Baathists

(Newser) - As the US prepares to depart Iraq, some in the West see worrying signs that the country may be sliding back toward authoritarian rule. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who met with President Obama in Washington yesterday, has been moving swiftly to consolidate power as the Americans head for the door....

(Newser) - Iraq has banned school groups and all other organized visits to Saddam Hussein's grave after video emerged of a group of schoolgirls singing his praises, the BBC reports. The executed dictator is buried in his home village near Tikrit, and the site is still a place of pilgrimage for loyalists....

(Newser) - Iraq has arrested up to 35 Ministry of the Interior officials over the last three days for their part in a plot to revive Saddam Hussein's Baath party, the New York Times reports. Some being held were in the early stages of planning a coup, say officials. Four generals were...

(Newser) - Iraqi lawmakers shouted down a bill today that would let members of Saddam's Baath party return to public posts, AFP reports. Shiite lawmakers heckled the first reading of the measure, which Bush has touted as a benchmark of Iraqi progress. Now the bill goes to a legal body for changes,...