ICG on Iraq, de-Ba'aathification

I neglected to mention the ICG report's take on the Iraqi legislation passed in January 2008 that ostensibly addresses the sweeping de-Ba'athification implemented during the CPA regime. Although some neo-cons (I'm thinking of a Wm. Kristol column) touted this as an advance, there are problems with it.

First, party officials above a certain rank were forced into retirement. Although that was sweetened with a pension, it doesn't change the fact that you have a Sunni constituency that won't have its members in the higher positions of the bureaucracy. Even the lower-level functionaries have to face a lifetime of the threat of civil suits (no statute of limitations).