US puts Baathists 'on parole' | csmonitor.com: "TALAFAR, IRAQ – It's one of the US military's most innovative efforts to deal with Iraq's postwar insurgency.
Last Monday, after weeks of talks, the 12 senior Baathists in the Talafar region, about 210 miles northwest of Baghdad, met with US officers. They denounced the Baath Party in a ceremony broadcast on radio and arranged to hand over of more than 522 AK-47s, dozens of rocket-propelled grenades, and nearly 100 mortar rounds and the tools to fire them.
About 200 more Baath Party members from the next level down in the hierarchy are scheduled to follow their lead Monday.
The dramatic gestures are the fruit of a "parole program" - a broad effort to aggressively go after Baathists who have access to weapons handed out by the regime just before its fall. The rules are simple: Beyond turning in weapons, local Baath leaders agree to report periodically to US forces, inform them if they're moving out of the area, and provide assistance in tracking down insurgents. "
Last Monday, after weeks of talks, the 12 senior Baathists in the Talafar region, about 210 miles northwest of Baghdad, met with US officers. They denounced the Baath Party in a ceremony broadcast on radio and arranged to hand over of more than 522 AK-47s, dozens of rocket-propelled grenades, and nearly 100 mortar rounds and the tools to fire them.
About 200 more Baath Party members from the next level down in the hierarchy are scheduled to follow their lead Monday.
The dramatic gestures are the fruit of a "parole program" - a broad effort to aggressively go after Baathists who have access to weapons handed out by the regime just before its fall. The rules are simple: Beyond turning in weapons, local Baath leaders agree to report periodically to US forces, inform them if they're moving out of the area, and provide assistance in tracking down insurgents. "
Comments