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11.1 de Ba'Athification
11.1 de Ba'Athification
1
DE-BAATHIFICATION
Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................... 2
The development of deBaathification policy................................................................... 3
Postinvasion.............................................................................................................. 3
The CPA approach...................................................................................................... 7
CPA Order No.1........................................................................................................ 12
Implementation of deBaathification policy..................................................................... 14
CPA Memorandum No.1........................................................................................... 19
The role of the Governing Council............................................................................ 23
DeBaathification in the Transitional Administrative Law......................................... 28
The Interim Iraqi Government................................................................................... 32
The Amnesty Order................................................................................................... 33
A draft new deBaathification Order......................................................................... 35
Former Baathists and the Sunni insurgency............................................................ 36
The Transitional National Assemblys deBaathification policy...................................... 37
The new Government takes office............................................................................ 38
DeBaathification in the Iraqi Constitution................................................................ 40
Election preparations................................................................................................ 43
DeBaathification after the 2005 Iraqi election............................................................... 46
A new government.................................................................................................... 48
DeBaathification in 2007......................................................................................... 52
June 2007 onwards......................................................................................................... 55
Introduction
1. This Section addresses:
the decision to remove some members of the Baath Party from public office
after May 2003, a process known as deBaathification;
the implementation of that decision; and
the impact it had on Iraq.
3. The Inquirys conclusions in relation to the events described in this Section can be
read in Section 11.2.
Paper DIS, 1 February 2002, The Iraq Baath Party Its History, Ideology and Role in Regime Security.
11.1 | De-Baathification
In early 2002, the Defence Intelligence Staff estimated Baath Party membership within
Iraq at between 600,000 and 700,000 individuals, which represented 4 percent of the
population. There were several tiers of membership, reflecting individual members roles
within the party hierarchy. Membership was essential to reach senior positions in the
military, the government or in professional life.
Postinvasion
6. As Coalition Forces entered Iraq in March 2003, Ministers were supplied with a
script to use in media and Parliamentary discussion which set out the UK vision for
Phase IV, the reconstruction of Iraq.2 The script said:
When conditions in Iraq permit, the US Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian
Affairs (ORHA) will move to Baghdad and take on the supervision of the civil
administration of Iraq We hope that the vast majority of the Iraqi public sector will
remain in place and be able to carry on its work
7. On 4 April, a Private Secretary to MrJack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, supplied
MrMatthew Rycroft, MrBlairs Private Secretary for Foreign Affairs, with six papers
onpostconflict Iraq.3 One covered the Iraqi civil service, and stated:
We do not have any deep knowledge about which levels of the administration are
so highly politicised as to need immediate reform, nor which individuals might have
to be retired or stood down. This in any case cannot realistically be assessed until
after liberation.
8. The question of what future strength and support the Baath Party would command
within Iraq was raised by MrColin Burgon in a House of Commons debate on 7 April.4
Letter Owen to Rycroft, 20 March 2003, Iraq: Phase IV: Core Script.
Letter Owen to Rycroft, 4 April 2003, Postconflict Iraq: UK/US attaching Paper, 4 April 2003, The state
of the Iraqi civil service and bureaucracy.
4
House of Commons, Official Report, 7 April 2003, columns 2930.
2
3
Briefing DIS Red Team, 7 April 2003, What Will Happen in Baghdad?
House of Commons, Official Report, 10 April 2003, column 444.
7
Minute Llewellyn to Chilcott, 28 March 2003, Proposed US Freedom Message to the People of Iraq.
5
6
11.1 | De-Baathification
that the word disestablished should be replaced with dissolved or something with
thesame meaning.
15. Commenting on a subsequent draft of the text on 10 April, MrLlewellyn explained:
The paragraph dissolving the Baath party is clearly important. But the word
disestablished does not really do the trick. That word is something to do with
removing an institution from the structure of the state, as I understand it. We should
say dissolved.8
16. On 11 April, during a video conference between UK, US and Australian legal
advisers, the US lawyers explained that they saw a need to disestablish the Baath Party
and deprive it of all authority in order for other things to happen as a result from the
legal and policy point of view.9
17. On 11 April, MrLlewellyn circulated a first draft of guidelines for UK personnel,
in particular those seconded to ORHA, on the relevant provisions of International
Humanitarian Law (IHL).10 Under the heading Removal of Officials, it stated:
Officials may be removed, although this should not be done arbitrarily. Clearly, the
Coalition will remove from office those who were members of Saddam Husseins
regime, and senior members of the Baath Party if any remain. Other officials may
be removed where they represent an obstacle to administration by the Coalition, for
example because they pose a threat to security, are corrupt, unwilling to act under
Coalition administration, or will be intimidating for the population.
18. A senior MOD legal adviser to whom the draft guidelines were sent for comment
suggested that the guidelines should be more precise about what was meant by
members of Saddam Husseins regime and senior members of the Baath Party.11
She asked whether it was likely there would be anyone who would fall into the first
category who did not also fall within the second.
19. The Inquiry has not seen evidence that any discussion of the degree to which former
members of the Baath Party might be entitled to participate in the Iraqi Interim Authority
(IIA) took place at the conference held in Nasiriyah on 15 April and attended for the UK
by MrEdward Chaplin, FCO Director Middle East and North Africa.12
20. There is a mention in one of the supporting papers, produced by the FCOs
Research Analysts, of the need to establish whether members of Iraqs popular councils
could be used in the selection of members for the IIA given that they had previously
Minute Llewellyn to Bristow, 10 April 2003, Freedom Message to the Iraqi People.
Minute [unattributed], [undated], American Summary Points, Video Link: Friday 11 April.
10
Minute Llewellyn to Rose, 11 April 2003, Iraq: Guidelines on the Application of Laws of Occupation.
11
Minute Rose to Llewellyn, 22 April 2003, Iraq: Guidelines on the Application of Laws of Occupation.
12
Letter Chaplin to Crocker, 17 April 2003, Setting up the Iraqi Interim Authority: Issues for Discussion
attaching Paper FCO, 2 April, Postconflict Iraq: a Baghdad Conference.
8
9
been approved by the Baath Party which might mean they were considered to be
tainted.
21. In his memoir, MrDouglas Feith, US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy,
describes rewriting the first draft of GenFranks message produced by CENTCOM.13
MrFeiths rewritten version included the reference to the disestablishment of the Baath
Party. His view was that disestablishing the Baath Party was a separate issue from the
fate of individual members, which was still under discussion at the time of GenFranks
statement.
22. In a paper for the Pentagon Public Affairs Office on 16 April, MrFeiths Office
suggested that the answer to questions about what would happen to members of the
Baath Party should be:
its [the Baath Partys] property and records will be considered by the CPA as the
property of the Iraqi people. Absent exceptional circumstances, toptier members
of the Baath Party will not be eligible to hold any positions of responsibility under
the CPA. Lower ranking members of the Baath Party will not necessarily be barred
fromsuch employment. No one will be punished merely for membership in the
Baath Party.
23. GenFranks Freedom Message was issued on 16 April.14 It said:
The Arab Socialist Renaissance Party of Iraq (Hiz alBaath alArabi alIstiraki
alIraqi) is hereby disestablished. Property of the Baath Party should be turned
over to the Coalition Provisional Authority. The records of the Baath Party are an
important part of the records of the Government of Iraq and should be preserved
and turn[ed] over to the Coalition Provisional Authority.
24. On 17 April, a discussion between SirDavid Manning, MrBlairs Foreign Policy
Adviser, and DrCondoleezza Rice, US National Security Advisor, suggested that the
announcement about the Baath Party had come as a surprise to her.15
25. MrStraw told the Inquiry that he had discussed the question of deBaathification
with GenFranks in Kuwait in midApril:
and he had said to me that his view was you should take anybody apart from
those who were obviously bad into the system, and then vet them subsequently,
and if they and I remember him saying if they didnt pass muster, didnt pass
the vetting, then youd kick them out. But what you didnt do was wholly to degrade
the administration in advance, and I thought, not least because he was the senior
Feith DJ. War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism.
HarperCollins,2008.
14
Statement General Tommy Franks, 16 April 2003, Freedom Message to the Iraqi People.
15
Letter Manning to McDonald, 17 April 2003, Iraq: Conversation with Condi Rice.
13
11.1 | De-Baathification
army officer on the American side, that thats what would happen but, in the event,
itwasnt.16
26. At Foreign Office Oral Questions on 6 May, DrVincent Cable asked about the
Coalitions plans for elections in Iraq.17 He asked the Government to:
explain the status of important political groups such as the Baath party, the
Communist party and the Islamic fundamentalists? Will they be allowed to compete
freely and democratically in those elections and if they won would they be allowed
towin?
27. In reply, MrMike OBrien, FCO Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, explained:
We hope that the Baath Party will not be able to involve itself in that election, and
certainly not in the form that it took under Saddam Hussein. It is not envisaged,
therefore, that it would be allowed to operate.
31. MrFeith recorded that a draft deBaathification policy had been considered by
the US National Security Council on 10 March. At Ambassador Bremers request,
implementation of the policy, which would rid the Iraqi Government of the small group of
true believers at the top of the party and those who had committed crimes in its name,
was delayed until his arrival in Iraq.20
32. Ambassador Bremer wrote:
Our concern was only the top four levels of the party membership, which the [draft]
order officially excluded from public life. These were the Baathist loyalists who,
by virtue of their positions of power in the regime, had been active instruments of
Saddams repression. Our intelligence community estimated that they amounted
to only about 1 percent of all party members or approximately 20,000 people,
overwhelmingly Sunni Arabs.
33. Four days after arriving in Iraq, MrSawers reported that there was a fear among
ordinary people in Baghdad that the Baathists could return.21 He assessed:
ORHA have made mistakes here, appointing quite senior party figures as their
main partners in the trade and health ministries, at Baghdad University and so on.
Several political leaders I have seen say a line should be drawn at the firqa level of
the Baath Party and all those at that level and the three above should be excluded,
about 30,000 in all. This would represent between five and ten per cent of total party
membership. But it is still a lot of people and may be one level too many, at least
fornow.
34. In one of his earliest reports to London, on 12 May MrSawers reported that
DrAhmed Chalabis strong message on deBaathification strikes a chord with the
Shia population and will become even more potent if we dont deal with reemerging
Baathists.22 DrChalabi was a founding member of the Iraqi National Congress Party
who had formed strong links with several US Administrations.
35. After his first meeting with Ambassador Bremer, MrSawers reported:Bremer, rightly,
plans to move quickly to set out a policy on deBaathification or DeSaddamisation as
it may now be called.23
36. MrSawers judged:
the issue needs addressing quickly. The question is how to define the scope
of those excluded. All agree that the top three levels of the Baath should be
banned. Our rough estimate suggests that should cover up to 5,000 people. Added
Bremer LP III & McConnell M. My Year in Iraq: The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope. Threshold, 2006.
Telegram 2 IraqRep to FCO London, 11 May 2003, Iraq: Whats Going Wrong?
22
Telegram 3 IraqRep to FCO London, 12 May 2003, Iraq: Political Process.
23
Telegram 3 IraqRep to FCO London, 12 May 2003, Iraq: deBaathification.
20
21
11.1 | De-Baathification
to that will have to be the top levels of the instruments of repression the security,
intelligence organisations etc.
Some politicians are arguing that the fourth level of the party should also
be included. This would extend the numbers to some 30,000 possibly more. The
argument in favour is that this is the level where party officials began to receive
privileges such as free housing and thus were identified popularly as beneficiaries
ofthe regime. Against that is the danger that too wide a list will be hard to
administer; that we should not exclude too large a group from the new system;
and it would increase the risk of false accusations against innocent people
Grateful for early views on this issue. My own instinct is we should not throw the net
wider than necessary, and that for now we could settle on the top three tiers But
Ifrankly dont have sufficient feel for the Iraqi Baath Party to know the level at which
real evil began.
37. The following day, MrSawers reported that Ambassador Bremers staff in the CPA
had a similar [approach to deBaathification] to ours, and they share our uncertainty
over how wide to cast the net.24 In particular, banning all party members from any of
the top three tiers in ministries could inadvertently exclude many of the technocrats we
will want to reemploy. Ambassador Bremer had explained that the steer he was getting
from MrDonald Rumsfeld, US Defense Secretary, and President Bush was to spread
the net widely initially, and then to allow exceptions without too many obstacles.
38. On 13 May, SirDavid Manning met DrRice and other National Security Council
staff in Washington.25 A report of the meeting by MrRycroft said that SirDavid had
gone through the points raised by MrSawers on deBaathification, and the NSC team
had agreed with them. They told SirDavid that the US had agreed a deBaathification
strategy the previous week.
39. The following day, the FCO in London sent MrSawers the instructions he had
requested.26 The FCO wrote:
there should be a [deBaathification] process, but its scope should be limited,
and there needs to be room for discretion.
We agree that the net should not be cast too wide. Excluding the top three ranks
from public service is probably the most practical approach In certain cases,
particularly in the security services, Baath members may have to be moved aside
inorder to provide reassurance, whatever their position in the party. But we do
not want to create a large underground of disaffected Baathists who see no possible
future for themselves in postSaddam Iraq So the short answer to the question
Telegram 6 IraqRep to FCO London, 13 May 2003, Iraq: Putting Things Right.
Telegram 643 Washington to FCO London, 13 May 2003, Iraq: Meetings with Rice and Cheney,
13 May.
26
Telegram 2 FCO London to IraqRep, 14 May 2003, Iraq: deBaathification.
24
25
about the fourth level of the Baath is that there will be a vetting process to ensure
no rotten apples are kept on One of the leading academic Iraqwatchers, Toby
Dodge, has remarked to us that membership of the Baath was less significant
latterly than less formal networks of control and influence. There is a danger, in
focusing on the Baath, of overlooking potentially more malign elements.
40. The message from the FCO also restated the legal position that Occupying Powers
could remove public officials from their posts but that for both policy and legal reasons,
we should stick to what is necessary. Occupying Powers could not regulate or prohibit
political expression or activity except to the extent that is necessary on grounds of
security or public order.
41. The message ended:
The longerterm process of deBaathification is for a future government of Iraq
totake forward, in parallel with the wider transitional justice dossier.
42. On 13 May, MrWalt Slocombe, CPA Senior Adviser on National Security and
Defense, met MrHoon in London.27 In his record of the meeting, MrHoons Assistant
Private Secretary wrote that MrSlocombe had said a visible and functioning police
force might require some compromise on deBaathification.
43. MrSimon Webb, MOD Policy Director, was also present at MrHoons meeting with
MrSlocombe. MrWebb told the Inquiry:
We had certainly accepted the need for deBaathification So we had bought
that by that stage I dont recall having a specific conversation about how far that
was going to go. But I think we were probably content for this to be decided by
those in Baghdad. If the policy is partial deBaathification, and everybody seems
to understand the issues I wouldnt have tried to press a particular level in the
command structure on Walt. There was a judgement which you couldnt really
make until you got on the ground about what level you went down to at some
stage, you hit the school teacher who just joined the party because they wanted
ajob. But where in that spectrum you cut it off, recognising that you, implicitly
at least wanted to remove the possibility of an early reassertion of power by
Baath Party28
44. Ambassador Bremer told the Inquiry that Slocombe reported that the British officials
agreed with the need for vigorous deBaathification, especially in the security sector.29
Minute Williams to Webb, 13 May 2003, Call on Defence Secretary by Walt Slocombe: 13 May 2003.
Private hearing, 23 June 2010, pages 6668.
29
Statement Bremer, 18 May 2010, page 3.
27
28
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11.1 | De-Baathification
45. On 14 May, MrTony Brenton, Charg dAffaires at the British Embassy Washington,
was shown a draft diplomatic cable setting out Washingtons guidance to Ambassador
Bremer on the implementation of the deBaathification policy.30
46. MrBrenton reported to the FCO that the cable proposed that full Baath Party
members (group, section and branch members) would be banned from public office,
including teaching positions. They would also be interviewed and an evaluation made
of whether they may have committed criminal acts or continued to pose a risk to the
security of the Coalition.
47. To implement this, all individuals in the top three layers of management in each
government Ministry would be evaluated to establish the extent of their Baath Party
involvement. Those proven to be members would be removed. For junior employees
below the top three layers, evaluation would not be automatic but the discovery of any
adverse information would lead to their investigation.
48. The Annotated Agenda prepared by the Cabinet Office for a meeting of the Ad Hoc
Ministerial Group on Iraq Rehabilitation (AHMGIR) the following day asked Ministers to:
agree that we press in principle for the removal from public service and politics
[of] only the top three tiers of the Baath Party.31
49. The Annotated Agenda stated that extending the ban to the fourth tier of the Baath
Party (and so to 30,000 people) would be excessive and detrimental to public service
provision.
50. At the meeting of the AHMGIR on 15 May, MrStraw stated that the Coalition should
be flexible in its approach to deBaathification, for example excluding many who
had been part of Saddam Husseins security apparatus, but fewer from more technical
positions.32
51. The Group amended the objective proposed by officials to:
press for the removal from public service and politics of those members of the
Baath Party judged to have played a malign role.
52. On 15 May, MrSawers reported that the deBaathification policy had been agreed
along the lines reported earlier by MrBrenton.33
53. On the question of whether the bar should extend to the fourth level of party
membership, MrSawers reported that he had warned of the danger of overkill but, like
11
Ambassador Bremer, had been persuaded by those arguing that the recommended
policy of covering all four levels was pitched right. MrSawers commented:
This new policy is tougher than your advice preferred But I advise against any
action in Washington. The new policy is badly needed, and it corresponds with the
preferences of all the members of the Leadership Group bar Allawi.
54. On the same day, MrLlewellyn provided advice to IPU on a draft Order removing
the Baath Party leadership.34 It is clear from his comments that this was the final draft
of what became CPA Order No.1 and he noted that it was probably on the point of being
issued.
55. In MrLlewellyns view, the main question was whether the UK was satisfied
that displaying images or likenesses of Saddam Hussein (or other readily identifiable
members of the former regime or symbols of the Baath Party) was of sufficient concern
that it necessitated prohibition on the grounds of security and/or public order, the only
grounds that would be permitted under international humanitarian law.
Minute Llewellyn to [Bristow], 15 May 2003, Draft Order on Removing Baath Party Leadership.
Bremer LP III & McConnell M. My Year in Iraq: The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope. Threshold, 2006.
36
Coalition Provisional Authority Order Number 1, 16 May 2003, Section 1(1).
37
Regional Command Member, Branch Member, Section Member and Group Member. Collectively
referred to as Senior Party Members.
34
35
12
11.1 | De-Baathification
60. Ambassador Bremer wrote in his account of leading the CPA that he had recognised
from the outset that the deBaathification Order wasnt perfect, but contained a degree
of flexibility in the provision that allowed for exemptions to the ban to be made on a
casebycase basis.38 Both he and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, a US State Department
official seconded to the CPA, had agreed that this flexibility was critical.
61. Ambassador Bremer told the Inquiry that the Order was narrowly drawn so as to
affect only the top 1 percent of party members, and to deny them public sector positions
but not the ability to work in the private sector.39
62. On the same day that Order No.1 was issued, MrBlair and President Bush spoke
on the telephone.40 The record of their conversation, taken by MrBlairs Assistant Private
Secretary, indicates that they did not discuss deBaathification.
Bremer LP III & McConnell M. My Year in Iraq: The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope. Threshold, 2006.
Statement Bremer, 18 May 2010, page 3.
40
Letter Cannon to MacDonald, 16 May 2003, Iraq: Prime Ministers Conversation with Bush, 16 May.
41
Bowen SW Jr. Hard Lessons: The Iraq Reconstruction Experience. U.S. Government Printing
Office,2009.
42
Rumsfeld D. Known and Unknown: A Memoir. Sentinel, 2011.
43
Public hearing, 8 December 2009, page 64.
44
Public hearing, 30 June 2010, page 41.
45
Public hearing, 21 January 2011, page 144.
38
39
13
MrSawers reported just before the Order was issued that it was being finalised by the
Department of Defense in Washington and that Ambassador Bremer had been given
guidance on deBaathification by both Secretary Rumsfeld and President Bush.46
MrSawers told the Inquiry that he did not think that his views were entirely ignored, and
cited examples of where he believed he had been able to influence Ambassador Bremers
thinking.47 He made a similar point in May 2003, when he reported that Ambassador
Bremer was keen to work with him:
in public and private, and has picked up on many UK suggestions, big and small.
He allowed us to rebalance the decree on removing the Baathists, overruling the
wilder strictures of Wolfowitz and Feith in the process.48
Telegram 6 IraqRep to FCO London, 13 May 2003, Iraq: Putting Things Right.
Public hearing, 10 December 2009, page 71.
48
Telegram 18 IraqRep to FCO London, 20 May 2003, Iraq: Bremers Impact.
49
The Leadership Group was comprised of Iraqi politicians drawn from identifiable political and regional
groups and had been established by General Jay Garner, Head of the Office of Reconstruction and
Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA). It included both former exiles who had returned to Iraq after the fall
ofSaddam Hussein, and those who had remained in Iraq.
50
Telegram 13 UKRep Iraq to FCO London, 17 May 2003, Iraq: Bremer meets Leadership Group.
51
Telegram 18 IraqRep to FCO London, 20 May 2003, Iraq: Bremers Impact.
52
Letter Cannon to Owen, 23 May 2003, Iraq: Meeting with Gerry Bremer.
46
47
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11.1 | De-Baathification
15
73. In a telegram to the British Embassy Washington on 30 May, FCO officials wrote:
DeBaathification and dismantling the institutions of the Baathist State are clearly
necessary if we are to achieve our postconflict objectives. But so too is maintaining
security. We are concerned that some aspects of the first, especially if it includes
laying off without pay the regular army, may have an unnecessarily negative impact
on the second, rather than the positive effects we need them to have.60
74. The telegram continued:
We understand why Bremer has felt it necessary to take a tough line on
deBaathification
But there is a downside we are concerned that deBaathification may be proving
to be a blunt instrument. Our secondees working alongside the ministries are
reporting that the deBaathification Order is catching Iraqi public servants who have
shown themselves to be effective and willing to work with us in areas critical to the
Coalitions success the police, for example.
75. The FCO suggested that the problem should be addressed by the Coalition taking
a vigorously pragmatic approach to implementing the deBaathification Order so that
it provided an incentive to those who were not committed to Baathist ideology to work
with the Coalition, for example allowing exparty members to be reemployed on a
probationary basis. The FCO noted that work was in hand to develop the machinery
toimplement the order.
76. The following day SirDavid Manning reported to MrStraws Principal Private
Secretary that he had told DrRice and MrAndy Card, President Bushs Chief of Staff,
over dinner that:
we had worries about the deBaathification process. I was sure that it was
right to signal that we were determined to break the Baath Party and dismantle its
structures. But we must be careful not to create a situation in which token Baathists
were alienated from the Coalition because we denied them jobs, and a chance to
contribute to postSaddam Iraq. If we made this mistake, we would create a large
number of disaffected and hostile people who would quickly turn against us. The key
was surely to be pragmatic. Now that Bremer had made his strong and necessary
commitment to deBaathification, we should implement it pragmatically. We should
think about operating a system whereby people stayed in their jobs until it was
shown that their track record rather than a Baathist label made them a liability.61
60
61
Telegram 251 FCO London to Washington, 30 May 2003, Iraq: Dismantling the Baathist State.
Letter Manning to McDonald, 1 June 2003, Iraq: Conversation with Condi Rice.
16
11.1 | De-Baathification
77. On 2 June, MrBlair met President Bush over breakfast.62 In his note reporting their
discussion SirDavid recorded MrBlairs analysis that the Coalition should be careful not
to create a large pool of disaffected people by targeting those who had joined the Baath
Party simply to get a job.
78. MrBlair argued that a clear political vision and timetable was needed, together with
a media strategy to avoid a dangerous information vacuum.
Whatever its reach should have been, the consequences of the deBaathification
order quickly became clear: it reduced the ranks of Iraqs capable bureaucrats and
thus limited the capacity of Iraqi ministries to contribute to reconstruction.68
Letter Manning to McDonald, 2 June 2003, Breakfast meeting between the Prime Minister and
President Bush: 2 June 2003.
63
Minute Viggers to CDS & CJO, September 2003, SBMR (I): End of tour report.
64
Bensahel N, Oliker O, Crane K, Brennan RR Jr, Gregg HS, Sullivan T & Rathmell A. After Saddam:
Prewar Planning and the Occupation of Iraq. RAND Corporation, 2008.
65
Iraq Center for Research and Strategic Studies, Results of the First Public Opinion Poll in Iraq,
6August2003.
66
US Department of State, Iraqis Officer Dim Evaluation of Reconstruction Effort Thus Far.
67
Allawi AA. The Occupation of Iraq: winning the war, losing the peace. Yale University Press, 2007.
68
Bowen SW Jr. Hard Lessons: The Iraq Reconstruction Experience. U.S. Government Printing
Office,2009.
62
17
Dobbins J, Jones SG, Runkle B & Mohandas S. Occupying Iraq: A History of the Coalition Provisional
Authority. RAND Corporation, 2009.
70
Public hearing, 1 February 2010, page 24.
71
Public hearing, 31 January 2011, pages 2224.
72
Private hearing, 14 January 2011, pages 2729.
73
Public hearing, 6 July 2010, pages 8384.
74
Public hearing, 1 December 2009, page 88; Public hearing, 4 December 2009, page 19.
75
Public hearing, 18 January 2010, page 128.
69
18
11.1 | De-Baathification
19
83. MrBlair and President Bush discussed deBaathification briefly when they spoke
by telephone on 6 June.78 MrBlair argued that the principle was right, but needed
to be applied flexibly: we should neither undermine public services by sacking key
technocrats nor allow a class of resentful and desperate ex Baathists to build up.
84. In his book State of Denial MrBob Woodward described General Jay Garner,
the former Head of ORHA, telling Secretary Rumsfeld in June 2003 that the extent
of deBaathification had been one of three terrible mistakes made in Iraq.79 In
GenGarners view, those mistakes were still reversible. Secretary Rumsfeld is reported
to have responded: Were not going to go back. GenGarner did not make the same
point in person to President Bush.
85. One of the UKs priorities for the first 30 days of the CPA, produced by the IPU and
circulated by MrStraw on 5 June, was the need for:
a pragmatic approach to dismantling the Baath Party and the security apparatus.
We need to destroy the system, not the people. Need to give people reasons to work
with us, not against us: the prospect of work, of a basic income, the chance to find a
place in the new Iraq.80
86. Discussion at a meeting chaired by MrBlair on 6 June (see Section 9.2) suggested
that this was not being achieved.81 In both Baghdad and Basra deBaathification was
listed as one factor in security problems.
87. On 9 June, SirDavid Manning reported to MrStraws Principal Private Secretary
that he had told DrRice that:
she should look again at the deBaathification programme. The draconian way in
which it was being applied risked acting as a recruiting sergeant for the opposition. It
had been right to take a tough line on the Baath party; but it would be sensible now
to impose it flexibly. We should adopt the approach that those who were not against
us, were with us; rather than act as though we thought those who were not obviously
with us were against us.82
88. On 17 June, instructions from the IPU to MrSawers reflected a mounting concern
about the extent of UK influence on decisionmaking generally within the CPA.83 The
IPU wrote:
Ministers remain deeply concerned about the lack of effective jointdecision making
with the US. With many decisions now being made in Baghdad, the ideal solution
Letter Cannon to McDonald, 6 June 2003, Iraq: Prime Ministers Conversation with Bush, 6 June.
Woodward B. State of Denial. Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2006.
80
Minute Straw to Blair, 5 June 2003, Iraq: Winning the Peace, attaching Iraq Reconstruction:
30Day priorities, 5 July 2003.
81
Letter Cannon to McDonald, 6 June 2003, Iraq: Prime Ministers Meeting, 6 June.
82
Letter Manning to McDonald, 9 June 2003, Iraq: Conversation with Condi Rice.
83
Telegram 13 FCO London to IraqRep, 17 June 2003, Iraq: Priorities.
78
79
20
11.1 | De-Baathification
21
93. Baroness Amos raised deBaathification when she met Ambassador Bremer at the
end of June (see Section 9.2).87 A note of the meeting by her Private Secretary recorded
that Baroness Amos had told Ambassador Bremer that she had:
heard some say that this [the deBaathification process] was biting too deep in
Ministries where large numbers of more senior public servants might have been
inthe top 3 percent of the Baath party, and so removed from post.88
94. MrSawers telegram reporting his impressions of the visit said that Baroness Amos
had told Ambassador Bremer that the Iraqi women she had met all had horrific stories
of family losses, and had mentioned to her the importance of the [deBaathification]
policy.89
95. Both accounts record Ambassador Bremers explanation that the policy was:
the most popular decision the Coalition had taken. It had not cut deeply into
ministries it only applied in effect to Directors General. Virtually all the DGs for
Administration had been given exemptions as they were necessary to administer
public sector pay. There had been others where it was essential to the ministry
and there was an important coalition interest. Bremer felt that the main problem
was that lower level members of the Baath party feared that the policy embraced
them too and that they would be unable to return to public sector jobs. This was not
thecase90
96. On 3 July, policy on deBaathification was raised again in the House of Commons.91
In a debate following an Oral Statement on the humanitarian situation in Iraq, Ms Lynne
Jones asked MrHilary Benn, Minister for International Development:
What action is being taken to distinguish between those Baathists who are loyal to
Saddam Hussein and those who joined the Baath party only from expediency, who
do not have a record of corruption and abuse and can, therefore, contribute to the
reconstruction of Iraq?
97. MrBenn replied:
It is vital that those who played a leading role in the old regime, and all that
flowed from that, should be removed from their positions but, at the same time, the
deBaathification policy should be sensibly applied because we need to ensure that
services can continue to function. The CPA is extremely conscious of the position
and needs to reflect on it as it takes the process forward.
Telegram IraqRep 56 to FCO London, 26 June 2003, Iraq; Baroness Amos Visit; Minute Bewes
toMalik, 29 June 2003, Meeting with Paul Bremer.
88
Minute Bewes to Malik, 29 June 2003, Meeting with Paul Bremer.
89
Telegram 56 IraqRep to FCO London, 26 June 2003, Iraq; Baroness Amos Visit.
90
Telegram 56 IraqRep to FCO London, 26 June 2003, Iraq; Baroness Amos Visit.
91
House of Commons, Official Report, 3 July 2003, column 562.
87
22
11.1 | De-Baathification
Telegram 82 IraqRep to FCO London, 13 July 2003, Iraq: Formation of the Governing Council.
Telegram 79 IraqRep to FCO London, 13 July 2003, Iraq: Governing Council: Analysis and Comment.
94
Telegram 81 IraqRep to FCO London, 13 July 2003, Iraq: Governing Council: Authorities.
95
Telegram 1 Security Affairs Iraq to FCO London, 27 July 2003, Iraq Security Sitrep No.1.
92
93
23
105. The official wrote that the new Order had not happened because of a wider sense
of sensitivity about work on Iraqs intelligence agencies.
106. In late July SirJeremy Greenstock, who was to succeed MrSawers as the Prime
Ministers Special Representative on Iraq in September, had a bilateral meeting with
the UN Special Representative, MrSrgio Vieira de Mello.96 During that discussion,
MrVieira de Mellos adviser had cautioned that we should not over emulate postwar
Germany in the extreme to which we took deBaathification.
107. According to the authors of the RAND report Occupying Iraq, in August 2003
Ambassador Crocker was raising concerns with Ambassador Bremer about the differing
ways in which the deBaathification policy was being implemented across Iraq.97 He also
identified that it was affecting more than just hardcore supporters of Saddam Hussein,
and that procedures for making exceptions were slow.
108. Ambassador Crocker suggested transferring responsibility for the implementation
of deBaathification to the GC, on the grounds that an Iraqi body would be more
sensitive to the nuances of the policy. As a result, on 10 August Ambassador Bremer
put a proposal entitled Proposal for Implementing the Iraqi deBaathification Council
tothe GC.
109. In early September MrBlairs Assistant Private Secretary recorded that he believed
flexible handling of deBaathification was needed to avoid excluding potential recruits
to the Iraqi police unnecessarily.98
110. MrDavid Richmond, the Prime Ministers Interim Special Representative on Iraq,
reported on 4 September that Ambassador Bremer understood the need for flexibility
on deBaathification, as did a senior Iraqi interlocutor; although they would be closely
watched by some members of the Governing Council who are strongly opposed to any
concessions in this area.99
111. On 8 September, in a House of Lords debate following an Oral Statement on Iraq
and the Middle East, Baroness Symons, FCO Minister of State, commented:
The fact that so many senior Iraqi officials in all walks of life, whether civilian or
military, were members of the Baath party was a function of the old regime in
clearing out anyone who was a member of the Baath party, a great deal of valuable
expertise has been lost. I believe that we have now found a better balance on
thatissue.100
Telegram 1116 UKMis New York to FCO London, 23 July 2003, Iraq: meeting with de Mello.
Dobbins J, Jones SG, Runkle B & Mohandas S. Occupying Iraq: A History of the Coalition Provisional
Authority. RAND Corporation, 2009.
98
Letter Cannon to Adams, 2 September 2003, Iraq: Briefing for Prime Minister.
99
Telegram 150 IraqRep to FCO London, 4 September 2003, Iraq: Briefing for Prime Minister.
100
House of Lords, Official Report, 8 September 2003, column 49.
96
97
24
11.1 | De-Baathification
112. In early September, the GC told Ambassador Bremer that it had formed the High
National deBaathification Commission (DBC), under the chairmanship of DrChalabi,
with MrNuri alMaliki as his deputy.101
113. On 17 September, DrChalabi reported to Ambassador Bremer that the
Commissions first two decisions had been to rescind the exemptions that had previously
been issued to fourthtier Baathists and to extend the ban on public employment to
include a wider range of public activities, including the media.
114. On 18 September, SirJeremy Greenstock, who had now arrived in Iraq, reported
that the GCs deBaathification Council had approved a resolution calling for the
immediate firing of all highlevel Baath Party members from Government service:
Bremer urged the IGC to coordinate with the Ministry of Education to ensure that
the process of teacher deBaathification was complete before the schools reopen
on 1 October. The general issue, which remains controversial, of how to manage
exemptions is one that the IGC will soon have to engage on.102
115. The following day, SirJeremy commented:
I find Bremers readiness to push the senior Iraqis to the front very interesting. We
Brits think it the right tactic, but I expected more resistance from him. He continues
to remind the GC eg when they produce decisions on deBaathification
that only he can sign things into law. But he does not seem fussed to be losing the
substantive initiative 103
116. By 2 October, SirJeremy was reporting that the issue of deBaathification had:
not proceeded over the week, despite the mounting concerns of both the
CPA and the GC. The harderline end of the GC demanded that senior remaining
Baathists should be physically removed from the streets not just their jobs and
quickly. Bremer reminded them that the CPA were still worried about due process,
but had yet to receive clarification from the GC on what their recent decision meant.
He asked for decisions on this soon.104
117. On 4 November, Ambassador Bremer signed CPA Memorandum No.7.105
118. Memorandum No.7 transferred responsibility for the implementation of
deBaathification to the GC, and enshrined in law the first two decisions of DrChalabis
Dobbins J, Jones SG, Runkle B & Mohandas S. Occupying Iraq: A History of the Coalition Provisional
Authority. RAND Corporation, 2009.
102
Telegram 174 IraqRep to FCO London, 18 September 2003, Iraq: Governing Council Roundup.
103
Telegram 175 IraqRep to FCO London, 19 September 2003, Iraq: Political Process.
104
Telegram 195 IraqRep to FCO London, 2 October 2003, Iraq: Governing Council update 1 October.
105
Coalition Provisional Authority Memorandum Number 7, 4 November 2003.
101
25
Commission, rescinding all exemptions granted under CPA Order No.1 and extending
the ban on public employment to wider involvement in public life.106
119. SirJeremy Greenstock reported on 6 November that the transfer of responsibility:
worried regional commanders in the Sunni Triangle area. They expressed
particular concern about the security implications of another round of dismissals in
the public sector and the knockon impact. General Odierno put it bluntly: decisions
from Baghdad that alienated local populations led to his soldiers getting killed.107
120. Having read SirJeremys message, the IPUs view was that the decision to hand
full control of deBaathification to the GC could result in further instability we would
wish to see a more pragmatic approach.108
121. Reporting from Baghdad, SirJeremy wrote that he continued to urge a flexible
approach to deBaathification.109 His messages indicate that Ambassador Bremer
agreed with this, though the IGC wanted tougher deBaathification.
122. In late November, the head of the Iraqi National Movement, MrHatim Mukhlis,
toldSirJeremy that the deBaathification policy and disbanding the Iraqi Army had
beenmistakes:
Rather than deBaathification Iraq needed a truth and reconciliation committee.
The Baath Party has been a career route for many people. Those who had
committed atrocities or crimes had to be held to account. But many members were
intellectuals and professionals. What was required was time for wounds to heal, but
the opposite was happening, and this was being exacerbated by militia activity. The
CPA could exert pressure on the IGC and influence the deBaathification process,
which was wrong.110
123. According to the RAND report Occupying Iraq, on 9 December Ambassador
Bremer:
informed all CPA civilians and Coalition military personnel, deBaathification is
now an Iraqi process immediately cease any involvement in deBaathification.111
Dobbins J, Jones SG, Runkle B & Mohandas S. Occupying Iraq: A History of the Coalition Provisional
Authority. RAND Corporation, 2009.
107
Telegram 252 IraqRep to FCO London, 6 November 2003, Iraq Regional Coordinators and
Commanders Meeting.
108
Minute KingSmith to Buck, 7 November 2003, Iraq: CPA Strategic Plan.
109
Telegram 176 Baghdad to FCO London, 8 November 2003, Iraq; SirNigel Sheinwalds Call on Bremer.
110
Email Alkadiri [ORHA] to FCO [junior official], 24 November 2003, SirJeremy Greenstock and David
Richmonds meeting with Hatim Mukhlis (CEOIraqi National Movement) 21 November, 2003.
111
Dobbins J, Jones SG, Runkle B & Mohandas S. Occupying Iraq: A History of the Coalition Provisional
Authority. RAND Corporation, 2009.
106
26
11.1 | De-Baathification
124. On 12 December, in a telegram to the FCO on strategy for engaging the Sunni
community, MrDavid Richmond, now Deputy Special Representative on Iraq, wrote that
it was essential that:
The possibility of deBaathification distinguish[ed] between senior/criminal
elements and those whose party affiliation was obligatory or nominal. The CPA
almost certainly made a mistake in handing this issue to the IGC. Most IGC
members are hardliners more interested in rooting out Baathists wherever they
can be found and excluding all former Baath Party members from standing for
elections to the TNA [Transitional National Assembly] than in reconciliation. Not all
Sunnis were Baathists but this is bound to cause further alienation. I have spoken
to Bremer about this. He is ready to make clear to the IGC that sweeping exclusions
are unacceptable and that the economic and security consequences have to be
considered.112
125. In January 2004, the GC published procedures for the implementation of
deBaathification.113 They confirmed that all individuals working in the public sector
who fell into the following categories were to be dismissed immediately if they had not
already been removed from office:
126. Those in the top three tiers of Baath Party membership would have no opportunity
for appeal. A formal appeal mechanism was put in place for:
127. Appeals were to be held in two stages; first by local deBaathification Review
Committees (established by the relevant ministry, in each governorate area) and then
by DrChalabis Higher National deBaathification Commission. Appeals could be either
on factual grounds (for example, that the individual had been mistakenly identified as
a senior Baath Party member but had not in fact been one), or on broader grounds
regarding the degree to which the individual subscribed to the ideals of the former
regime. The criteria against which commitment to the regime would be judged were:
Telegram 306 IraqRep to FCO London, 12 December 2003, Iraq: Sunni Strategy.
Talmon, S. The Occupation of Iraq: Volume II The Official Documents of the Coalition Provisional
Authority and the Iraqi Governing Council. Hart Publishing, 2013.
114
Defined as Udw Qutriyya (Regional Command Member), Udw Far (Branch Member), Udw Shubah
(Section Member) and Udw Firqah (Group Member).
112
113
27
the circumstances under which the employee became a Baath Party member
and was promoted to the fourth tier of membership;
employment history, including links to Baathist military, intelligence or security
services;
whether during their time in office the employee was dedicated to furthering the
goals of the Baath Party;
any illegal activities by the employee;
whether the skills of the employee were rare or replaceable; and
whether the individual had attained fourthtier membership solely as a result of
having been a prisoner of war in the IranIraq conflict (there was a presumption
that this group of individuals should retain their employment).
Telegram 75 Washington to FCO London, 16 January 2004, Visit of the House of Commons Defence
Committee to the US, 1115 January.
116
Statement Bremer, 18 May 2010, page 5.
117
Telegram 032 IraqRep to FCO London, 2 February 2004, Iraq: Political Process: TAL Update.
115
28
11.1 | De-Baathification
132. On 4 February, in response to a question from MrLlew Smith, MrOBrien told the
House of Commons that:
The process of deBaathification is an Iraqi led process. Guidelines were
announced by the Iraqi Governing Council on 11 January and provide a clear
framework for this process. The Transitional Administrative Law, which will include
the criteria for nomination to the Transitional National Assembly, is in the final
stages of drafting. It is likely to follow the existing practice that nominees shall
nothave been a member of the dissolved Baath Party at the rank of Division
Member [the fourth tier of membership] or higher unless exempted by the
National De Baathification Commission or a member of the past agencies of
repression, or one who participated in the oppression of citizens.118
133. The TAL published on 8 March contained the following restrictions on former
members of the Baath Party:
Senior members (fourth tier and above) were not eligible to stand unless they
had been successful in their appeal to the deBaathification Commission.
Full members would be required to renounce the Baath Party and swear they
had no further dealings or connections with Baathist organisations.119
134. In late March, SirJeremy Greenstock reported to the FCO in London, following
adiscussion between his staff and Ambassador Bremer, that:
Bremer remains committed to deBaathification but believes that Chalabi has
abused the process by emphasising its retributive elements and ignoring the appeals
procedures Given the fragile security situation Bremer is keen to make the
process appear as independent and fair as possible.120
135. SirJeremy reported that Ambassador Bremer was considering taking responsibility
for deBaathification away from the GC, and giving it to an independent body. As a
first step, he intended to write to DrChalabi, asking for changes to deBaathification
procedures.
136. In April, MrDominic Asquith, Deputy Chief Commissioner in the CPA, reported
that Ambassador Bremer was seeking to expedite efforts to address Sunni concerns,
inparticular taking steps designed to make the [deBaathification] process appear less
partisan by taking responsibility for the process away from Ahmed Chalabi he also
wants blanket exemptions for teachers.121
29
30
11.1 | De-Baathification
between criminal Baathists and those Baath Party members who were not
criminals
143. In late April, SirDavid Manning reported from Washington that deBaathification
was featuring regularly in US media comment on Iraq:
Most commentators have portrayed Bremers new instructions to the IGC as
a longoverdue reversal of a fundamental error, and an attempt to clip Ahmed
Chalabis wings. Chalabi put a different spin on the decision arguing that Bremer
had not changed the policy, but had agreed with the deBaathification Commission
on the need to speed up the appeals process.126
144. On 20 May, during one of their regular video conferences, MrBlair proposed
to President Bush that they should look at the approach to deBaathification.127 He
suggested that there were probably a few individuals who could play a role in calming
the Sunnis.
145. MrRichmonds assessment, at the end of May, was that implementation of
Bremers initiative to alleviate the consequences of deBaathification has been slow.128
However, the appeals process was working, and was having significant results in the
education sector.
146. In higher education, there had been 1,681 appeals, of which 750 had been
successful already and the remainder were expected to be granted shortly.
147. In the primary and secondary education sector, 12,000 employees had been
removed under the deBaathification rules, around 9,000 of whom were entitled to
appeal. So far, 4,600 had appealed successfully and a further 1,300 successful appeals
were expected by the end of the month, although there were significant variations
between governorates: Several southern governorates, including Najaf and Nasiriyah,
have reported that local political and community groups blocked the appeals process.
148. Set against that progress, there were not always jobs available for those who were
reinstated. Within the university sector, a number of posts had been filled and vacancies
no longer existed. Elsewhere, reinstated teachers were facing competition for jobs from
some 6,000 colleagues who had been removed by Saddam for political reasons and are
now eligible to return to work.
Telegram 530 Manning to FCO London, 27 April 2004, Iraq: The Public Debate, 26 April.
Letter Quarrey to Owen, 20 May 2004, Prime Ministers VTC with Bush, 20 May: Iraq.
128
Telegram 257 IraqRep to FCO London, 26 May 2004, Iraq: deBaathification Update.
126
127
31
149. MrRichmond observed that DrChalabi had continued to try to interfere and
that the patchy follow up meant that we are in danger of yet again appearing not to
be delivering on our promises. He cautioned that it might be necessary to revisit the
original deBaathification orders:
as they give a government broad scope to arrest and detain suspected Baathists
for security purposes. Applied punitively, the order could legitimate the type of
mass arrests already proposed by some serving ministers. This would have serious
repercussions, especially among the Sunni community.
150. In a debate in the House of Commons on 7 June, MrDonald Anderson asked
MrStraw whether the Government supported a statement by DrAllawi that there should
be greater progress towards finding places in the new Iraq for former Baathists who are
not guilty of human rights abuses.129
151. MrStraw told the House of Commons:
As for progress on the absorption of former Baath party members who are not
implicated in the excesses of the regime, we strongly agree with Prime Minister
Allawi, and that view is now shared by the United States Government.
32
11.1 | De-Baathification
155. The presiding judge advised all 12 of the crimes they were accused of having
committed. MrChris Segar, Head of the British Office Baghdad, reported that:
under Iraqi law this was a first step in which the accused is informed that there
are allegations against him which deserve investigation, which allow for continued
detention and that he has a right to legal counsel.
156. On 2 July, the Cabinet Office Assessments Staff told SirNigel Sheinwald, MrBlairs
Foreign Policy Adviser, that there were indications that former Baathist groups were
planning targeted attacks on Iraqi Government ministers.132
157. On 5 July, the Assessments Staff provided SirNigel with statistics on the number
of attacks against the MultiNational Force (MNF) and Iraqi targets.133 It was too early
tojudge the lasting impact of creating the IIG on the security situation.
158. On 12 July, MrHoshyar Zebari, the new Iraqi Foreign Minister, told a meeting of
EU Foreign Ministers that:
The original policy of deBaathification has been right but too generalised. He had
exBaathists in his ministry though not those who had been involved in intelligence
or atrocities. ExBaathist insurgents were now in isolated groups. They did not
represent a coherent force.134
159. In one if its regular assessments of security in Iraq, the JIC judged on 21 July that
Prime Minister Allawi had achieved only limited success in his attempts to bring former
Baathists on board.135 In the absence of a single Baathist organisation with which
to negotiate, that would remain the case. Reports of plans to carry out assassinations,
including of IIG members, continued.
33
161. A second order was also announced which reintroduced the death penalty for
around 30 crimes. Most of those crimes related to actions which resulted in the death
ofanother person, but the list also included:
where there has been an armed uprising against the armed forces; where
an armed uprising aims to invade another country or seize public property; and
the distribution of narcotics with the aim of aiding those trying to overthrow the
Government by force. It also introduces a law that imposed the death penalty on
kidnappers who seek to broadcast pictures of their victims.
162. MrAsquith judged that the order reflected Allawis belief that the insurgents
needed to have brought home to them the consequences of their actions.
163. USA Today reported that in relation to the amnesty order:
Allawi said:
This order has been established to allow our citizens to rejoin civil society and
participate in the reconstruction of their country and the improvement of their lives,
instead of wasting their lives pointlessly towards a lost cause
Iraqi officials had earlier said the amnesty might extend to those who had killed US
and other coalition troops.137
164. FCO officials had seen a draft of the amnesty order in July at which point it covered
both Iraqis and foreigners.138
165. On 9 August, MrAsquith reported to the FCO that Prime Minister Allawi had been
reaching out to Baathists inside and outside the country.139 Some had been prepared
to talk but there was too little time before [elections in] January to put in place a political
party that could represent them and be accepted by the rest of Iraq.
166. During a discussion with SirNigel Sheinwald on 8 September, Prime Minister
Allawi reported variable success on drawing people away from the insurgency.140 He
explained: The Sunni should not feel they had lost power. Some would help to resist
radical Islamist forces if they were brought back into the fold.
167. When MrBlair visited Iraq 11 days later, Prime Minister Allawi told him that he had
spoken to a number of exBaathists in the region Yemen, UAE and Jordan. They
were ready to talk.141 He hoped that a conference would be convened in Jordan to make
to make it clear that they were ready to move on and reengage.
USA Today, 7 August 2004, Iraq passes amnesty law for minor players in insurgency.
Minute Cabinet Office [junior official] to Sheinwald, 13 July 2004, Iraq Strategy Group.
139
Telegram 107 Baghdad to FCO London, 9 August 2004, Iraq: Security: Prime Ministers Views.
140
Letter Quarrey to Owen, 9 September 2004, Nigel Sheinwalds meeting with Allawi, 8 September.
141
Letter Sheinwald to Adams, 19 September 2004, Iraq: Prime Ministers Meeting with Prime Minister
Allawi, Sunday 19 September.
137
138
34
11.1 | De-Baathification
JIC Assessment, 7 October 2004, Iraq Security: External Support for Insurgents.
Letter Owen to Quarrey, 11 October 2004, Iraq: Contingency Planning.
144
JIC Assessment, 27 October 2004, Iraq: A Long Term Insurgency Problem.
145
JIC Assessment, 11 November 2004, Iraq Security Current Concerns.
146
eGram 452 Baghdad to FCO London, 4 December 2004, Iraq: ReBaathification.
142
143
35
174. Prime Minister Allawis Legal Adviser told MrHood that the new Order had
been drafted on the instructions of Prime Minister Allawi, who judged that returning to
public service might prevent thousands of disaffected former Baathists supporting the
insurgency. The philosophy behind the Order was punish an individual for their crimes
and not their ideology. It had been approved by the Council of Ministers but not yet by
the President and was unlikely to be signed before the election.
175. The draft Order, which MrHood was not shown, was said to:
allow all those removed by the CPA to return to their posts, unless that post was
judged to be sensitive or senior (Director General and above) or they were found
to have committed a crime against the Iraqi people (undefined); and
36
11.1 | De-Baathification
It is important to note that the majority of former regime elements and Baathists may
not be restorationists.148
180. On 19 January, the JIC assessed that Sunni turnout in elections might be as low as
onethird of the eligible voters, which would give a disproportionately low representation
to Sunni Arabs in the elected institutions.149 The policy implication of this was, in the
JICs view, that Sunni outreach will need to intensify after the elections to ensure that
Sunnis do not opt out of the political and constitutional drafting process altogether.
181. In early February, the JIC judged that the hard core and most effective Sunni
Arab insurgents were former Baathists, but the bulk of those involved were simply
disaffected Iraqis most of whom probably have no longterm political objectives.150
37
Reform to work was a key element of supporting the Iraqi Security Forces to deliver
security.156 The strategy also recommended that the UK should encourage the ITG [Iraqi
Transitional Government] to relax the rules on deBaathification as a way of drawing
disaffected former Army officers and officials back into the system.
186. In early March, senior US and UK officials discussed the strategy for Iraq in
2005.157 They identified that, in order to modify the current policy, one option might be
to shift deBaathification from a political to a quasijudicial process. MrAsquith said
that deBaathification was likely to be on the agenda of the new government at an early
stage and so we should start engaging the likely key players at this stage before
their views became settled.
187. A few days later, MrCharles Heatly (a No.10 Press Officer who had returned from
a secondment in Iraq, where he had been working in Prime Minister Allawis office)
advised MrBlair that one of the key points for UK engagement with the new government
should be: Minimising the fallout from deBaathification etc. On our side, we should
continue to monitor carefully, and advise caution.158
188. In late March, MrStraw also identified the enormous damage that could be done
to efforts at outreach by a significant renewal of the deBaathification drive as one of
the messages being given to the United Iraq Coalition, which had gained the highest
number of seats in Januarys election.159
157
38
11.1 | De-Baathification
192. MrStraw enclosed with his letter a paper produced by the FCO Research Analysts
which set out the substantive issues that the Iraqi Constitution needed to address,
including:
39
40
11.1 | De-Baathification
for the deBaathification Commission to be dissolved. The IPU observed that this belief
was mistaken, since dissolution of the Commission was a decision for the National
Assembly.
207. MrPatey told the FCO that he had lobbied President Jalal Talabani and
MrAbdul Aziz alHakim, leader of the UIA/SCIRI, for the removal of reference to the
deBaathification Commission.170
208. MrPatey also suggested to Prime Minister Jaafari and MrMasoud Barzani, leader
of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, that If mention of the deBaathification Commission
could not be removed perhaps there could be some reference to indicate that the
process would be a judicial one.171
209. Secretary Rice told MrStraw on 24 August that reference to the deBaathification
Commission appeared to have been dropped.172
210. On 28 August, MrPatey reported to the FCO on the substance of the new
Constitution which had been presented to the National Assembly.173 He commented:
The spectre of deBaathification continues to haunt the text although such
references were heavily diluted in efforts to meet Sunni concerns
211. MrPatey observed that the preamble to the Constitution made an important
distinction between the dictators regime and the mainstream Baath Party and
recognised that Sunnis had suffered with other Iraqis under Saddam. But extremist
groups, which included Saddamists were prohibited.
212. SirWilliam Patey told the Inquiry:
We spent a lot of time trying to convince the transitional government and the
Shia politicians that deBaathification had gone too far, that the deBaathification
commission was being abused. It was being used as a tool to further political ends
rather than save Iraq from a return of the Baath. Now, that is not an argument that
was accepted very readily by Shia, who had a visceral fear of the Baathists and
saw Baathists in most places. So we had limited success. We were arguing for the
deBaathification provisions to be excluded from the Constitution. We managed
toget them watered down, we managed to get them reviewed.174
eGram 11744/05 Baghdad to FCO London, 24 August 2005, Iraq: Constitution: Getting Sunni Arab
BuyIn.
171
eGram 11834/05 Baghdad to FCO London, 25 August 2005, Iraq: Constitution: Some Prospect of
Changes to Draft to Accommodate Key Sunni Arab Concerns.
172
Minute Siddiq to Sawers, 24 August 2005, The Foreign Secretarys conversation with the US Secretary
of State, 24 August.
173
eGram 12004/05 Baghdad to FCO London, 28 August 2005, Iraq: Constitution: Worth Waiting For.
174
Public hearing, 5 January 2010, pages 67.
170
41
213. MrStraw and Secretary Rice discussed the Constitution on 29 August.175 DrRice
highlighted that the process against Baathists set out in the Constitution was on
an individual basis rather than simply on proof of party membership and described
that as a very big concession. To deal with fears about individuals being victimised,
they discussed a potential international review body which would consider the
decisionmaking process, but not rehear cases.
214. MrStraw recorded that he had asked for some work to be done on this idea,
andasked MrPatey to discuss the concept with Ambassador Khalilzad.
215. At the end of August, the US Red Team published its Integrated
Counterinsurgency Strategy for Iraq.176 It stated that one of the conditions for a
successful counterinsurgency campaign was to:
Work with Iraqi leaders in the next government to continue progress in increasing
political accommodation and effective cooperation to solve specific policy
challenges. Place priority on finalizing and implementing agreements to redress key
divisive issues (e.g. deBaathification, professionalizing ISF institution etc.)
216. UK responses to the Red Teams report are described in Section 9.3.
217. On 12 October, the IPU reported that broad agreement had been reached on
changes to the draft Constitution, including provisions on deBaathification.177 Those
amendments (to Article 131) were:
Membership of the Baath Party alone would not be considered sufficient basis
for prosecution. Members would enjoy equality and protection under the law
unless they were covered by the provisions of deBaathification and the orders
issued under it.
The Council of Representatives would form a committee to monitor and review
acts of the deBaathification Commission.
218. Alongside other measures, the IPU commented that these changes might help
significantly increase the overall vote in favour of the Constitution.
219. An IPU paper on Sunni outreach dated 27 October referred to the same
amendments as a step forward and proposed that the UK should give our assurance
that we will push hard for implementation of Article 131 in the next Parliament in a way
which allows noncriminal exBaathists into government service.178
220. In an update on Sunni outreach two weeks later, the IPU described the
shared UK and US goal on deBaathification as to persuade the Iraqis to repeal
Letter Straw to Sheinwald, 30 August 2005, Conversation with US Secretary of State, 29 August.
Report Red Team, 31 August 2005, An Integrated Counterinsurgency Strategy for Iraq.
177
Paper IPU, 12 October 2005, Amendments to the Draft Iraqi Constitution attaching Further
Amendments to the Draft Iraqi Constitution.
178
Paper IPU, 27 October 2005, Sunni Arab Outreach.
175
176
42
11.1 | De-Baathification
the deBaathification Law and abolish its enforcement mechanism, the Supreme
deBaathification C [sic] Commission.179 The British and US Embassies in Baghdad
were reported to be working up a gameplan and MrStraw would take Prime Minister
Jaafari through the arguments.
221. On 21 November, MrAsquith commented on a research paper on Iraq by an
external organisation.180 He wrote:
Tackling deBaathification is very important, but Im not sure that just changing
the level of the bar is sufficient: those inside Iraq are more interested in making
a distinction between those who can be prosecuted for criminal acts, not merely
membership in or association with the Baath party. Key in all this will be a credible
and independent body to adjudicate.
Election preparations
222. On 27 November, MrDoug Wilson, an official in the British Embassy Baghdad
sent a report to MrPatey of a briefing by the Independent Electoral Commission of
Iraqs (IECI) International Commissioner, MrCraig Jenness.181 MrWilson wrote that the
IECI had sent the names of around 7,000 electoral candidates to the deBaathification
Commission for checking. Having considered 70 percent of those names, the
Commission had recommended that 67 individuals be disqualified, including some
senior politicians. MrWilson proposed that the US and UK should lobby DrChalabi.
223. A message from the British Embassy Baghdad to the FCO on 29 November stated
that the UK and US had encouraged the IECI to adopt a process which allows them to
reject the rulings of the deBaathification Commission and retain most of the names on
the electoral lists.182 MrPatey had lobbied senior members of the TNA to allow those
recommended for disqualification to run and commented that with the US, we will
coordinate an approach to seek the Commission to reverse its decisions.
224. MrPatey called on DrChalabi on 30 November to convey concerns about the
involvement of the deBaathification Commission in vetting electoral candidates, which
he explained was likely to be seen as political interference.183 He suggested that there
should instead be due judicial process for those identified, whose names ought to stay
on the electoral lists until their appeal had been dealt with.
225. In response, DrChalabi reminded MrPatey that the Commission had no
authority to ban any candidate. Its remit was to identify those covered by the
Paper IPU, 10 November 2005, Sunni Arab Outreach: Update as of 10 November 2005.
Email Asquith to Hilder, 21 November 2005, Iraq: Org Draft.
181
Email Wilson to Patey, 27 November 2005, Elections: deBaathification.
182
eGram 19506/05 Baghdad to FCO London, 29 November 2005, Iraq: Elections: deBaathification
Affects Candidates.
183
eGram 19906/05 Baghdad to FCO London, 5 December 2005, Iraq: Elections: deBaathification of
Candidates: Update.
179
180
43
deBaathification Law; it was for the IECI to determine eligibility, accepting or rejecting
the deBaathification Commissions recommendation as they saw fit.
226. MrPatey subsequently briefed the UN Special Representative and the IECI
International Commissioner on his meeting with DrChalabi. They explained that the
IECI was in some difficulty since it had to be seen to be acting in accordance with
Iraqi law: CPA Order No.1 and the Electoral Law both said that anyone covered by
deBaathification could not stand for election. The IECI therefore had little choice but
toaccept the deBaathification Commissions recommendations.
227. By 1 December, the number of individuals recommended for disqualification
by the deBaathification Commission had risen to 134.184
228. A message from the IPU setting out Iraq policy priorities for the week ahead
recorded that MrStraw had raised deBaathification with Secretary Rice.185 They had
agreed that the deBaathification Commission was acting in a way which ran entirely
counter to our efforts on outreach and that they would lobby DrChalabi in his capacity
as Chairman of the Commission.
229. SirNigel Sheinwald raised UK concerns that deBaathification might disrupt the
elections with MrStephen Hadley, the US National Security Advisor, on 2 December.186
SirNigel said: It would be much better to leave this until after the election and decide
then whether anyone should be prevented from taking up their seat because their
background infringed the Constitution. He suggested that it would be helpful for the
USto talk to DrChalabi.
230. On 5 December, MrBlairs Private Secretary told MrBlair:
We are working with the US to reverse a decision by the deBaathification
Commission to bar a number of former Baathists (both Shia and Sunni) from
standing in the election It looks like a brazenly partisan move, and deeply
unhelpful.187
231. In a conversation with President Bush the same day, MrBlair suggested that the
US and UK needed to keep a close eye on the actions of the outgoing Government,
including the deBaathification Commission.188
eGram 19784/05 UKMIS New York to FCO London, 1 December 2005, Iraq: UKUSUN Trilateral:
1December.
185
eGram 19874/05 FCO London to Baghdad, 2 December 2005, Iraq: Policy Priorities for the Week
Beginning Saturday 3 December.
186
Letter Sheinwald to Hayes, 2 December 2005, Conversation with US National Security Adviser,
2December.
187
Minute Phillipson to Prime Minister, 5 December 2005, VTC with President Bush, 1425 5 December.
188
Letter Quarrey to Siddiq, 5 December 2005, Prime Ministers VTC with President Bush: Middle East.
184
44
11.1 | De-Baathification
232. Also on the same day, the IPU instructed the UK Permanent Mission to the UN in
New York to press the UN to support the UK position on deBaathification of electoral
candidates.189 The IPU described the best solution as:
for the IECI to (i) note the DBCs submission of a list, (ii) make clear that the
submission had come at a very late stage and that it would not be possible to go
through the required appeals process before the election, (iii) commit therefore
to process the list after the elections, after going through the necessary appeals
process.
233. SirEmyr Jones Parry, UK Permanent Representative to the UN in New
York, replied the same day to say that he had spoken to MrKofi Annan, the UN
SecretaryGeneral, who was sympathetic to processing the deBaathification list after
the election and intended to send instructions to Mr Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, his Special
Representative.190
234. MrAnnans Chef de Cabinet confirmed later in the day that MrAnnan had
spoken to MrQazi who had also agreed on the need to find a way forward that
allowedparticipation.
235. On 6 December, officials from the British Embassy Baghdad met MrJenness to
discuss action on deBaathification.191 Of the deBaathification Commissions initial list
of 218 candidates, there remained 120 individuals at risk of being removed from the
candidate lists. A further 83 individuals would be required by the Commission to sign a
disavowal of Baathism. The remaining 15 were not mentioned.
236. MrPatey reported that MrJenness remained concerned for the IECIs legal
position, but wanted to find solutions that allowed participation in the elections. They
agreed that the IECI would publish nonfinal candidate lists (including the remaining
120 names) immediately, to test the reaction from the deBaathification Commissions
supporters, and that it would write to the threeman Presidency Council asking for
guidance and explaining that the IECI would not remove candidates from the lists
without its agreement. The candidate lists were published that evening.
237. MrPatey wrote: This issue has underscored the need to look ahead to the
arduous but urgent task of securing reform of the deBaathification Law.
238. The IPU observed on 9 December that there had been little or no public reaction
to the inclusion in the list of candidates named by the deBaathification Commission
eGram 19989/05 IPU to Baghdad and UKMIS New York, 5 December 2005, Iraq: Elections:
DeBaathification of Candidates.
190
eGram 20001/05 UKMIS New York to FCO London, 5 December 2005, Iraq: Elections:
deBaathification of Candidates.
191
eGram 20199/05 Baghdad to FCO London, 7 December 2005, Iraq: Elections: DeBaathification of
Candidates: Progress.
189
45
in their [the IECIs] list.192 As a result, if the government supported the Commissions
recommendations, it would be seen as a political decision and was potentially very
divisive. The IPU suggested that MrStraw should seek Prime Minister Jaafaris
agreement to putting deBaathification on hold until after the elections, when it could
beaddressed by a new, and fully representative, national assembly and government.
239. On 12 December, the British Embassy Baghdad reported that the IECI had issued
a statement setting out why it would not be removing any candidates from the electoral
lists as a result of their identification as Baathists by the deBaathification Council.193
Prime Minister Jaafari had responded to the IECIs request for guidance in support
ofthat decision.
Submission IPU [junior official] to Foreign Secretary, 9 December 2005, Iraq: Human Rights/
DeBaathification: Telephone Call to Prime Minister Jaafai.
193
eGram 20573/05 Baghdad to FCO London, 12 December 2005, Iraq: Elections: Final Preparations.
194
Paper IPU, 16 December 2005, Iraq: PostElection: UK Work Plan.
195
Email Wilson to Asquith, 22 December 2005, Foreign Secretarys Call to Talabani: 21 Dec.
196
Email Wilson to Asquith, 22 December 2005, Foreign Secretarys Call to Barzani, 22 December.
197
eGram 21681/05 Baghdad to FCO London, 28 December 2005, Iraq: Elections: Results.
192
46
11.1 | De-Baathification
244. At the end of December 2005, the British Embassy Baghdad wrote to the FCO to
describe conversations with Iraqi and US officials about the possibilities for reform of the
deBaathification Commission.198
245. The Embassy described the Commission as an inherently political body, and said
that there was no real prospect of appeal against its decisions. The new Constitution
offered a potential opportunity to reform the deBaathification Law, but also the risk
of deepening existing divisions. Article 134(6) obliged the Council of Representatives
to establish a committee to review acts of the deBaathification Commission and
government agencies. In the Embassys opinion that was a real opportunity to set in
motion concrete reform of the DBC.
246. Although the ultimate goal was repeal of the deBaathification Law and
dissolution of the Commission, possible steps to address concerns about the
deBaathification process included:
publication of a final report by the Commission, indicating that its work was
complete.
247. Attached to the Embassys message was a minute written by the IPU for MrPatey
earlier in December.199
248. The IPU set out more information about the composition and operation of the DBC.
Its six serving Commissioners were all from the Shia community as two positions allotted
to the Kurdish parties had never been filled. The DBC did not hold formal meetings, and
its only active members were DrChalabi, MrMaliki and Sheikh Jalal alDin alSagheer.
249. The IPU also described Article 7 of the new Constitution, which banned the
glorification and promotion of the Baath Party in Iraq and its symbols. Although the text
had been continually watered down, the final text specified that its provisions would be
regulated by a law. The IPU judged:
The regulating law will be a yardstick testing attitudes towards deBaathification
on the one hand it could be an opportunity to seek concrete reform and repeal of
CPA Order No.1 (the deBaathification Law). But on the other hand, it could be used
as an opportunity to widen and deepen deBaathification, or restrict the activities of
political groups which contain former Baathists. That said, because it [sic] such a
political hot potato, it may not be one of the laws prioritized as important in the new
parliament.
198
199
eGram 21802/05 Baghdad to FCO London, 31 December 2005, Iraq: Reforming deBaathification.
Minute Wilson to HMA, 10 December 2005, Iraq: deBaathification: Possible Next Steps.
47
A new government
250. Evidence seen by the Inquiry confirms that in January and February 2006 the UK
stepped up its efforts to encourage Iraq to form a broad and inclusive government of
national unity through highlevel visits and rounds of phone calls.200
251. MrStraw visited Basra and Baghdad in early January.201 He met representatives
of political parties from all the main communities, reinforcing the UKs message on
the need for a unity government. In his view, achieving that mattered more than who
became Prime Minister.
252. Some Sunni representatives told MrStraw that they had been cheated out of
seats. He responded that they must accept the election results once confirmed orthey
will be pitting themselves against the whole international community.
253. Vice President Adel Abdul Mehdi, a potential candidate for Prime Minister, told
MrPatey on 1 January that he would be ready to look at the possibility of appointing
ajudge to head the deBaathification Commission and to reduce the role of politicians
within it.202
254. Prime Minister Jaafari told MrPatey on 3 January that, although the Baath Party
and its ideology should remain outlawed, the halfmillion former Baath members
Jaafari saw as his children should not and the deBaathification Commission and its
procedures should be reviewed.203
255. On 3 January, MrAyad Allawi told MrBlair that in forming the new government the
key bridge to the Sunnis would be revision of the deBaathification process.204
256. An IPU brief for MrStraws visit to Baghdad in early April listed participation by all
(including former Baathists) who are committed to furthering the political process and
can run government effectively as one of the main issues for the new Iraqi Government
to address.205
257. After the announcement of MrNuri alMaliki as the nominee for Prime Minister, the
British Embassy Baghdads pen picture of him recorded that he had been Deputy Chair
of the deBaathification Commission and a driving force for that bodys work.206 The
eGram 359/06 Baghdad to FCO London, 9 January 2006, Iraq: Visit by Foreign Secretary, 67 January
2006: Elections and Formatio[n]; eGram 3684/06 Baghdad to FCO London, 22 February 2006, Iraq:
Foreign Secretarys Visit, 2021 February 2006: Formation of Govern[ment]; Minute Bayley to Foreign
Secretary, 16 January 2006, Iraq: Keeping Up The Momentum Proposed Telephone Calls/Visit.
201
Minute Straw to Prime Minister, 11 January 2006, Iraq: PostElections and Government Formation.
202
eGram 69/06 Baghdad to FCO London, 4 January 2006, Iraq: Call on Vice President Abdul Mehdi.
203
eGram 129/06 Baghdad to FCO London, 4 January 2006, Iraq: Call on Prime Minister Jaafari.
204
Letter Prentice to Quarrey, 3 January 2006, Prime Ministers Meeting with Iyad Allawi, Amman,
2January.
205
Briefing IPU, 31 March 2006, Iraq: Foreign Secretarys Visit, 23 April 2006.
206
eGram 13011/06 Baghdad to FCO London, 24 April 2006, Iraq: Formation of the New Government:
alMaliki Nominated by UIA as Prime Minister.
200
48
11.1 | De-Baathification
Embassy wrote that MrMaliki was opposed to the participation of any former Baathists
in government institutions and public life.
258. When Prime Minister Designate Maliki met MrPatey and SirNigel Sheinwald on
24 April, he said he was proud to be known as a hardliner on deBaathification but
acknowledged that the deBaathification Commission had made some mistakes.207
259. MrMaliki planned to propose a radical overhaul that would transform the
deBaathification Commission into a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, sending
Baathists who had committed crimes to the courts and rehabilitating those who had
not. He was most concerned about Baathist military officers. The establishment of a
Commission for Equality of Employment would reassure Sunnis that they would get
afair share of government jobs and that dismissals would not be sectarian.
260. On 10 May, the JIC assessed how the Sunni insurgency was evolving.208
Itconcluded:
The strength of the insurgency is in part affected by Sunni participation in the
political process. If Sunni confidence is to be bolstered, respected Sunnis will need
to gain some major ministries. Even then, Sunni participation will remain fragile.
Much will depend on the actions of the new government in addressing broader Sunni
concerns: federalism, deBaathification, reform of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF),
MNF withdrawal, security and detainees, and improvement in the quality of life.
261. On 19 July, the JIC assessed that:
Little has changed in the nature and intensity of the Sunni Arab insurgency since
our last assessment in May. We continue to judge that the strength of the insurgency
is in part affected by Sunni participation in the political process. Prime Minister
Malikis government includes Sunnis in Ministerial and executive positions, and
some key Sunni demands have been partially met; for example, limited release of
detainees. Maliki has announced a National Reconciliation Plan aimed at addressing
wider Sunni concerns, but there has been no substantive progress as yet. Some
Sunni politicians have voiced their scepticism at Malikis offer of amnesty (on current
proposals most insurgents need not apply), plans to relax deBaathification, and his
lack of reference to an MNF withdrawal timetable.209
262. On 27 July, the IPU reported to the British Embassy Baghdad that the Iraq Strategy
Group had agreed:
the review Maliki has promised of deBaathification needs to happen urgently.
This is not only important to operationalising his national reconciliation plan: but
eGram 13126/06 Baghdad to FCO London, 24 April 2006, Iraq: Government Formation: Malikis Views.
JIC Assessment, 10 May 2006, Iraq: How is the Sunni Insurgency Evolving?
209
JIC Assessment, 19 July 2006, Iraq: Insurgency, Sectarianism and Violence.
207
208
49
eGram 32790/06 IPU to Baghdad, 27 July 2006, Iraq: Reply to Your Valedictory.
eGram 36238/06 Baghdad to FCO London, 20 August 2006, Iraq: Changes at the DeBaathification
Commission.
212
Letter Cabinet Office [junior official] to Sheinwald, 18 September 2006, Iraq Strategy Group,
15September.
213
JC Assessment, 5 October 2006, AlMalikis Government: Interim Progress Report.
214
eGram 49594/06 Baghdad to FCO London, 8 November 2006, Iraq: DeBaathification Developments.
210
211
50
11.1 | De-Baathification
268. The message explained that, on 6 November, the Director General of the
deBaathification Commission had announced that a draft law on deBaathification,
consistent with Prime Minister Malikis National Reconciliation Plan, had been prepared
and would be sent to the Council of Representatives soon.
269. The new law would mean that only 1,500 of the 10,302 Senior Baathists currently
affected would lose their jobs. Of those, only the top tier of party members would be
denied a pension. The cases of those further down the ranks would be reviewed and
those who had not been convicted of a crime would have the option of reinstatement
orretirement with a pension.
270. UK officials explained that they would seek to agree a few components of a fair
law with the US and UN and lobby hard for those changes. They would focus on
reinforcing the underlying principle that deBaathification should be an independent
judicial process rather than a political process.
271. UK officials subsequently discussed five changes with US officials, who raised the
first four with DrChalabi.215 The proposals, which received a mixed response, were:
272. In November 2006, MrJohn Sawers, FCO Director General, Political, wrote to
MrBlair from Baghdad, where he had just spent three days:
the pace of the insurgency hasnt slackened. The Shia put the blame squarely on
Baathists/Saddamists, who they think we underestimate. They are convinced that
the former regimes security and intelligence officials are the driving force behind the
attacks on the coalition, the Shia, and government officials, with the aim of creating
mayhem and an opportunity for them to return to power as the only ones capable of
restoring order. The level of concern has gone up sharply, with reports of Baathist
intimidation on the streets of Baghdad The relative weight of the Baathists in the
insurgency isnt easy to divine, but it is clear that both the Shia and the Kurds still
fear them above all.216
215
216
Email Sharif to Shokat, 10 November 2006, Re: DeBaathification: key components of a fair law.
Minute Sawers to Prime Minister, 13 November 2006, Iraq.
51
DeBaathification in 2007
276. At the end of January 2007, MrDominic Asquith, British Ambassador to Iraq,
recorded a report from the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the Iraqi Baath Party
had split, and a splinter group had formed that wanted to come back to Iraq, start a
dialogue, renounce violence and act politically.219 It was hoped that others might be
attracted to the same strategy.
277. The IPU provided advice on how best to step up and coordinate work on
reconciliation in February 2007.220 It said that deBaathification was a major inhibitor
of reconciliation and a cause of grievance in the Sunni community.
278. The IPU wrote:
We have worked in close consultation with the US to promote a substantive
discussion between the main political parties on reforming the deBaathification
process. The aim is to take account of the concerns of all major communities, help
reduce the numbers of Iraqis excluded from public life and thus reduce alienation
and motives for violence. A number of different draft laws have been provided by
different political parties. We are working to help bring these together in a single
document, ideally including a sunset clause to bring an end to deBaathification
in the future. A US/UK facilitated version has just gone to President Talabani with
52
11.1 | De-Baathification
the aim of having a crosssectarian draft presented to the Iraqi parliament by the
Presidency Council.
279. In a separate Update on deBaathification, also dated February 2007, the IPU
explained that we want to see the deBaathification process reformed and ultimately
brought to an end.221 In the short term, the objective was to reform the deBaathification
Commission so that it operated in a more independent and transparent way. Specifically,
this meant that it should:
target an individuals conduct, not membership of the Baath party, reinforcing
the underlying principle that deBaathification should be a judicial rather than
political process;
review the cases of all individuals who have already been deBaathified, as the
previous process was deeply flawed due to political interference;
complete the deBaathification process within a defined period.
280. The IPU explained that the draft US/UK text proposed abolishing the
deBaathification Commission and replacing it with a Reconciliation and Accountability
Commission for six months. President Talabani had indicated that he was broadly
content with the US/UK text. If the Presidency Council exercised its right to put the draft
law to the Council of Representatives directly, and other drafts were also presented, they
were likely to be considered by a Committee of the Council.
281. On 5 March, MrBlairs Private Secretary wrote to the Private Secretary to Mrs
Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary:
The Prime Minister would like us to get a UK adviser on reconciliation into Malikis
office as quickly as possible We also need to build influence with AbdulMehdi on
deBaathification The Prime Minister is pleased at UK/US efforts to ensure that
there is now a single document on deBaathification with Talabani.222
282. In an update for MrBlair on 23 March, his Private Secretary reported a sense that
Iraqi politicians risked missing the opportunity presented by the Baghdad Security Plan
(see Section 9.5) to pursue reconciliation.223 He wrote that faltering progress on the oil
law and on deBaathification were contributing to increased suspicion within the Sunni
community.
283. In his Weekly Assessment dated 29 March, MrAsquith reported that the proposed
new deBaathification Law had become another victim of the US fixation on security
53
results.224 MrAsquith wrote that the departure of Ambassador Khalilzad would deprive
Iraq of one of the great contrivers and that his final act was:
a deBaathification draft law a characteristic mix of the bad and the
superficially plausible fix, designed to service immediate domestic US rather than
Iraqi long term interests. My Legal Adviser had been working closely with the
Americans and Iraqis for some months on the substance. I had in parallel been
discussing the provisions with political leaders. The key objectives were to set an
early (eg. six month) date for the termination of the deBaathification Commissions
work, drawing a line definitively in the sand, reduce to as few as possible
(1,2001,500) those caught by the provisions and secure the agreement of the
threeman Presidency Council to a text which could then be introduced directly into
Parliament.
Khalilzad persuaded the PM and President (alone) to sign off, thereby failing
the Constitutional condition for fasttrack introduction of legislation. Those caught
by the provisions will increase by 1012,000 (and indeed potentially many more,
if Provinces decide to exploit the latitude they are given on implementation).The
termination of the deBaathification Commission in a year is undermined by the
creation of a Special Committee (of political/security experts appointed by the
Presidency and PM) to adjudicate on security clearances for sensitive jobs (in effect
a vetting committee), which has no/no termination date. And the PM is given the
right to intervene in the decisions of the Special Committee and a separate panel of
judges appointed to consider the decisions of the deBaathification Commission or
Special Committee.
284. MrAsquith recorded that there had as yet been no coordinated response from
Sunni Arab politicians. The only way to introduce the draft legislation into Parliament
rapidly would be to bend the Constitution.
285. On 12 April, DrMowaffak alRubaie, the Iraqi National Security Adviser, told
SirNigel Sheinwald that the proposed accountability and justice law would allow
90 percent of Baathists to return to work.225 Those who had held high rank would
be excluded from the security ministries, but pension rights for the families of those
who had been prosecuted for their actions would be protected. DrRubaie described
implementing the policy as an uphill struggle, but pointed to a growing consensus in
support of the need to rehabilitate and reconcile.
286. After visiting Baghdad and Basra, MrDes Browne, the Defence Secretary, wrote
to MrBlair on 5 May with an assessment of work under way on reconciliation and
its prospects for success.226 MrBrowne judged that a bridging package to attract
eGram 13103/07 Baghdad to London, 29 March 2007, Iraq: Weekly Assessment.
Letter Cabinet Office [junior official] to Hickey, 12 April 2007, Iraq: Nigel Sheinwalds Conversation with
Muaffaq al Rubaie.
226
Letter Browne to Blair, 5 May 2007, Iraq: Reconciliation.
224
225
54
11.1 | De-Baathification
55
293. On 1 October, a brief for MrBrowns first visit to Iraq as Prime Minister stated:
Following the Petraeus/Crocker testimonials [see Section 9.6], the centre of
gravity has switched back from Washington to Baghdad, where Maliki is enjoying
a somewhat more secure position. However, he still faces significant challenges:
to break the impasse over key legislation (deBaathification and Provincial Powers
laws) and drive forward the reconciliation agenda.230
294. The list of points for MrBrown to make in his meeting with Prime Minister Maliki
suggested that he should stress the Prime Ministers particular responsibility to give a
strong lead to national reconciliation.
295. In November, the British Embassy Baghdad reported:
After two months of playing games, the correct draft of the Accountability & Justice
Law (deBaathification) has now made it to the CoR there should be sufficient
majority to see this law through.231
296. By the end of December, the Accountability and Justice Law still had not been
passed.232
297. The Law was approved by the Council of Representatives on 12 January 2008.233
298. The British Embassy Baghdad reported on 24 January that, although Vice
President Hashimi had continuing concerns, he had agreed to register them in a letter
tothe Speaker rather than delay or veto the law.234
299. On 12 January, the Iraqi Council of Representatives approved the Justice and
Accountability Law (formerly the deBaathification Law).235 The Cabinet Office told
MrBrown that:
Although the laws practical impact will be more symbolic than substantive, its
approval nevertheless sends out a positive message especially to Sunnis, about
theability of the political system to function.
Minute Cabinet Office [junior official] to Prime Minister, 1 October 2007, Iraq Visit: 2 October 2007.
eGram 47120/07 Baghdad to FCO London, 19 November 2007, Iraq: Political RoundUp.
232
Minute Rollo to CDS, 31 December 2007, Iraq in 2008 An Opportunity to be Taken.
233
Minute Cabinet Office [junior official], 18 January 2008, Iraq Update.
234
eGram 2673/08 Baghdad to FCO London, 24 January 2008, Iraq: Internal Political Progress?
235
Minute Cabinet Office [junior official] to Prime Minister, 18 January 2008, Iraq Update.
230
231
56