"The [de-Baathification] law, celebrated by hard-line anti-Baathists and protested vigorously by Sunnis, is something like an Iraqi version of the 'Clean Skies Act,'" writes Alex Rossmiller. That's depressing, but true. Conservatives like Kristol are making a lot of hay of the fact that Iraq has passed something that is superficially designed to reverse the decision expelling all Baathists from the government. But wait! This law was the one supported by the most hardline, anti-Baathist groups. As Juan Cole says, "If the new law was good for ex-Baathists, then the ex-Baathists in parliament will have voted for it and praised it, right? And likely the Sadrists (hard line anti-Baath Shiites) and Kurds would be a little upset. Instead, parliament's version of this law was spearheaded by Sadrists, and the ex-Baathists in parliament criticized it." The law appears to have such provisions as preventing the reformation of the Baath Party, barring high-ranking officials from serving in government, and firing any who are currently serving. Some reconciliation. As per usual, Cole has the fuller rundown, and you should read him. It's worth noting that this is the law William Kristol used to prove reconciliation yesterday, earning him a slapdown from the Times' editorial page and showing, again, that the Times thought they were particularly in need of an op-ed writer who would lie to their readership. Odd, that.
