Iraqi council consider return of Baathists; six months not enough to draw constitution

The Interim governing council in Iraq yesterday considered that the period of six months speculated by the US secretary of state Colin Powell to formulate a constitution is not enough, and announced simultaneously it studies returning back members of the former ruling Baath party to their posts in the state administration.

The spokesman for the provisional chairman of the council Ahmed Chalabi, Intiqad Qanbar said "we want everyone to see a constitution as soon as possible." But he added that "the commitment" of the Iraqis around issues relating to the structure of the new regime in Iraq will take time. He explained "there should be an appropriate time" for the Iraqi people to discuss and understand any proposed constitution before making a referendum concerning it. He added "I do not think that a period of 6 months is enough, but we should wait and see, this depends on the constitutional committee and the events. The reality might change what will happen."

However, members of the constitutional committee are still split over the role of the Islamic Sharia and the form of the new political system, and the process for choosing members of the constitutional conference.

On the other hand, the governing council announced that the ministries will form committees to study whether employees who used to belong to the desolved Baath party should be returned back to their civilian administrations.