Iraqi government committee bars six parliament members, citing Baath Party ties

An Iraqi election committee attempted to bar six members of parliament from taking their newly won seats on Monday, saying they had ties to Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party; and another 42 newly-elected members of parliament may find themselves on the chopping block as well. The commission’s move dealt a blow to Ayad Allawi’s Iraqiya party, which won a narrow majority of seats in Iraq’s March 7th election.

Meghan O’Sullivan, professor of international affairs at Harvard’s Kennedy School and former Deputy National Security Advisor on Iraq and Afghanistan during the administration of George W. Bush, explains the story. And we talk to Iraq-born blogger Raed Jarrar, a senior fellow with Peace Action, who says many Iraqis, even those who support Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, view the commission as using “political tricks” as part of al-Maliki’s attempts to retain power in Iraq.