De-Ba'athification Committee Rejects Talabani's Petition

The supreme national committee for de-Ba'athification has rejected president Jalal Talabani's request that the committee (keep off its list) candidates who won the elections (and who are being kept out of office because they had Ba'athist ties.) In a letter sent to Talabani, the committee affirmed that (several candidates) were former members of the dissolved Ba'ath party and former intelligence officers who worked against the Iraqi opposition (during the former regime of Saddam Hussein.) The candidates include: Adnan al-Janabi, Rasim al-Awadi, Saad Asim al-Janabi and Abdul Latif al-Badri. It is worth mentioning that the committee has issued a list of 158 candidates who cannot become lawmakers regardless of whether they won or lost in the elections.