[Peace-discuss] US dissolves Iraqi Baath Party

[Ricky Baldwin]

[How's this for freedom? - Ricky]

US Says Saddam's Baath Party Dissolved 

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The American general who commanded the
Iraq war issued a statement Sunday saying Saddam
Hussein's Baath Party "is dissolved," ordering the
political organization that ruled the country for 35
ruthless years to cease existence immediately. 

The message from Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of
coalition forces, was read over the U.S.-controlled
Information Radio on Sunday afternoon. 

"The Iraqi Baath Socialist Party is dissolved," Franks
said in the statement, read by an announcer. 

Franks' order came a month after U.S. troops took
Baghdad and unseated Saddam's regime, which had made
sure the Sunni-dominated party — whose formal name is
the Arab Baath Socialist Party — extended its reach
and its control into all corners of the country's
society. 

The statement told Iraqi citizens to collect and turn
in any materials they had relating to the party and
its operations. It called them "an important part of
Iraqi government documents." 

"Possessions of the Baath Party must be delivered to
the temporary coalition authority," the statement
said. "Anyone who possesses documents related to the
Baath Party or the Iraqi government must maintain and
protect them and hand these documents to the
coalition." 

Unseating the Baath was considered a top priority of
American military planners in the run-up to the Iraq
war, which began March 20 and had largely ended by
mid-April. 

In the weeks since fighting ebbed, the U.S. occupying
force's administration has moved to appoint its own
overseers to government ministries and bring people
back to work with an eye toward excluding Baathists
who worked closely with the Saddam regime. 

However, membership or affiliation with the party was
required for many if not most white-collar jobs, and
American officials have acknowledged that purging
Baathists from the ranks of Iraq's civil service may
be neither possible nor desirable. 

The Arab Baath Socialist Party gained a totalitarian
grip over nearly all aspects of Iraqi society since
its first brief lurch to power in 1963 and its final
takeover in 1968, which would last until last month. 

Saddam, who reportedly got his start in the party as a
clandestine killer, was a force behind the scenes
starting in the late 1960s but did not formally grab
control until 1979. 

Two generations of Iraqis have been indoctrinated with
the party's theory of Arab supremacy. Lower-level
members have managed the institutions of government on
a day-to-day basis. 

As many as 1.5 million of Iraq's 24 million people
belonged to the party. But only about 25,000 to 50,000
were full-fledged members. 

The Baath Party was founded in Syria in 1943 and
spread around the Arab world, promoting Arab
superiority and Arab unity with a violent,
Soviet-style party structure. It took power in Syria
in 1963 and created branches in many Arab countries,
bitterly squabbling both with established governments
and rival, communist revolutionaries. 



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