Olive branch for Baathists at Iraq peace talks

[maddezmom]

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraqi leaders have offered an olive branch to former members of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein's ruling party in a bid to kickstart a programme of national reconciliation, lawmakers said.

A small number of former Baath Party members are expected to attend the start of peace talks in Baghdad on Saturday, they said Friday, as Iraq's embattled coalition goverment seeks to drag the country out of a vicious sectarian war.

The move will raise hackles among hardline Shiite militants, whose majority community was persecuted by Saddam's Sunni-led regime, but is seen by many observers as a key first step in calming the violent insurgency.

Tens of thousands of Baathists and Saddam-era military officers were purged from public service in the aftermath of the March 2003 US-led invasion and many went on to swell the ranks of groups fighting the new Shiite-led government.


more:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061215/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_061215145331

[Double T]

1. At least THEY are talking. Diplomacy and talks are the ONLY hope for.......

quelling the violence in Iraq and putting the country on a path to recovery.