Saddam Hussein’s Ba’th Party: Inside an Authoritarian Regime

338 Pages·2011·4.31 MB·English

by  Joseph Sassoon

SaddamHussein’sBa(cid:2)thParty
InsideanAuthoritarianRegime
The Ba(cid:2)th Party came to power in 1968 and remained for thirty-five
yearsuntilthe2003U.S.-ledinvasion.UndertheleadershipofSaddam
Hussein, who became president of Iraq in 1979, a powerful authori-
tarianregimewascreatedbasedonasystemofviolenceandanextra-
ordinary surveillance network, as well as rewards and incentives for
supporters of the regime. The true horrors of this regime have been
exposed for the first time through a massive archive of government
documents captured by the United States after the fall of Saddam
Hussein. It is these documents that form the basis of this extra-
ordinarily revealing book and that have been translated and analyzed
by Joseph Sassoon, an Iraqi-born scholar and seasoned commentator
ontheMiddleEast.Whattheyuncoverarethesecretsoftheinnermost
workingsofSaddamHussein’sRevolutionaryCommandCouncil,how
thepartywasstructured,howitoperatedviaitsnetworkofinformers,
andhowthesystemofrewardsfunctioned.SaddamHussein’sauthority
wasdominant.Hisdecisionwasfinal,whetherarbitratingthepromo-
tion of a junior official or the death of a rival or a member of his
family. As this gripping portrayal of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq demon-
strates,theregimewaseverybitasauthoritarianandbrutalasStalin’s
SovietUnion,Mao’sChina,andQadhafi’sLibya.
Joseph Sassoon is Adjunct Professor at the Center for Contemporary
ArabicStudiesatGeorgetownUniversityandSeniorAssociateMember
at St Antony’s College, Oxford. He is the author of several books,
including Economic Policy in Iraq, 1932–1950 (1987) andThe Iraqi
Refugees:TheNewCrisisintheMiddleEast(2009).

(cid:2)
Saddam Hussein’s Ba th Party
Inside an Authoritarian Regime
JOSEPH SASSOON
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(cid:2)C JosephSassoon2012
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Firstpublished2012
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AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationdata
Sassoon,Joseph.
SaddamHussein’sBa(cid:2)thParty:insideanauthoritarianregime/JosephSassoon.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-0-521-19301-6(hardback)–isbn978-0-521-14915-0(paperback)
1.Hizbal-Ba(cid:2)thal-(cid:2)Arabial-Ishtiraki(Iraq) 2.Iraq–Politicsand
government–1979–1991. 3.Iraq–Politicsandgovernment–1921–2003.
4.Hussein,Saddam,1937–2006. I.Title
jq1849.a98b378 2011
324.2567(cid:3)083–dc23 2011025076
isbn978-0-521-19301-6Hardback
isbn978-0-521-14915-0Paperback
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To Helen

Contents
ListofFiguresandTables pageix
Acknowledgments xi
NoteonTransliteration xiii
ListofAbbreviations xv
Glossary xvii
Map xxi
Introduction 1
1 TheRiseoftheBa(cid:2)thParty 16
2 PartyStructureandOrganization 34
ThePartyStructure 34
TheParty’sFunctions 38
PartyDiscipline 42
MembershipandRecruitment 45
AgeandGenderintheBa(cid:2)thParty 53
LifeofaMember 57
PartyPoliticalEducation 61
3 TheBa(cid:2)thPartyBranches 71
TasksofBranches 72
CompetitionamongBranches 87
LifeofaPartyUnit 90
4 SecurityOrganizationsduringtheBa(cid:2)thEra 95
Jihazal-amnal-khass(theSpecialSecurityOrganization
[SSO]) 98
GatheringInformation 112
Informers 122
vii
viii Contents
5 TheBa(cid:2)thPartyandtheArmy 129
Al-makatibal-(cid:2)askariyya(MilitaryBureaus) 130
MilitaryCollegesandBa(cid:2)thification 133
SaddamHusseinasaMilitaryLeader 137
RewardsandPunishment 139
SurveillanceandMonitoring 143
SpecialArmies 145
Deserters,PrisonersofWar,andMartyrs 152
The2003Invasion 159
6 ThePersonalityCultofSaddamHussein 162
SaddamHussein:TheManandtheLeader 162
BuildingthePersonalityCult 175
TheRoleoftheParty 186
7 ControlandResistance 193
FearandViolence 193
Control 201
MedalsandRewards 206
Punishments 216
Resistance 221
8 BureaucracyandCivilLifeundertheBa(cid:2)th 227
BureaucracyandDecisionMaking 227
ManagingtheEconomy 236
UnionsandProfessionalOrganizations 249
TheBa(cid:2)thPartyandWomen 253
TheBa(cid:2)thPartyandReligion 259
Children,Youth,andStudentsundertheBa(cid:2)thParty 268
Conclusion 275
AppendixI:ChartoftheStructureoftheBa(cid:2)thParty
Secretariat 285
AppendixII:Ba(cid:2)thPartyStatisticsasofSeptember2002 286
NotesonSources 287
Bibliography 289
Index 301