[A-List] The spread of democracy - McCarthy style.

["Henry C.K. Liu" <hliu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The official, Stephen Browning, required non-members to declare, "I am
not, nor have I ever been, a member of the Arab Socialist Renaissance
Party of Iraq," the Baath Party.



Iraq's Baath Party Is Abolished
Franks Declares End of Hussein's Apparatus as Some Members Retake Posts
By Peter Slevin and Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, May 12, 2003; Page A10

BAGHDAD, May 11 -- Gen. Tommy R. Franks, the commander of U.S. forces in
Iraq, announced today that Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, which dominated
the country for more than three decades through violence and
intimidation, has been abolished, although U.S. authorities have allowed
many prominent members to return to top government positions.

The party essentially evaporated after U.S. forces invaded Iraq and
overthrew Hussein and his government, but Franks made it official by
ordering an institution that exercised power in every Iraqi city and
village to cease existence immediately. He said in a broadcast on
U.S.-controlled radio that one-party rule was over.

"The Iraqi Baath Socialist Party is dissolved," Franks said in a
statement read by an announcer in Arabic and broadcast across Iraq this
afternoon. He said the "apparatus of Iraqi security, intelligence and
military intelligence belonging to Saddam Hussein are deprived of their
authority and power."

The effect of Franks's declaration remained unclear, but it seemed
largely symbolic, given the party's organizational implosion and the
somewhat contradictory U.S. request that many former high-ranking
government officials, most of whom were Baath members, report to their
jobs as usual.

U.S. authorities have made "de-Baathification" a goal of the occupation
period, but have not laid out consistent rules for accomplishing it.
Officials in charge of Iraq's reconstruction have emphasized that the
majority of Baath Party members are useful citizens who joined the party
without passion, whether out of fear or pragmatism.

The only Baath members automatically disqualified from participating in
the new government are senior figures from Hussein's rule because of
suspected involvement in human rights abuses or close ties to the former
Iraqi leader.

Just in the past week, however, U.S. officials have removed a dozen
Baathists from the Planning Ministry and promised other selective
purges. Scattered protests flared again today outside government
ministries where employees protested the continued presence of top party
officials.

"They're all crooks," said Entisar Ahmed, an accountant at the Trade
Ministry who had gathered with a group of colleagues at a grain silo to
demand they be paid their monthly salary and a promised bonus for last
year's performance. "They should not be allowed back to work."

Dealing with the estimated 1.5 million people who were Baath members has
become a controversial and complicated part of the Pentagon's postwar
reconstruction effort. Many Iraqis want former Baathists to be excluded
from reclaiming high-level government jobs or at least scrutinized.

Non-Baathists, particularly those leading once-exiled political groups
opposed to Hussein, contend the inclusion of Baathists could promote
corruption, undermine the interim administration's legitimacy and anger
those persecuted by the party during years of vengeful rule.

U.S. officials say that barring former party members from returning to
work until they are screened would delay the resuscitation of important
services. Almost every national government agency and local council was
stocked with party members. Many are technocrats and bureaucrats that
the Pentagon's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance says
it needs.

At the Health Ministry over the weekend, the U.S. official in charge
ordered more than 50 aspirants to senior administrative jobs to resign
their Baath memberships. If they were not members, they were required to
sign a statement denouncing "the Baath Party and Saddam Hussein and his
regime."

The official, Stephen Browning, required non-members to declare, "I am
not, nor have I ever been, a member of the Arab Socialist Renaissance
Party of Iraq," the Baath Party.

Former membership did not disqualify any of the aspiring interim
officials, as long as they resigned immediately. Browning named as the
ministry's temporary leader Ali Shnan, a party member derided by many
fellow doctors. Shnan signed the document and quit the party at
Browning's insistence.

Franks, in addition to dissolving the party, said coalition forces
expect Iraqis to help them collect key Baath Party documents.

"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," Franks said in the statement.

Successive U.S. administrations spent more than $10 million collecting
evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the
Baath Party's reign. The Bush administration has pledged criminal
prosecutions against top members but also aims to assist future leaders
in investigating lower-level Baathists as part of a truth and
reconciliation process.

Addressing the political process to come, Franks said freedom of
expression would be central as Iraqis prepare to choose an interim
government and, ultimately, elect a permanent leadership.

"All parties and political groups can take part in the political life in
Iraq," Franks said, "except those who urge violence or practice it."