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• The Baath Party is dedicated to secular Arab nationalism, attempting to install sympathetic leaders in a variety of different Middle Eastern nations in the hopes of kick-starting a unified, pan-Arab movement. The Party has risen to power in two Arab nations - Syria, where it has ruled since 1963, and Iraq, where Baath leader Saddam Hussein was removed from power and later executed. In December of 2008, 35 officials from Iraq's Ministry of the Interior were arrested for attempting to reconstitute the Iraqi Baath Party, outlawed in that nation since June of 2003.BBC News: Baathist mistake corrected amid concern (January 12, 2008)

• Fast Facts

  1. Founded in the 1940s in DamascusBBC News: The Iraqi Baath Party
  2. Co-founders: Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Bitar
  3. Secular movement; co-founders were Greek Orthodox and Sunni Muslim
  4. Word "Baath" is Arabic for "renaissance"BBC News: The Iraqi Baath Party
  5. Hussein joined the party in 1956BBC News: The Iraqi Baath Party
  6. Baath leader in Syria: Bashar al-Assad
  7. Baath ruled Iraq from 1968 until 2003BBC News: Baathist mistake corrected amid concern (January 12, 2008)
  8. Iraq's Baath Party is now dominated by Sunni Muslims
  9. Estimated 2.5 million Iraqis were Baath Party membersMcClatchy: Iraq's parliament lets Baathists back into government (January 12, 2008)
  10. US forces outlawed Baath Party in June of 2003
  11. Bush Administration had produced a deck of cards featuring the most wanted members of Hussein's Baath regime
  12. Current Iraq President Nouri al-Maliki is a Shiite
  13. Arrested officials included both Sunni and ShiaThe New York Times: 35 Iraq Officials Held in Raids on Key Ministry (December 17, 2008)

• De-Baathification

  After the invasion of Iraq by US forces in the summer of 2003, the Iraqi Baath Party was made illegal, and members were no longer allowed to serve in government or military positions. As membership in the party had been mandatory in order to serve in these positions prior to the Iraq War, this left a power vacuum, and is thought to have led in part to the increasingly unstable, chaotic nature of post-war Iraqi society.BBC News: Baathist mistake corrected amid concern (January 12, 2008) In January of 2008, Iraq's parliament voted to begin to allow former Baathists back into their government positions and to reinstate their pensions.McClatchy: Iraq's parliament lets Baathists back into government (January 12, 2008) The vote was resisted by Shiite Muslims, who view the predominantly Sunni Baathists as oppressors.McClatchy: Iraq's parliament lets Baathists back into government (January 12, 2008)

• Related Pages on Mahalo

  Saddam Hussein | Iraq War | Iraq | Syria | Sunni Islam | Shia Islam

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