Baghdad, Iraq – A day after Saddam Hussein was sentenced to hang, the Shiite-dominated government offered a major concession Monday to his Sunni backers that could see thousands of members of the ousted dictator’s Baath Party reinstated in their jobs.
With a tight curfew holding down violence after Hussein’s guilty verdict and death sentence, the government reached out to disaffected Sunnis in hopes of enticing them away from the insurgency, which has killed tens of thousands of Iraqis and is responsible for the vast majority of U.S. casualties.
Sunday’s verdict and Monday’s opening to the Sunnis were seen as a welcome break for the United States, which had recently called for the Iraqi government to stop purging members of Hussein’s Baath Party from their jobs. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, however, has balked at U.S. requests to set up an amnesty for insurgents.
Al-Maliki has been engaged in a public feud with U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad since last month, when the prime minister disputed the envoy’s announcement that he had agreed to a timeline for progress in quelling violence and encouraging Sunnis to join the political process.
On Monday, there were indications Khalilzad was preparing to leave his post.
U.S. National Intelligence Director John Negroponte, during a visit to Baghdad on Friday, told al-Maliki that Khalilzad would leave about the first of the year and be replaced by Ryan Crocker, a senior career diplomat who is now ambassador to Pakistan, according to two top aides to the Iraqi leader. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.
About 1.5 million of Iraq’s 27 million people belonged to the Baath Party – formally known as the Baath Arab Socialist Party – when Hussein was ousted.
Update
Developments: Iraq’s Shiite-dominated government offers a major concession to Sunnis that could see thousands of purged Baath Party members reinstated in their jobs. Baghdad lifts its curfew imposed with the guilty verdict in Saddam Hussein’s trial after an expected violent reaction fails to materialize.
Casualties: The U.S. military announces the deaths of five more American troops, two in a helicopter crash north of Baghdad and three in fighting west of the capital. Relentless sectarian killing continues, with 59 bodies discovered Sunday and Monday across Iraq.
