Allawi says US officials met with ex-Baathists

DUBAI: Former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said in comments aired Thursday that he had organized meetings between senior US officials and representatives of the banned Baath Party of executed dictator Saddam Hussein. Allawi said he himself had taken part in some of the meetings, which involved representatives of Saddam's fugitive number two Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, who has a $10 million US bounty on his head. "The dialogue took place at the request of the United States," the former premier said in the comments broadcast by Al-Arabiya television. "It took place in an Arab country and partly in Iraq in my presence," Allawi said. "The meetings were aimed at reaching a mutual understanding between the Baathists and the US government which was represented at a senior level." Allawi gave no date for the talks. Allawi said that at the center of the talks had been moves to relax the ban on former senior or middle-ranking Baathists taking up government or military jobs that has been in force since 2003. - AFP
The Daily Star

H/T Iraqi Mojo