Iraq’s parliament has, at long last, passed a law easing the restrictions on the holding of government jobs by members of Saddam’s Ba’ath Party:
BAGHDAD – Iraq’s parliament passed a benchmark law Saturday allowing lower-ranking former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party to reclaim government jobs, the first major piece of U.S.-backed legislation it has adopted.
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The seismic piece of legislation had been demanded by the United States since November 2006 and represented the first legislative payoff for Bush’s decision to deploy 30,000 additional troops to the country to quell violence
Other benchmarks languish, though, including legislation to divvy up the country’s vast oil wealth, constitutional amendments demanded by the Sunni Arabs and a bill spelling out rules for local elections.
It was not immediately clear how many former Baathists would benefit from the new legislation, titled the Accountability and Justice law. But the move was seen as a key step in the reconciliation process.
Before the party was outlawed — the first official act of L. Paul Bremer’s Coalition Provisional Authority — its membership was estimated at between 2 million and 6 million.
The strict implementation of so-called de-Baathification rules meant that many senior bureaucrats who knew how to run ministries, university departments and state companies were fired after 35 years of Baath party rule.
This is the first, long-delayed step on the road to political resolution of some of the problems among Iraqis. I don’t much care why it took place. That it took place is good enough for me.
For wise commentary on this milestone, the first of what we all should hope will be many, you might want to turn to Ed Morrissey and Cernig.
I think some perspective on the implications of this reform are in order. Under Saddam something like 50% of the total labor force of nearly 8 million people was employed by the government many in what has been called by some “pseudo-employment”. Lots of people joined Saddam’s Ba’ath Party just to get a job rather than out of any particular political convictions. When Saddam’s government fell its jobs went with it. When former Ba’ath Members were prohibited from seeking government jobs, that cut off an enormous proportion of the labor force and, importantly, the best educated portion of the labor force from government jobs or, likely, any jobs given the moribund state of the Iraqi civilian economy. What with that and the violence is it any wonder that so many Iraqis left Iraq over the last couple of years?
Not only does this reform clear the way for bringing lots of Sunni Arabs back into Iraqi society we can also pray that the improved security and better prospects for jobs attracts some of those who’ve emigrated, mostly Sunnis, back to Iraq where their skills are desperately needed. That in turn could lead to an Iraqi civil service somewhat more varied from an ethnic and sectarian basis and, probably, significantly more competent.
For more perspective on de-Ba’athification you might want to check out Iraqi blogger Ibn Al-Rafidain’s series on the subject from last year. He’s a a former very, very low-level Ba’ath Party member and, as you might expect, has some pretty strong feelings on the subject.
