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US takes aim at Baathists, backs away from Iraqi govt formation deadline

AFP, Baghdad
The US-led administration in Iraq banned senior members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party from returning to government posts but after talks with Iraqi leaders appeared to back away from a looming deadline to form new democratic institutions to take its place.
The new US boss here, Paul Bremer, who has repeatedly pledged to wipe out the remains of Saddam's regime since taking up his post less than a week ago, on Friday formally banned all top Baath members from all public sector jobs.
The decree came amid growing fear among Iraqis that the regime could claw its way back to power as government ministries re-open and the US-led coalition tries to speed
up the return of normal day-to-day life.
An official from the US Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) said the move could affect between 15,000 and 30,000 senior Baath members, although relatively few are believed to be seeking their old jobs back.
Bremer's written decree said Baath leaders were banned from "positions of authority and responsibility in Iraqi society" so that "representative government in Iraq is not threatened."
The ban was to apply to state institutions like universities and hospitals, state-run firms and civil servants.
Washington has been left in a quandary by the all-embracing grip the Baath party held on public life in Saddam's Iraq -- under the ousted regime it was all but impos-
sible to hold a major post without pledging party loyalty.
The US administration has been criticised for working with known former Baathists as it tries to get Iraq back on its feet, but it has also been slammed for the time it is taking to restore order and reopen government ministries.
After talks with a seven-member council of Iraqi politicians late Friday, Bremer said he had their blessing for his new tough policy on senior Baathists.
"We agreed on the importance of the process of de-Baathification, " Bremer told reporters.
In his first press conference Thursday, the US administrator said he would issue new detailed procedures for screening out Baath leaders in the coming days.
Previously US officials had
admitted that background checks on returning Iraqi officials could take weeks.
The top British envoy in Iraq, John Sawers, said the ban on Baath leaders was only the "first step of the de-Baathification process".
"It is not the last word," he said after the talks with Iraqi leaders.
In recent days, both US and British officials have blamed diehard Baathists for the wave of lawlessness and looting that has terrorised Baghdad since Saddam's ouster and has been the main gripe of ordinary Iraqis against the US-led occupation.
"What we are doing is addressing the most urgent issues first. The most urgent issue is that of security, and along with that the question of ensuring that the Baath party cannot return in any shape or form," said Sawers.