Saddam Hussein's Bath Party Inside an Authoritarian Regime

Saddam Hussein’s Ba�th Party

Inside an Authoritarian Regime

The Ba�th Party came to power in 1968 and remained for thirty-fiveyears until the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Under the leadership of SaddamHussein, who became president of Iraq in 1979, a powerful authori-tarian regime was created based on a system of violence and an extra-ordinary surveillance network, as well as rewards and incentives forsupporters of the regime. The true horrors of this regime have beenexposed for the first time through a massive archive of governmentdocuments captured by the United States after the fall of SaddamHussein. It is these documents that form the basis of this extra-ordinarily revealing book and that have been translated and analyzedby Joseph Sassoon, an Iraqi-born scholar and seasoned commentatoron the Middle East. What they uncover are the secrets of the innermostworkings of Saddam Hussein’s Revolutionary Command Council, howthe party was structured, how it operated via its network of informers,and how the system of rewards functioned. Saddam Hussein’s authoritywas dominant. His decision was final, whether arbitrating the promo-tion of a junior official or the death of a rival or a member of hisfamily. As this gripping portrayal of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq demon-strates, the regime was every bit as authoritarian and brutal as Stalin’sSoviet Union, Mao’s China, and Qadhafi’s Libya.

Joseph Sassoon is Adjunct Professor at the Center for ContemporaryArabic Studies at Georgetown University and Senior Associate Memberat St Antony’s College, Oxford. He is the author of several books,including Economic Policy in Iraq, 1932–1950 (1987) and The IraqiRefugees: The New Crisis in the Middle East (2009).

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Saddam Hussein’s Ba�th Party

Inside an Authoritarian Regime

JOSEPH SASSOON








cambridge university pressCambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town,

Singapore, Sao Paulo, Delhi, Tokyo, Mexico City

Cambridge University Press32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, ny 10013-2473, usa

www.cambridge.orgInformation on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521149150

C© Joseph Sassoon 2012

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exceptionand to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,no reproduction of any part may take place without the written

permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2012

Printed in the United States of America

A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data

Sassoon, Joseph.Saddam Hussein’s Ba�th Party : inside an authoritarian regime / Joseph Sassoon.

p. cm.Includes bibliographical references and index.

isbn 978-0-521-19301-6 (hardback) – isbn 978-0-521-14915-0 (paperback)1. Hizb al-Ba�th al-�Arabi al-Ishtiraki (Iraq) 2. Iraq – Politics and

government – 1979–1991. 3. Iraq – Politics and government – 1921–2003.4. Hussein, Saddam, 1937–2006. I. Title

jq1849.a98b378 2011324.2567′083–dc23 2011025076

isbn 978-0-521-19301-6 Hardbackisbn 978-0-521-14915-0 Paperback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urlsfor external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does notguarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.








To Helen








Contents

List of Figures and Tables page ix

Acknowledgments xi

Note on Transliteration xiii

List of Abbreviations xv

Glossary xvii

Map xxi

Introduction 1

1 The Rise of the Ba�th Party 16

2 Party Structure and Organization 34The Party Structure 34The Party’s Functions 38Party Discipline 42Membership and Recruitment 45Age and Gender in the Ba�th Party 53Life of a Member 57Party Political Education 61

3 The Ba�th Party Branches 71Tasks of Branches 72Competition among Branches 87Life of a Party Unit 90

4 Security Organizations during the Ba�th Era 95Jihaz al-amn al-khass (the Special Security Organization

[SSO]) 98Gathering Information 112Informers 122

vii








viii Contents

5 The Ba�th Party and the Army 129Al-makatib al-�askariyya (Military Bureaus) 130Military Colleges and Ba�thification 133Saddam Hussein as a Military Leader 137Rewards and Punishment 139Surveillance and Monitoring 143Special Armies 145Deserters, Prisoners of War, and Martyrs 152The 2003 Invasion 159

6 The Personality Cult of Saddam Hussein 162Saddam Hussein: The Man and the Leader 162Building the Personality Cult 175The Role of the Party 186

7 Control and Resistance 193Fear and Violence 193Control 201Medals and Rewards 206Punishments 216Resistance 221

8 Bureaucracy and Civil Life under the Ba�th 227Bureaucracy and Decision Making 227Managing the Economy 236Unions and Professional Organizations 249The Ba�th Party and Women 253The Ba�th Party and Religion 259Children, Youth, and Students under the Ba�th Party 268

Conclusion 275

Appendix I: Chart of the Structure of the Ba�th PartySecretariat 285

Appendix II: Ba�th Party Statistics as of September 2002 286

Notes on Sources 287

Bibliography 289

Index 301








List of Figures and Tables

Figures

1 Structure of the Command of the Iraqi Ba�th Party page 372 Party Membership Hierarchy 463 An Example of a Party File Cover (a, b) 484 A Typical Organizational Form from a Member’s File (a, b) 585 The Structure of the Special Security Organization (SSO) 1006 One of the Many Commands of the President, Saddam

Hussein 1087 Iraqi Volunteers March during the Jerusalem Day Parade

in Baghdad, November 20, 2000 1488 Mural of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad, 1998 1899 “Friends of the President” Identity Card 210

10 Saddam Hussein Dispensing Money, Baghdad, 2000 21211 Picture of Saddam Hussein Adorning One of His

Philosophical Pronouncements 269

Tables

1 Comparison of Countrywide Membership between 1986and 2002 52

2 Increase in Membership between 1991 and 2002 523 Age Formation within the Ba�th Party, 1992 544 Clan Affiliation of Senior Specialists in the Directorate of

Security Affairs, SSO 1065 Changes in Numbers of Party Affiliates in Military Bureaus

between 1991 and 2002 1326 Membership Statistics for Women in the Ba�th Party, 2002 257

ix








Acknowledgments

The idea for this book germinated from a discussion with Dina Khoury.Once I began the mammoth task of working on the documents, we hadcountless conversations about deciphering their intricacies and placingthem in context for the period under study. For this and her wonderfulfriendship, I owe a debt of gratitude. I also wish to thank profuselyHassan Mneimneh, a director of the Iraq Memory Foundation, whoprobably knows more than any other person about those documentsand was extremely helpful.

Many people gave me valuable advice and read and commented onsome of the chapters, especially Roger Owen, Eugene Rogan, and PeterSluglett. I am truly grateful to all of them for helping me despite theirbusy schedules. Timothy Garton Ash guided me through the maze ofliterature on the Soviet Union and communist Europe. Kevin Woods readone chapter and assisted me in navigating my way through the NationalDefense University (NDU) records. David Palkki and Joseph Simons atNDU are a dream team for any researcher, and I thank all these people.

I would also like to acknowledge the staff at the Hoover Institute whoworked hard to make the archives accessible to researchers, despite allthe difficulties. I am grateful to Richard Sousa, director of the library andarchives; Haidar Hadi; and Ahmad Dhia� for their help, and I appreci-ate the encouragement of Kanan Makiya, founder of the Iraq MemoryFoundation.

At Georgetown University many of my colleagues at the Center forContemporary Arab Studies (CCAS) provided advice and support andpatiently put up with my stream of stories about the regime and SaddamHussein. In particular, I would like to thank Rochelle Davis for her advice

xi








xii Acknowledgments

and friendship. Samer Shehata from CCAS, Bruce Hoffman from the Cen-ter of Peace and Security Studies, and Elliott Colla from the departmentof Arabic and Islamic Studies were all sources of encouragement.

In the last six months of writing this book, during the 2010–11academic year, I was fortunate enough to be at the Woodrow WilsonInternational Center for Scholars in Washington, DC, a true haven forresearchers. I would like to express my gratitude to the Center for givingme this wonderful opportunity, and special thanks are due to RobertLitwak and Haleh Esfendiari. The exemplary service at the Center’slibrary under Janet Spikes was an invaluable resource, and many of theCenter’s scholars, with their different specialties, stimulated my thinkingby an exchange of ideas, for which I am grateful. I benefited greatly fromMartin Dimitrov’s friendship and intellect, which led to a new project oncomparisons between the Ba�th regime and Bulgaria under communism.

I owe a special debt to the many Iraqis whom I interviewed. They weregenerous with their time, patient in explaining the inner workings of thesystem, and willing to share their personal stories, and I owe them aspecial debt of gratitude. In particular, I thank Lieutenant General Ra�adal-Hamdani and his family for their hospitality; they became friends inthe course of writing this book.

Others helped me in different ways, and I would like to acknowledgeDina Hussein and Anne-Laure Malauzat for their help in the researchfor secondary material. Virginia Myers deserves special thanks for herskills in editing the manuscript. My editor at Cambridge University Press,Marigold Acland, accompanied this project from its nascence and offeredvaluable advice, and I am grateful to Joy Mizan, senior editorial assistant,for her attentive and caring service. Laura Wilmot did an excellent jobcopyediting the manuscript despite a tight schedule.

Friends and family were a constant source of encouragement and sup-port. My lifelong friend Terry Somekh was always ready to discuss theproject. My mother continues to be inspirational with her love and care.Living in Washington, DC, added the extra bonus of being near mydaughter Rachel, who witnessed this project from the start and whoseencouragement means a lot to me.

Last but not least, I would like to thank Helen Jackson for her love,patience, and willingness to devote an endless number of hours to helpingme, especially with the tables, footnotes, and bibliography, when thismanuscript was in its final stages. There are truly no words to express mygratitude, and this book is dedicated to her.








Note on Transliteration

Transliteration has been kept as simple and as consistent as possible. Ihave used a modified system of transliteration according to the Inter-national Journal of Middle East but have eliminated diacritical and longvowel markers with the exception of the �ain (�) and the hamza (�). Forthat reason the three Arab letters of dhal, dhad, and dha� are written as dhfor simplicity. Arabic names and geographical names that have enteredinto English were kept as such to make it easier for the general reader.

xiii








List of Abbreviations

BRCC Ba�th Regional Command CollectionCRRC Conflict Records Research CenterGDP gross domestic productGFIW General Federation of Iraqi WomenGNP gross national productHRW Human Rights WatchID Iraqi dinarIIS Iraqi Intelligence ServiceIPC Iraq Petroleum CompanyKDP Kurdish Democratic PartyNIDS North Iraq DatasetOPEC Organization of the Petroleum Exporting CountriesPUK Patriotic Union of KurdistanRCC Revolutionary Command CouncilSRG Special Republican GuardSSO Special Security OrganizationUN United Nations

xv








Glossary

amin sir secretary generalal-amn al-�am General Securityal-amn al-�askari Military Securityashbal Saddam Saddam’s Cubsasir murtadd turncoat prisonerasir mutamayyiz distinguished prisoner of warasir samid steadfast/loyal prisoner

baba Saddam Daddy Saddambay�a pledge of allegiance

diwan presidential offices

fida�iyyu Saddam fedayeen Saddam (those who are willingto sacrifice themselves for Saddam)

al-fi�at al-�umriyya the age structurefir�, firu� branch/branchesfirqa, firaq division/divisionsfutuwwa Youth Organization

al-hamla al-�imaniyya the faith campaignal-haras al-jamhuri al-khass Special Republican Guard (SRG)al-haras al-qawmi National Guardal-himaya special presidential protection unithizb al-Ba�th al-�Arabi Arab Ba�th Socialist Party

al-ishtirakihizb al-Da�wa Da�wa Party

xvii








xviii Glossary

ikramiyya bonusimtiyazat privilegesintifada uprisingintima� membershipintisab affiliational-istikhbarat al-�askariyya General Military Intelligence

al-�ammaittihad al-Saddamiyyin Union of Saddamists

jaysh al-quds the Jerusalem/Quds Armyal-jaysh al-sha�bi the Popular Armyjidariyyat muralsjihaz al-amn al-khass Special Security Organization (SSO)jihaz al-mukhabarat Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS)

al-�Iraqiyyajihaz hunain former intelligence and security arm of

the Ba�th Partyjil Saddam Saddam’s generation

al-kasb al-hizbi party recruitment

madrasat al-i�dad al-hizbi Party Preparatory Schoolal-mafariz al-khassa special squadsmajlis al-amn al-qawmi National Security Councilal-makatib al-�askariyya military bureausmakatib istishariyya consultancy bureausmaktab amanat sir al-qutr Party Secretariatal-milad al-maymun the Auspicious Birthdaymu�ayyid sympathizermudiriyat al-harakat Directorate of Military Logistics

al-�askariyyamujahidin strugglersmukarram veneratedmukhtars mayorsmunadhammat al-munadhilin Organization for Party Veteransmunadhammat al-sabirin Organization for Party Pensionersmurafiq adjutant or aide-de-campmurashih candidatemuta�awan collaboratoral-mu�tamin the trusted one (a term used for

informers)

al-nashat al-watani the national activity








Glossary xix

nasir supporternasir mutaqaddim advanced supporternawt al-istihqaq al-�ali Badge of High Esteemnawt al-shaja�a Badge of Bravery

qadisiyyat Saddam euphemism for the Iran–Iraq War of1980–1988

al-qa�id the leaderqanun al-tahajjum Law of Assaultal-qiyada al-qawmiyya National Commandal-qiyada al-qutriyya Regional Command

raqaba sha�biyya popular surveillanceriddat tishrin the apostasy of November 1963

al-saff al-watani national alignmentsafhat al-ghadr wa al-khiyana the page of betrayal and treachery

(euphemism for the 1991 intifada)shahadat al-jinsiyya certificate of nationalitysharat al-hizb Party Insigniasharat umm al-ma�arik Mother of All Battles Insigniashu�ba, shu�ab section, sectionsshu�bat al-istikhbarat Section of Military Intelligence

al-�askariyya

taba�iyya Iraniyya Iranian nationality or original-takafful al-hizbi party responsibilityal-tali�a the Vanguardstandhim, tandhimat structure, structurestardid al-qasm oath reiterationtawjih fikri intellectual guidanceal-thaqafa al-�amma general cultureal-thaqafa al-hizbiyya political education

�udhu �amil active member�udhu fir� branch member�udhu firqa division member�udhu mutadarrib apprenticed member�udhu shu�ba section memberumm al-ma�arik Mother of All Battles (term for the First

Gulf War)

waqf, awqaf religious endowment, usually of landwasaya al-ra�is commands of the president








xx Glossary

wisam al-rafidain Medal of the Land of the Two Rivers

yawm al-nakhwa Day of Military Trainingyawm al-raya Day of the Banneryawm al-shahid Day of the Martyryawm al-zahf al-kabir Day of the Big March

al-za�im al-awhad the sole leader








PersianGulf

Shattal Arab

Euphrates

Ti

gri

s

Tigris

Euphrates

Karbala

Najaf

Al-Anbar

Duhok

NinewaArbil

Al-Ta’mimSuleimaniyya

Diyala

Salah al-Din

Babil

Al-Muthanna

Basra

MisanAl-Qadisiyya

Wasit

Dhi-Qar

KUWAIT

SAUDI ARABIA

JOR

DA

N

SYRIA

TURKEY

IRAN

Baghdad

Karbala

Falluja

Najaf

MosulArbil

Kirkuk Suleimaniyya

Samarra

Ba’quba

Tikrit

Basra

Kut

Diwaniyya

‘Amara

Dokan

Gamgamal

Fao

Shaqlawa

‘Oja

Shorsh

Halabja

AbuGhraib

Samawa

50

50

0

0

100 Kilometers

Prepared by Chris Robinson.100 Miles

IRAQ

xxi








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