gOOGLE - Iraq: Baathists to be allowed back into government
Iraq's government has offered a major concession to former members of Saddam Hussein's regime by proposing a law that would allow some of them to return to power. The announcement was made at an Arab League summit in Cairo. "This is for all Iraqi parties who want to be a part of the reconciliation project. There is no solution for Iraq without this reconciliation. This includes Baathists and non-Baathists," said government spokesman Fateh al Fayaad.

While Shi'ites celebrated the news of Saddam's death sentence, Iraq's Sunnis took to the streets to demonstrate against the verdict, denouncing the trial as unfair. While Washington and Iraq's US-backed government have welcomed the sentence, human rights groups say it fell short of being a fair trial.

The draft law is widely seen as an attempt to alleviate anger over the sentence which it is feared could stoke sectarian violence in Iraq. The so-called de-Baathification of the Iraqi government, which saw the removal of even minor officials in the wake of the 2003 invasion, has been widely criticized as a contributing factor to the break-up of Iraqi society.