counter Insurgency is by far the hardest of all military mission.

If you destroy a dam the water will flow so it's best to put a lot of energy to prevent the dam from breaking and not on what to do with the natural flow of the water afterwards.

[kipita]

Yes, We should have expected an insurgency like you say. We now know that we should have been prepared to stop the looting, and we shouldn't have aborted plans for a continuous roll in of forces, and we shouldn't have totally scraped plans for post invasion security, and we should have anticipated al-Qaeda to bet the farm on stirring the Sunnies and had counter insurgency operations prepared for them. Now we know.

We did anticipate this beforehand but the powers that be decided to do it their way.

But NO, we should not have left "mid level" Baathists to undermine reform before there was a reliable method of vetting them, reliable Shiites in power places, leaving friends of the old regime to first take the good spots, wiggling into intractable positions to corrupt and intimidate weak malleable new officials at their most formative stage who might actually be trying to modernize and reform systems. No, that's a shortcut with predicable results, we shot for something MUCH more ambitions, and fresh start at government with all the good and bad that goes with it and have paid now rather than later.

This sounds good.

[DoughtyOne]

Very true. I’ve heard the comments and now they are going to fall flat too. The dems are such sages. They see precisely the cow pies we want them to step in, and they do.