U.S. helps Arabs press Iraq govt. into returning Baathists – cleric

NAJAF / IraqiNews.com: The preacher of the Friday prayers in Najaf accused the United States of helping Arab countries press the Iraqi government into returning and hold a reconciliation conference with the Baathists. “It is the Baath Party (of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein) that is masterminding the terrorist operations tearing Iraq apart while the Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) network that carries out these operations,” Sadreddin al-Qabanji said during the weekly Friday sermon at the al-Fatimiya Shiite mosque in Najaf. Qabanji called on the Iraqi government to “reveal the names and faces of those behind terrorist operations”. He also demanded quick action to clean the security agencies, ministries and the judiciary of any Baathists. AmR (P) 1