Iraqi parliament to reconvene Tuesday; Baathists, oil, provincial elections on legislative agenda

Above: Iraq's oil infrastructure. The oil law which would transfer substantial amounts of profit from the Iraqis to oil companies is the number one benchmark for the U.S. Left: In 2003, following the invasion of Iraq, the first act of the Coalition Provisional Authority under L. Paul Bremer had been 'de-Baathification', the elimination from government of members of Saddam's Baath political party, most of whom had joined for the increased pay and benefits which membership in the party offered. They had been the country's administrators, responsible for such things as water, electricity, trash collection, and sewage disposal. With de-Baathification, the basics of everyday living began to crumble along with the previous government. Members were primarily Sunni. De-Baathification was one of many Sunni complaints which led to the Sunni boycott of elections in 2005. As a result, Sunnis have been underrepresented in some provincial councils and Shiite politicians have dominated the political process. For instance, Sunni Arabs constitute at least 40% of Baghdad's population, but only 1 of the 51 members of the local provincial council is Sunni. New provincial elections have been repeatedly rejected by the Shiite-dominated parliament.

Iraq's parliament reconvenes on Tuesday for what is expected to be a stormy session over allowing members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party back into positions of power and to tackle a key oil law...

Washington sees resolution of the Baath party issue and the passage of the oil law as benchmarks to measure Iraq's progress towards political reconciliation that will eventually allow a withdrawal of US forces from the war-ravaged country...

"Lawmakers have major differences on these issues," said MP Nassar al-Rubaie from the 32-seat political bloc of fiery Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who has millions of followers, most of them Shiites heavily oppressed during the rule of the Baath regime.

"Differences persist when it comes to Baathists, oil and provincial elections," Rubaie told AFP.

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