Iraq Passes Bill on Baathists

During the sometimes bitter negotiations over the measure in recent weeks, strong objections were raised by parliament members from Sadr's party, who regarded the proposed legislation as offering too many concessions to the murderous former administration and by those sympathetic to Baathists who felt it did not offer real concessions to the Sunni minority that was marginalized after the war.

During the reading of the legislation in parliament Saturday, members of the Sunni bloc led by Saleh al-Mutlaq walked out, according to an aide to the deputy speaker of parliament. Some Sunnis wanted no restrictions on former Baath Party members.

But members of the largest Sunni coalition in parliament agreed to the new measure. Adnan al-Dulaimi, the group's leader, said the legislation was fair to low-ranking former Baathists and allowed the higher-ranking Shubah members to receive pensions, "which I consider good and acceptable."

"The current rules, on the other hand, deprived a huge number of Iraqi people who didn't commit any crimes and didn't commit any action that violated the law and the constitution," he said.

Some Iraqi officials believe the new measure institutionalizes a punishment against people who acquiesced to Hussein at a time when publicly opposing him could have resulted in a death sentence.

"The problem is that the new leaders have gone in the direction of revenge and vengeance, rather than going into healing those wounds," said Izzat Shabender, a Shiite who is on the de-Baathification committee in parliament. "Even if this law is passed, it cannot achieve the goal -- which is opening a new chapter with the Baathists. . . . It's got nothing to do with reconciliation. The culture of reconciliation does not exist in the heads of the Iraqi leaders."

But with parliament nearly paralyzed by infighting, any agreement was something many Iraqis found heartening. As the prominent Shiite politician Humam Hamoudi said, "The most important thing about this new law is that it is an Iraqi law."

Abramowitz reported from Camp Arifjan. Special correspondents Saad al-Izzi, Zaid Sabah and K.I. Ibrahim in Baghdad contributed to this report.