btw just in case we ever reach the point of talking about specific places/situations, there's a useful map of iraq here:
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middl...q_pol_2004.jpg
with a zoom.
it's also possible that this has an effect on the overall conflict situation:
Quote:
Iraq opens door to Saddam's followers
A bill to restore rights of former Baathists ends a bitter and divisive legacy of American bungling
Peter Beaumont, foreign affairs editor
Sunday January 13, 2008
The Observer
It is now seen as the most disastrous decision of the US-led occupation of Iraq - the firing of hundreds of thousands of former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party from their government jobs in April 2003.
Enacted by the Coalition Provisional Authority's head, Paul Bremer, it created a powerful impetus that pushed former Baathists towards rebellion and many took up arms with the insurgents. In a single swoop former officials and members of the Saddam-era security forces, many of them concentrated in the Sunni Triangle, were rendered unemployed. It caused the impoverishment of whole communities, stoking up resentment to the presence of coalition troops.
Now with the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq around the corner, the country's parliament has finally reversed the last vestiges of that ill-considered policy, passing new legislation yesterday that reinstates tens of thousands of former supporters of Saddam Hussein's Baath party to the possibility of government employment. The new bill, approved by a unanimous show of hands on each of its 30 clauses, was requested by the US as part of efforts to reduce sectarian tension between Sunni and Shia. In the process it became the first piece of major legislation approved by the 275-seat parliament.
'This law preserves the rights of the Iraqi people after the crimes committed by the Baath Party while also benefiting the innocent members of the party. This law provides a balance,' said government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh. It was also welcomed by US President George W Bush, visiting Kuwait, who said Iraq had taken 'an important step toward reconciliation'. The new act - approved yesterday, and entitled the Accountability and Justice law - is designed to lift 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 US invasion - a decision that deepened sectarian tensions between Iraq's majority Shia and the once-dominant Sunni Arabs, who believed the firings targeted their community. Strict implementation of so-called de-Baathification rules also meant that many senior bureaucrats who knew how to run ministries, university departments and state companies ended up unemployed.
The Bush administration initially promoted de-Baathification but later claimed that Iraqi authorities went beyond even what the Americans had contemplated. With the Sunni insurgency raging and political leaders making little progress in reconciling Iraq's Shia, Sunni Arab and Kurdish communities, the Americans switched positions and urged the dismantling of de-Baathification laws. Later, enacting and implementing legislation reinstating the fired Baath supporters became one of 18 so-called benchmark issues the US sought as measures for progress in national reconciliation.
The legislation can become law only when approved by Iraq's presidential council. The council, comprising Iraq's president and two vice presidents, is expected to ratify the measure. The draft law approved yesterday is not a blanket approval for all former Baathists to take government jobs.
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 Fedayeen Saddam, a feared militia formed by Saddam's eldest son, Uday. They will be entitled to nothing.
The enactment of such a major piece of legislation comes in stark contrast with massive delays still dogging other important pieces of government business still languishing before the parliament with no sign of agreement.
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http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world...239908,00.html
you know. nothing to do with the surge, but a kinda big deal on its own.
taking apart the legal consequences of the occupation means that maybe--just maybe--some groups which saw themselves as entirely outside conventional politics might reassess their positions.
the "surge" would be a non-sequitor, then.
this isn't an easy interpretive problem: i dont see the point of pretending it is.