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Top Shiite Cleric Opposes U.S. Plan
Concerning Baath Party
3.4.2007
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April 3, 2007
BAGHDAD, Iraq, -- The most powerful Shiite
cleric in Iraq has rejected an American-backed
proposal to allow thousands of former members of
Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party to return to government
service, an aide to the cleric said on Monday.
The rejection by the cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani,
appears certain to fuel hostility between the
majority Shiites and the former ruling Sunni Arabs,
since many Sunni Arabs say they were unfairly purged
from the government in the clampdown on the Baath
Party.
The Americans say a partial reversal of the de-Baathification
process, which began in 2003, is one of the most
crucial steps the Iraqi government can take in
wooing back disaffected Sunni Arabs and draining the
Sunni-led insurgency of its zealotry.
The White House has repeatedly told the Iraqi
government that the process must be changed. |
Top Shiite Cleric. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani |
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The latest proposal was announced by Prime Minister
Nouri Kamal al-Maliki and President Jalal Talabani
on March 26 at the strong urging of Ambassador
Zalmay Khalilzad, the senior American envoy to Iraq,
who left his job the same day. American officials
oversaw the drafting of the proposal.
Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican and
candidate for president who advocates a troop
increase in Iraq, said in an upbeat news conference
here on Sunday that the Iraqis had demonstrated
political progress by committing to revising the de-Baathification
law.
But an aide to al-Sistani said on Monday that there
was a “general feeling of rejection” over the
proposal.
Al-Sistani, who lives in the holy city of Najaf,
generally does not issue proclamations himself,
preferring to make his edicts known through his
aides or other Iraqi officials. His word is
considered sacrosanct not only among the Shiites in
Iraq but also among those throughout the world, so
his rejection of the draft law means it has
virtually no chance of passage.
The Bush administration urged the Iraqi government
to follow through with the revision of the law. A
senior official said on Monday that he hoped that
al-Maliki would work with al-Sistani to figure out a
way to differentiate between Saddam loyalists and
lower-level Baath Party functionaries. “Among the
political benchmarks which the Iraqis themselves
have set, this is among the most difficult,” the
official said.
News of the rejection drew harsh criticism from
Sunni Arab leaders on Monday.
nytimes com
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