Sunnis press for rehabilitating Baath

BAGHDAD, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- The mainly Sunni Congress of the People of Iraq, which is opposed to U.S. military presence, called for retracting a law that bans Saddam Hussein's Baath Party.

The official Iraqi daily al-Sabah reported Tuesday that the group relayed its demand to an Arab League delegation carrying a proposal to hold a national reconciliation conference between all Iraqi factions.

The group also demanded the release of all imprisoned former Baath Party members, the reintegration of the former Iraqi army in the new armed forces and postponing the referendum on Iraq's new constitution.

The delegation promised to relay the group's demands to the Iraqi government and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Mousa.

Similar demands were voiced by other Iraqi groups including the United Council of Iraq, the Christian Party and the Nasserite Party.