Baghdad: Iraq on Sunday branded as illegal an
influential committee`s recommendation that hundreds of
military officers said to be loyal to executed dictator Saddam
Hussein be fired.
"The serving officers and civilians were employed
entirely legally, in respect of the law," said government
spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh, referring to the Justice and
Accountability Committee`s (JAC) declaration that 600 officers
be removed on account of their links to Saddam`s outlawed
Baath Party.
The law authorises "ministers to request exemptions for
those deemed to be competent and loyal to the new Iraq so that
they can continue in their jobs," Dabbagh added.
Ali al-Lami, executive director of the JAC, said that the
committee had recommended the removal of 450 members of the
security force.
"Keeping them in their positions is not legal," he said.
"Any exemption (to the ban) requires a process which
begins with the Justice and Accountability Committee before
going on to the Council of Ministers, and also requires the
approval of MPs.
"All of this has not happened," he insisted, adding that
the officers would be "removed".
The JAC was responsible for barring 511 candidates from
standing in Iraq`s parliamentary election on March 7.
Twenty-eight of those candidates have since been reinstated,
Lami said.
PTI
