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| Iraq |
| Biden in Iraq to defuse barred candidates row |
| 2010-01-23 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Iraq on Friday to try to mediate in a squabble over a decision to bar candidates from March elections due to suspected links to Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party. Biden, making his third visit since U.S. troops pulled out of Iraqi urban centers last June, was expected to discuss with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki the move to exclude more than 500 politicians from the vote, which has threatened to reopen sectarian wounds. The list drawn up by a panel charged with preventing high-ranking Baathists from returning to public life included popular Sunni politician Saleh al-Mutlaq, triggering protests from minority Sunnis who complained that majority Shiites were trying to marginalize them. The panel's ruling was upheld by Iraq's independent electoral commission but still faces a court challenge. On Friday, Iraq's government said the disqualified candidates would have to denounce Saddam's regime and its crimes in order to reintegrate into society, without specifically offering reinstatement on ballot papers. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 It's almost as if someone's trying to get Biden killed. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2010-01-23 09:10 |
| #1 Shouldn't we be avoiding getting into a constitutional squabble in Iraq? And couldn't we have found a better person to send? |
| Posted by: Free Radical 2010-01-23 06:54 |