Iraqi Judge Orders Baath Party Plot Suspects Freed

[Hissyspit]

Source: Associated Press

Iraqi judge orders Baath party plot suspects freed
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
December 20, 2008 4:04 AM EST
BAGHDAD - An Iraqi judge ordered nearly two dozen officials freed after determining there was no evidence that they conspired to bring back Saddam Hussein's banned Baath party, Iraq's interior minister said. Their release Friday came shortly after Iraqi officials began playing down the arrests of the officials from Iraq's three major security ministries and dismissing reports that they were believed to have been planning a coup.

Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani told The Associated Press that the investigating judge ordered the officials released "because they are innocent" of allegations they were trying to restore the Baath party, whose exiled leaders staunchly oppose the current government.

Earlier Friday, al-Bolani told reporters that the charges were politically motivated by those trying to undermine the interior ministry. He said 19 were freed from custody and that charges were to be dismissed against the remaining four who were not in custody.

Some Iraqi politicians had speculated the arrests were part of campaign to bolster Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's power before two key elections next year - at the expense of Sunnis and secular figures. Few details about those arrested were ever released, but it was difficult to see how the allegations could have posed a serious threat to al-Maliki, especially with nearly 150,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

Read more: http://enews.earthlink.net/article/top?guid=20081220/494c7bd0_3ca6_15526200812201042150612

[mikehiggins]

Omigawd! Did Karl Rove train Iraq's Justice Department? n/t

[mikehiggins]

1. Omigawd! Did Karl Rove train Iraq's Justice Department? n/t

[judasdisney]

2. Or did Rove arrange a deal...

Look into the mirror, America. The wolves will be back. Next time they won't be stopped.

[Hissyspit]

3. .