US U-turn on hiring of Ba'ath party members: "The US administration in Baghdad is to begin hiring former Ba'ath party members and senior army officers as it relaxes some of the key ideological concepts behind the past year's occupation.
In an address to be made on Iraqi television today, Paul Bremer, the US administrator in Baghdad, will announce a 'reform' of the procedures behind his tough de-Ba'athification policy, which has excluded thousands of Iraqi teachers, civil servants and military officers from work.
The policy change appears designed to answer the criticism made of Mr Bremer's administration this month by Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN special adviser on Iraq.
Last night Mr Bremer's aides sought to play down the changes, but in practice the reforms should mean several thousand former Ba'athists will be able to return to work. "
- posted by geoff @ #