Ba'ath Party (Iraqi-dominated faction)
Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي | |
---|---|
General Secretary | Saddamism |
Colors | Black, red, white and green (Pan-Arab colors) |
Party flag | |
The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party (spelled "Ba'th" or "Baath", "resurrection" or "renaissance";
In 1966, the original Ba'ath Party was split in half; one half was led by the Damascus leadership of the Ba'ath Party which established a party in Syria and the other half with its leadership in Baghdad. The two Ba'ath parties retained the same name and maintained parallel structures in the Arab world, but relations became so antagonistic that Syria supported Iran against Iraq during the bloody Iran–Iraq War; it also joined the U.S.-led coalition against Iraq in the Gulf War. The Ba'athists seized power in Iraq for the first time in 1963, but were deposed several months later. The party's regional organisation governed Iraq between 1968 and 2003, for many years under the leadership of Saddam Hussein. The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region was banned in 2003 by the Coalition Provisional Authority following the invasion of Iraq by the US and its allies.
Structure
Part of a series on |
Ba'athism |
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Secretaries General
- Michel Aflaq (1968–1989)
- Vacant (1989–1992)
- Saddam Hussein (1992–2006)
- Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri (2006–2020)
- Salah Al-Mukhtar (2020–present)
National Congress
Note: for the 1st–8th National Congresses, see the national congresses held by the unified, pre-February 1966 Ba'ath Party.
- 9th National Congress (February 1968)
- 10th National Congress (March 1970)
- 11th National Congress (1977)
- 12th National Congress (1992)
Organization
Following the
Delegates to a National Congress elected the members of the National Command, who were eligible for reelection. While the National Command had few de facto powers, many of its leading members also held seats in the Iraqi Regional Command and the Revolutionary Command Council.[4] Aflaq was elected Secretary-General of the National Command at the Ninth National Congress, held in February 1968 in Beirut, Lebanon, by the Iraqi-dominated Ba'ath Party.[5] He retained his post until his death in 1989, when he was succeeded by Saddam Hussein.[6] After Saddam was executed on 30 December 2006, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri became de facto leader of the Ba'ath Party on 3 January 2007. As Secretary of the Iraqi Regional Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, he was the highest-ranked surviving member of the former Ba'ath party. Since November 3 2020, the party is headed by Salah Al-Mukhtar.
Branches by region
Algeria
The party branch in Algeria, the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party of Algeria (
Bahrain
The Nationalist Democratic Assembly (
The party opposes the government's
Egypt
The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Egypt Region (
The party supports the removing of
The party was outlawed in the early 1990s and two Iraqi Intelligence Officials were detained on 14 April 1991 with $38,000 in their possession, money which the Egyptian authorities claimed was to be used to fund sabotage operations in Egypt.[17] Several other Egyptian Ba'athists, including the poet Muhammad Afifi Matar, were also detained in April 1991 on suspicion of involvement in an Iraqi terrorist plot.[18]
Eritrea
Ba'athist organizations emerged in the leadership of the Eritrean Liberation Front in the 1970s, with pro-Baghdad and pro-Damascus groups competing for political dominance over the front. This split contributed to the downfall of the ELF and the emergence of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front as the dominant liberation movement.[19] A key pro-Iraqi Ba'athist was Abdel Gadir Jeilani, who became the leader of the ELF-PLF-Revolutionary Council in the 1980s.[20]
Iraq
In Iraq, the Ba'ath party remained a civilian group and lacked strong support from the military. The party had little impact and the movement split into several factions after 1958 and again in 1966. The movement was reported to have lacked strong popular support,[21] but through the construction of a strong party apparatus the party succeeded in gaining power. The Iraqi-based party was originally committed to pan-Arabism (like its Syrian counterpart). After taking power in 1968, the party adopted Iraqi nationalism and encouraged Iraqis to identify themselves as cultural heirs of Mesopotamia with a medieval-Islamic identity.[22] Saddam Hussein sought to be seen as leader of a great neo-Mesopotamian Iraqi nation by having himself compared to Nebuchadnezzar II and Hammurabi.[22]
In June 2003, the
Jordan
At the time of the 1966 split, the Jordanian branch had an estimated 1,000 members.
Since the establishment of the
The party was able to gain some support in the 1990s because of its status as a Ba'ath Party branch and it was able to help finance thousands of scholarships to Iraqi universities.[27] However, with the 2003 invasion of Iraq the party was nearly forced into bankruptcy and lost most of its followers when it failed to finance the return of students from Iraq.[27]
The Ba'ath branch was denied legal registration in 1992.
In its first regional congress since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Regional Command alleged it would publicize an alleged letter from Saddam Hussein.[27] However, the Jordanian press largely ignored the event.[27] Today, in contrast to Ba'athist ideology both the pro-Iraq and pro-Syrian Ba'ath branches are considered largely irrelevant in the Jordanian political scene.[27] It is suffering from financial problems and it is criticized by religious Jordanians for its secularism, while others are weary of its Arab nationalist ideology.[27]
In a 1995 poll, 16.8 percent of Jordanians said they were aware that the Iraqi Ba'ath branch existed, making the Ba'ath branch the third-best-known political party in Jordan (surpassing the
Kuwait
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As of 1983 the branch was led by Faisal al-Sani.
Lebanon
It is presently known as the Socialist Arab Lebanon Vanguard Party (
However, the existence of the pro-Iraqi Lebanese branch of the Ba'ath party has much longer roots. Following the 1966 split in the Ba'ath movement with party members split between Syrian and Iraqi allegiances, the Iraqi wing was led by Abd al-Majid Rafei.[37][38] Other prominent members at the time of the split were Jihad George Karam, Rafiq Nasib Alfaqiya, Karam Mohamed Assahli, Hani Mohamed Shoiab, Ammar Mohamed Shabli, Hassan Khalil Gharib and Asaf Habin Alharakat.[39]
At first, the pro-Iraqi Ba'ath branch and the
Libya
Following the
Amr Taher Deghayes, founder of the Libyan Ba'ath branch, was later arrested by Gaddafi's security forces and died after three days in jail.[53] Deghayes' death allegedly sparked a large anti-government demonstration (which was crushed), followed by the imprisonment of several leading Ba'athists.[54] In 1982, a trial began in which 25 Libyan Ba'athists were charged with membership in an illegal organisation and they were freed after torture. The following year, they were re-tried on the same charge: three were sentenced to death and others to life in prison.[55] The arrests and trials of the 1980s led to the dissolution of the Libyan regional Ba'athist organisation.[56]
The Libyan National Movement (LNM), an Arab-nationalist organisation, was founded by Ba'athist lawyer 'Umran Burweiss.[57] The LNM (still in existence) was originally financed by Iraqi Ba'athists[58] and produced relatively high-quality propaganda materials. For example, it issued audio cassettes which were smuggled into Libya with Sawt at-Talia during the 1980s. The organisation also produced broadcasts for Radio Baghdad.[59]
Mauritania
The first pro-Iraqi activities was in 1968, but it was organizationally established in 1972.[60] The Mauritanian Ba'athist divide their history into two phases: founding (1976–1982) and deployment (1982–1990).[60] There is little available information on the 1968–1970 period and Ba'athist activity started in earnest in the early 1970s.[60] The party's first clandestine congress was held in 1976.[60] They opposed the rule of President Moktar Ould Daddah and used most of their early years in trying to infiltrate the ruling Mauritanian People's Party and state institutions.[60] In the aftermath of the July 1978 coup, the Ba'ath branch took the conscious decision of trying to recruit Haratin people.[60] They started publishing The Baaʿth and the Haratine in Mauritania to help them in their quest.[60] In the period 1978–1984, the party intensified its effort of recruiting members within the military establishment.[60] The Ba'ath party was one of the most fervent supporters of the Arabization policies in Mauritania. Because of their efforts, Mohammed Yehdih Ould Breideleil, the Ba'ath leader, was appointed Minister of Information for a short period in 1984.[60] Under the rule of Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla, the Ba'ath were harassed and in between 1982 and 1983 55 Ba'athists were arrested by the government.[60] However, by 1986–1987 the Ba'ath had managed to infiltrate the officer corps and the enlisted ranks, making them a threat to Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya and his rule.[60] Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, with Saddam Hussein's approval, expelled and banned Ba'athist personnel in the military in 1988.[60] Mauritania strongly supported Saddam Hussein's Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War.[61][62]
With Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, the Ba'ath party lost its popular appeal and the financial aid from the Iraqi embassy dried up.[60] By 1990, there was not much left of the original Ba'ath movement.[60]
Another party, the
The branch supports full Arabization of the country, a view considered racist by critics. Ould Haidalla introduced an anti-ba'athist policy which continued under his successor, President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya. However, the Mauritanian Government supported Iraq during the Gulf War,[66] and Iraq–Mauritania relations became so close that (inaccurate) rumors circulated internationally that Saddam's family had taken refuge in the country following the American invasion.[67][68] Repression against the ba'athists has not been reduced. In 2003, several ba'athists were jailed on suspicion of trying to overthrow the government.[64] A reason for the close relationship between Iraq and Mauritania was the strength of the Mauritanian ba'athist party.[69] The party was banned in 1999 following the official instauration of bilateral relations with Israel.[70][71] The National Vanguard Party was accused of developing plans in collaboration with the Iraqi government to foment unrest in the country.[72]
Mohamed Ould Abdellahi Ould Eyye, the party's leader, was arrested in 2003 after a large anti-government protest demanding that the government break off relations with Israel and the United States and help Saddam Hussein. He and 13 other ba'athists were arrested by government forces and the party's headquarters were raided in May.[73] Another pro-Iraqi Ba'ath party did take its place, the Party for Work and National Unity (French: Parti pour le Travail et l'Unité Nationale, abbreviated PTUN). However, while PTUN is close to the Iraqi Ba'ath party branch, the group is small and largely inactive.[74]
Palestine
Palestinian branch | |
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Founded | 1969 |
Secretary-General | Rakad Salem |
Newspaper | Sawt al-Jamahir |
Homepage | alfpalestine.org |
A disorganised pro-Iraqi Ba'ath guerilla movement existed before the establishment of the
The
The ALF's first leader was Zaid Haydar from the Jordanian Ba'ath branch. Other leaders include
Sudan
The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Country of Sudan is the regional branch of the Ba'ath Party in Sudan. Kamal Bolad was the Regional Secretary in 1989[77] and Taiseer Mutassir was the Regional Secretary in 1990.[78] While the branch has always been small, accounting for an estimated 1,000 members in 2003, it has been able to have a bigger impact than what its meager membership numbers would suggest, mostly due to Iraqi financing of the branch.[79]
After collaborating with the Arab nationalist Sudanese government for years, the Ba'ath Party broke off relations and became an opposition party in 1990—this would have disturbed Iraq if Sudan had not supported it during the 1991 Gulf crisis.[80] In 1990, the party was composed largely of students who had studied in Ba'athist Iraq.[78] The party, which was small in 1990, was influential in certain sectors, was opposed to the National Islamic Front and was staunchly secularist.[78] Members have historically been torn between the Ba'ath and other secular party movements, such as the Sudanese communists.[78] Because of Saddam Hussein's amicable relationship with the Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation, the body ruling Sudan, the Ba'ath branched was oppressed by the authorities.[78] Later in 1990, 26 Ba'athi military officers were executed in Khartoum after a failed military coup.[79] In 2002, a group led by Mohamad Ali Jadein broke away from the branch and established the independent Sudanese Ba'ath Party, which has no affiliation with neither the pro-Iraq Ba'ath movement nor the pro-Syrian Ba'ath movement.[81] The following year, after the invasion of Iraq 80 Sudanese Ba'athists return to Sudan under the condition that they would stay out of politics.[79]
Syria
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The Syrian branch of the Iraqi-led party supported the
Tunisia
The first Ba'athist branch in Tunisia, then under the
Omar once told a journalist, "the Syrian regime has turned against the Ba'ath and is no longer Ba'athist one".
Yemen
The National Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Yemen Region (
The party carried out clandestine political activity until 1990 and was registered as the National Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party on 10 February 1997. It had initially sought to register as the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party in 1995, but that name was given by the authorities to the
The party contested the 1993 parliamentary election in alliance with the pro-Syrian Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, winning seven seats. After the election, relations between the two Ba'athist groups soured and they contested further elections separately. The party contested the 1997 parliamentary election (failing to win any seats) and called for a boycott of the 1999 presidential election. Said, the branch leader, was sued by the Ministry of Information in February 2000 over an article criticising Saudi Arabia.[95] In the 2003 parliamentary elections, the party obtained 23,745 votes (0.4 percent of the national vote) and again failed to re-enter parliament.[90] However, it won two district-council seats in the 2006 local council elections.[96]
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