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Ba'ath Party members need not
apply
By Sergei Danilochkin
PRAGUE - About 1.5 million of the 25 million
Iraqis belonged to the Ba'ath Party before Saddam
Hussein's regime was toppled. But only about 50,000 were
so-called "full" members, positioned in the upper grades
of the party hierarchy.
Efforts to purge Ba'ath
Party members from influential positions - a process
called "de-Ba'athification" - began last spring, with
the formal banning of the party and the exclusion of
party members from high-level government positions.
New policies announced this week go further and
are more selective. Iraqi Governing Council member Ahmad
Chalabi, who heads the de-Ba'athification committee,
explained why such a policy is needed. "I think that the
restoration of life, the revitalization of the economy
and the restoration of security are reliant on the
eradication of the Ba'ath Party because, as it was
proved recently from the documents seized with Saddam
Hussein, more than 90 percent of the acts of terrorism,
violence and economic sabotage are masterminded by
senior Ba'ath Party officials," Chalabi said.
The new measures provide for expanded purges
from government institutions to include lower levels of
the Ba'ath hierarchy and may affect 15,000-30,000
people. Many of the dismissed individuals will be able
to appeal the decision. In addition, the three top jobs
in any government department or ministry will be out of
reach for former Ba'ath officials. Any other party
members known to have abused Iraqis will be dismissed
regardless of rank.
Chalabi said similar
measures applying to the private sector and professional
associations will be announced shortly. He said the
US-appointed Governing Council would also pass a law to
return property that was confiscated or illegally
possessed under the previous regime.
Daniel
Neep, head of the Middle East and North Africa program
at the Royal United Services Institute for Defense
Studies in London, believes the policy of
de-Ba'athification hasn't received much popular support
so far because earlier efforts coincided with
dismantling the Iraqi army. That move left thousands of
former soldiers unemployed overnight.
Neep
pointed out that party membership was often a
prerequisite for career advancement in Iraq and did not
strictly reflect people's ideological views. He said the
new policy may meet with more support because it appears
fairer and guided by Iraqis. "The new policy which is
being introduced is apparently being done at the
insistence of the Iraqi Governing Council," he said. "It
is a more 'nuanced' policy which is now being
introduced, which will look at the record of individual
members of the Ba'ath Party and assess whether or not
they were involved in any of the human-rights abuses and
in the crimes which the regime was so well known as
having committed."
He added: "Overall, the
policy is a positive one. I used the example of postwar
Nazi Germany. But I think, perhaps, some more accurate
analogy might be the Truth and Reconciliation Committee
in South Africa. I think the mood is towards a more
inclusive approach. And so any options given to people
that allow things to move on - I think that's a positive
sign."
One danger, Neep said, is the
proliferation of purges beyond the public sector. He
said Ba'ath Party members, too, must support their
families - something they won't be able to do if they
cannot find work. "I do wonder where these people are
supposed to go if they are not allowed not only to
operate in a state sector but also to operate in a
private sector. How are these people to support their
families? And surely, if they are not allowed to rebuild
a life for themselves in some arena, surely they are
likely to lose any stake at all in re-establishing the
stability of Iraq," Neep said.
Neep added that
one of the most important aspects of the new policies is
that the Iraqi Governing Council - and not the United
States or other foreigners - appears to be leading them.
Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW,
Washington, DC 20036
(Copyright 2004 RFE/RL
Inc.)
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