Ba' athist Comeback

Saddam Hussein's Baath party is making a political comeback.

Seemingly, the Ba'athist movement has become a channel for Sunni Arab political expression.

Much like Britain's "New Labour", the Ba' ath party has had a political makeover. It is now referred to, by some, as the New Ba'ath party.

Colonel Steven Salazar, commander of the US brigade in Diyala, said:

"It's an organisation that has been developing in the last six months, if not longer.

They've held big party functions where they talk about their political future. But in the background, there are always small groups dedicated to violence,"

The Ba'ath have claimed responsibility for guerrilla attacks on US and government targets, and recently claimed responsibility for assassinating a Shia provincial council member.

Col Salazar said:

"If there's going to be a Ba'ath party, it's going to have to be a very different kind of party,".

However, the draft constitution prohibits the revival of "the Saddamist Ba'ath party".

Hence the need for an image makoever.

Saddam's New Photos

Three new photos of Saddam Hussein have been released by the Special Iraqi Tribunal investigating him.

The photos show Saddam being questioned by Chief Investigative Judge Raid Juhi.

They are the first pictures of him to appear since May, when the British tabloid Sun newspaper published photos of him doing his laundry in jail.

The latest pictures were taken on Tuesday.

Saddam Drops Legal Team

Saddam Hussein has confirmed that he wants his legal team to be sacked.

He reportedly met with his lawyer and the chief judge, investigating charges against him, yesterday.

Khalil Dulaimi, Saddam's lawyer, said:

"The judge asked president Saddam Hussein about his family's statement that his legal team had been fired and he confirmed it,".

Dulaimi met with Saddam for four hours of talks with Saddam.

Constitution Wrangle Continues

Iraq's parliament continues to debate its first constitution, since the toppling of Saddam Hussein.

A draft was presented to parliament, minutes before a new deadline ran out. However, there are a number of issues still unresolved.

Parliament speaker Hajim al-Hasani said that it was incomplete and could still be modified.

"Few issues remain to be settled and will be dealt with within three days," Hasani said, addressing MPs.

There is a determination to reach an agreement on all points ... All parties will work within the next three days to reach an agreement. We will meet in three days to finalise this issue."

Hasani said that there are three issues that still need to be sorted out.

"These points include federalism, and the way to form these (federal) regions ... the terminology used (in the de-Bathification process), whether to use the term Baath party or Saddam's Baath ..., the other issue is structuring of authority between the presidency, parliament and the government."

President Jalal Talabani said the three outstanding issues would be discussed by MPs:

"The big majority of it has been agreed but three articles remain. Now we will give a chance to members of the national assembly to look at it and I hope within three days these problems will be solved."

However, Sunni panelist Saleh al-Motlag told CNN:

"If the document does not have consensus it is illegal.

The document does not have a Sunni voice in it...it does not have the voice of Iraq. The document will be defeated in the referendum not just in the three Sunni provinces but all across Iraq."

Zalmay Khalilzad, US ambassador, said:

"We will work together with the members of the commission to broaden the support from the Sunni participants in the constitution process. It is absolutely vital for the stability of Iraq and for winning the war against insurgents that Sunnis see themselves in this new picture of new Iraq that is emerging."

Sunnis oppose a federal structure, because they believe that they will lose out on their "fair share" of Iraq's oil.

The risk is that Iraq decends into civil war, as the various groups become more entrenched in their views as to what the constitution should say.

Saddam's Letter

Here is the text of a letter which Saddam Hussein allegedly sent to a Jordanian friend, via the International Committee of the Red Cross, on 16th August.

"My greetings to the Arab people of brotherly Jordan and to whoever asks about us in our dignified and glorified nation; my soul and my existence is to be sacrificed for our precious Palestine and our beloved, patient and suffering Iraq.

Life is meaningless without the considerations of faith, love and inherited history in our nation.

It is not much for a man to support his nation with his soul and all he commands because it deserves it since it has given us life in the name of God and allowed us to inherit the best.

My brother, love your people, love Palestine, love your nation, long live Palestine."