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Re: [casi-analysis] IPO's Iraq News Analysis: Nov 19, 2004



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Dear Saibal and all,

You've clearly misunderstood what re-Baathification is, you say:

> That would be a recipe for disaster. Re-Baathification
> never happened. Negroponte objected to many of the re-
> Baathification plans. The Iraqi government more or less did
> what the Americans wanted. E.g. no amnesty was given to
> people suspected in involvement in attacks on coalition
> forces.

You're thinking of the amnesty that Allawi offered. That's not the same. The
amnesty was for people who were involved in the insurgency (and as you
rightly say, did not extend to those who attacked the coalition).
Re-Baathification is different, it allowed ex-Baathists (even those who were
part of the regime up until April 9, 2003) to be allowed back into
government, into civil service jobs and into the security forces. This has
been disastrous (see our November 1, 2004 analysis for examples:
http://www.iprospect.org.uk/na19nov.html )

Best wishes
Yasser

----- Original Message -----
From: "Saibal Mitra" <smitra@zonnet.nl>
To: "Yasser Alaskary" <yasser@iprospect.org.uk>
Cc: <casi-analysis@lists.casi.org.uk>
Sent: Friday, November 19, 2004 1:50 PM
Subject: Re: [casi-analysis] IPO's Iraq News Analysis: Nov 19, 2004


> [ This message has been sent to you via the CASI-analysis mailing list ]
>
> That would be a recipe for disaster. Re-Baathification
> never happened. Negroponte objected to many of the re-
> Baathification plans. The Iraqi government more or less did
> what the Americans wanted. E.g. no amnesty was given to
> people suspected in involvement in attacks on coalition
> forces.
>
>
> If you use the US military to ''defeat'' the Baathists,
> then you may get little more security, but at the price of
> turning Iraq into a police state. The elections in Iraq
> would then only be a little more democratic than the
> elections organised by Saddam Hussein.
>
>
> Clearly a democracy can only work if almost 100% of the
> people are in favor of a democratic system. Imagine what
> would have happened in the US if 1% of the Kerry supporters
> had taken up arms to overthrow Bush! So, any move toward a
> democracy in Iraq must necessarily involve convincing
> people to voluntarily give up violence.
>
>
>
> Quoting Yasser Alaskary <yasser@iprospect.org.uk>:
>
> >
> >   1.. Stopping the process of re-Baathification. Why it
> should come as a
> > surprise that the new Iraqi security forces continue to
> be 'infiltrated'
> > when Baathists are actively recruited and reinstated in
> top-level positions
> > is staggering. Building Iraq's security around the people
> who wish to
> > destroy it is sheer stupidity and dangerously
> incompetent. Furthermore,
> > this process has only served to alienate those who
> suffered under the Baath
> > regime, especially amongst the Shia and Kurds, and has
> done nothing to
> > pacify or appease non-Baathist Sunnis.
> >   2.. Actively rounding up any 'former' Baathists
> associated with Saddam's
> > security forces and local Baathist ring-leaders. For the
> first few months
> > after the war, when most Baathists had fled their
> neighbourhoods and were
> > in hiding, the security situation was remarkably calm.
> When they found they
> > were not being hunted, they grew in confidence and began
> to launch attacks.
> > There has been a sustained upsurge in terrorist activity
> since then,
> > dramatically increasing after re-Baathification was
> launched in the summer.
> > We should have them on the run, not giving them the
> freedom and time to
> > plan and organize more terror. They should be living in
> fear of being
> > arrested, not inflicting fear on the people of Iraq.
> >   3.. Reinvigorate the process of de-Baathification. The
> Baath Party has
> > not been defeated by the war as many of its key members
> are still in
> > positions of power, helping their 'comrades' on the
> outside (see the IPO's
> > November 1, 2004 analysis for examples of this).
> > Before an enemy can be defeated, it must be identified.
> The US-led
> > coalition and the Interim Iraqi Government can continue
> to convince
> > themselves that the insurgency is not Baathist at its
> core; they can
> > continue with the failed process of re-Baathification.
> However, the
> > Fallujah phenomenon will be repeated again and again and
> Iraq's security
> > will spiral even more out of control and ultimately
> innocent Iraqis will
> > pay the price.
> >
> > The can find this page online at:
> http://www.iprospect.org.uk/na19nov.html
> >
> > News Analysis brought to you by the Iraqi Prospect
> Organisation -
> > http://www.iprospect.org.uk
> > The Iraqi Prospect Organisation is a network of young
> Iraqi men and women
> > promoting democratic values in Iraq.
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________
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> http://www.casi.org.uk
> >
>
>
>
>
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