Yesterday in the Washington Post, I read this (link is from Newsweek) by Fareed Zakaria:
The Los Angeles Times reported last month that Baghdad had abandoned plans to reverse de-Baathification. It quoted a U.S. official who said that the reform was “moving backward” and was “almost dead in the water.”
Today, I read this:
Iraq’s prime minister and president have approved a draft law allowing many former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party to return to their government jobs, and it could be voted on this week, officials said Monday.
The legislation, seen by the United States as crucial to pacifying Iraq, will go to parliament as soon as it is reviewed by cabinet officials, said Ahmed Shames, a spokesman for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Also, in a column on political developments in Iraq, Fareed manages to ignore all the positive political developments. Kagan and Kristol note them here:
…since January 11, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has permitted U.S. forces to sweep the major Shiite strongholds in Baghdad, including Sadr City, which he had ordered American troops away from during operations in 2006. He has allowed U.S. forces to capture and kill senior leaders of Moktada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army–terrifying Sadr into fleeing to Iran. He fired the deputy health minister–one of Sadr’s close allies–and turned a deaf ear to Sadr’s complaints. He oversaw a clearing-out of the Interior Ministry, a Sadrist stronghold that was corrupting the Iraqi police. He has worked with coalition leaders to deploy all of the Iraqi Army units required by the Baghdad Security Plan. In perhaps the most dramatic move of all, Maliki visited Sunni sheikhs in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province and formerly the base of al Qaeda fighters and other Sunni Arab insurgents against his government. The visit was made possible because Anbar’s sheikhs have turned against al Qaeda and are now reaching out to the government they had been fighting. Maliki is reaching back. U.S. strength has given him the confidence to take all these important steps.
