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| Iraq |
| Inquiry finds UK, US failed to curb destabilizing purge of Iraqi Baathists |
| 2016-07-08 |
| [ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A British inquiry into the Iraq War found that an aggressive purge of members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party led by the late, American-backed politician Ahmed Chalabi "had a significant and lasting negative impact on Iraq" that laid the groundwork for the deadly sectarian conflict ravaging the country today. The British investigation, led by Sir John Chilcot, found that UK and American officials sought, but largely failed, to limit post-war purges led by Chalabi and other Iraqi Shiite politicians that destabilized the country’s ethnic and religious balance. Chilcot, who reviewed UK government records and interviewed top British officials involved in Iraq policy, reported that while US and British officials assumed before the war that some kind of purge of pro-Saddam Baathists would have to take place, "no clear plan" for doing so was agreed before Iraq was invaded in 2003. Disagreements among US, British and Iraqi officials about how extensive the purge should be started almost immediately after Saddam was deposed, Chilcot found. US and British officials agreed it should extend to the top three levels of Baath party members - up to 5,000 individuals. But some Iraqi politicians argued the purge should cover a fourth level, exposing an additional 30,000 At one point, Chilcot reports, a British government internal paper commented that a purge of Baathists down to the fourth tier would be "excessive and detrimental to public service provision." Nonetheless, the post-war coalition authority in Iraq purged the top four ranks. The decree fired Baath party members from government jobs and banned them from holding them in the future, Chilcot reported. Chalabi, a US-educated financier with a history of financial troubles who died last November, then headed a De-Baathification Commission the Iraqis created to carry out the purge. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Stupid decision. I thought that was Bremer's idea. The purge of the Baathists really gutted the leadership of the military and it still suffers from the lack of experienced senior officers. |
| Posted by: Bill Clinton 2016-07-08 22:49 |