Baby Gone, Baath Water …
… still in the tub. Iraqi generals, security officers busted in purported bid to restore Baathism. LA Times:
Iraqi authorities have arrested up to 35 police officials in recent days, accusing them of conspiring against the government, officials in the Interior Ministry said today.
The men are accused of belonging to Al Awda, or the Return, an offshoot of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party that has been active in the country’s insurgency. As many as six generals in the Interior Ministry were detained in the raids, the officials said.
The police officials said the raids were carried out by a special Baghdad army unit that reports back to the office of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki and is based in the Green Zone, the fortified enclave of the Iraqi government in Baghdad.
Western officials have described Maliki, a religious Shiite, as deeply suspicious of a coup by Iraqi security officers, many of whom are secular and nostalgic for the old Iraqi army. The prime minister has long sought to consolidate his power and control of the army and police. All security forces now report back to his office.
In the past, Shiite political parties have used the allegations of membership in the Baath Party to purge senior Iraqi officers from the Interior and Defense ministries. Many of those expulsions have been considered cover to settle political or personal scores.
Which suggests the jury is out on what’s going on with this. NYT:
… the arrests reflect a new set of political challenges for Iraq. Mr. Maliki, who has gained popularity as a strong leader but has few reliable political allies, has scrambled to protect himself from domestic rivals as the domineering influence of the United States, his leading backer, begins to fade.
Rumors of coups, conspiracies and new alliances abound in the Iraqi capital a month before provincial elections. Critics of Mr. Maliki say he has been using arrests to consolidate power.
But senior security officials said there was significant evidence tying those arrested to a wide array of political corruption charges, including affiliation with Al Awda, or the Return, a descendant of the Baath Party, which ruled the country as a dictatorship for 35 years, mostly under Mr. Hussein. Tens of thousands of Iraqis died or were persecuted, including Mr. Maliki, a Shiite Muslim, by the Baath Party. It was outlawed after the American invasion in 2003.
While most members of the Baath Party were Sunni Muslims, as Mr. Hussein was, those arrested were a mix of Sunnis and Shiites, several officials said. It was unclear precisely how many Interior Ministry officials were detained.
Military coups are often a threat in third-world democracies. Democratically elected leaders who effectively stage coups to consolidate and retain power are also a threat to shaky democracies. No reason why Iraq should be any different. It could be viewed almost as a perverse sign of Iraq’s independence and advancement from United States wardship into the unfortunate status quo of functional third-world nations. However, not unlike Pakistan, which has lurched in and out of both kinds of coup for decades, Iraq’s unique ethnic, historical and geo-political circumstances make either kind of coup highly dangerous both to fundamental stability in Iraq, to regional stability, and to U.S. interests there. Iraq doesn’t have the luxury of being able to behave like any run-of-the-mill semi-functional third-world democracy/military dictatorship. The other thing that makes Iraq different is that it remains a U.S. protectorate, heavily influenced by the United States. Fortunately, the incoming U.S. administration seems to be becoming aware of all that.
Topics: Iraq
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:23 am on Thursday, December 18, 2008
One Response to “Baby Gone, Baath Water …”
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December 18th, 2008 at 9:14 am
If it was an over throw attempt that got busted up early, good job.
But, this is that sort of thing that should be watched. It could also be the beginnings of a purge.