[R-P] (Fwd) [Marxism] Baath Party rebuilding in Iraq

[Nestor Gorojovsky]

[Traduzco en resumen telegráfico:  contra lo esperado por muchos, 
tanto desde la "izquierda" como desde la "derecha", el partido Ba'ath 
se reconstruye, mata soldados, y unifica rebeldes.  Esta invasión a 
Iraq ha sido probablemente el mejor regalo que le hizo el 
imperialismo norteamericano a la humanidad en medio siglo.  Pese a 
que sé que les va a joder la vida a los amigos cubanos y venezolanos, 
no puedo menos que rezar para que Bush siga otros cuatro años. 

Y si se puede, cuatro más.  Este Bush es tan maravilloso que, con 
algo de suerte, en el tercer período los norteamericanos se harán 
socialistas y colectivizarán los medios de producción, disolverán las 
FF.AA., y llamarán a la paz mundial mientras lanzan un programa de 
ayuda y resarcimiento masivo a las víctimas de la opresión 
imperialista, empezando por África subsahariana y Cuba.]

------- Forwarded message follows -------

From:           	"Eli Stephens" <elishastephens en hotmail.com>
To:             	marxism en lists.econ.utah.edu
Date sent:      	Sun, 26 Sep 2004 07:59:41 -0700
Subject:        	[Marxism] Baath Party rebuilding in Iraq
Send reply to:  	Activists and scholars in Marxist tradition 
  	<marxism en lists.econ.utah.edu>

Knight-Ridder reporter Hannah Allam continues to break more unique
stories from Iraq than any other reporter in country. This one offers
interesting insights into the nature of the resistance in Iraq. Is is
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I have no 
idea,
but Allam has built up a pretty good reputation in recent months in 
my
book.

URL: 
<http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/9764684.htm?tem
plate=contentModules/printstory.jsp>

Baath Party rebuilds hidden power in Iraq
FAR FROM DEAD, CELLS AIM TO KILL SOLDIERS, UNITE REBELS
By Hannah Allam  Knight Ridder

BAGHDAD, Iraq -By day, Iraqis loyal to Saddam's Hussein's much-feared
Baath Party recite their oath in clandestine meetings, solicit
donations from former members and talk politics over sugary tea at a
Baghdad cafe known as simply ``The Party.''

By night, cells of these same men stage attacks on American and Iraqi
forces, host soirees for Saddam's birthday and other former regime
holidays, and debrief informants still dressed in suits and ties from
their jobs in the new, U.S.-backed Iraqi government.

Even with Saddam under lock and key, the Baath Party is back in
business.

The pan-Arab socialist movement is going strong with sophisticated
computer technology, high-level infiltration of the new government 
and
plenty of recruits in thousands of disenchanted, impoverished Sunni
Muslim Iraqis, according to interviews with current and former
members, Iraqi government officials and groups trying to root out
former Baathists.

The political party has morphed into a catchall resistance movement
that poses a serious challenge to interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad
Allawi, a Baathist-turned-opposition leader.

Talks with members

Allawi has acknowledged he's holding talks with members of the former
government in hopes of gaining a handle on the violence and political
disarray. But he's up against a force with deep pockets, allies in
neighboring countries and an excuse to fight as long as 135,000
American soldiers remain on Iraqi soil.

``There are two governments in Iraq,'' said Mithal al-Alusi, 
director-general of the Supreme National Commission for
De-Baathification, a group overseen by Iraqi politician and former
Pentagon favorite Ahmed Chalabi. Baathists ``are like thieves,
stealing the power of the new government. Their work is organized and
strong.''

Ostensibly banned since Saddam's ouster, the Baath Party has rebuilt
itself by sending top members of the former regime to safe houses in
Jordan and Syria, Iraqi government officials said. The foot soldiers
-- mainly from the vast ranks of midlevel members -- remain in Iraq,
where they have started Web sites and formed independent cells and
communicate outside the radar of U.S. forces through a word-of-mouth
network known in Baathist parlance as ``the thread.''

No one can say with certainty how big the latest Baathist incarnation
is. The secrecy of the organization is evident even on one of its 
main
Web sites, where a pop-up feature tells users how to erase the Web
address from the computer's memory.

In the Saddam stronghold north and west of the capital, a sprawling
area known as the ``Sunni triangle,'' Baathists freely distribute
price lists to unemployed young men. Burning a U.S. Humvee or
detonating a homemade bomb can earn them a few hundred dollars.
Killing an American soldier brings at least $1,000.

A political-science professor at Baghdad University who is a former
Baathist and has been involved in negotiations between the party and
the U.S.-led coalition said, ``The Americans came to Iraq with a 
foggy
picture of what is going on, including their ideas about the
Baathists.''

The U.S. military and the U.S. State Department declined to comment 
on
the Baathist resurgence.

The 52-year-old professor, who did not want his name used, said his
American colleagues mistakenly believed that Saddam's capture in
December was the end of the Baathist movement in Iraq. Instead, he
continued, that was just when party members in Iraq started
reconciling with powerful Baathists in Damascus, Syria, and Amman,
Jordan.

Exiles return

The result was the return to Iraq of a handful of prominent exiled
Iraqi members, who created a shadowy, neo-Baathist organization 
called
``Al-Islah,'' Arabic for ``The Reform.'' The group held a conference
in London in early spring, according to news accounts of the private
meeting and sources familiar with the participants.

``This conference . . . stressed one thing: that there is no
difference between the Baath Party and the resistance,'' the 
professor
said. ``They are equal.''

Within a year after the fall of the former regime, the Baath Party 
was
restructured as an umbrella organization for opposition groups that
run the gamut from anti-occupation nationalists to Islamist
extremists, said Sabah Kadhim of the Iraqi Interior Ministry.

Kadhim said there is no doubt that Baathists remain active in Iraq,
numbering in ``the thousands.'' The Iraqi government is struggling to
track their activities, he said, because of the U.S.-led dismantling
of the old intelligence apparatus and the fact that former Baathists
are much better trained and organized than the Allawi government's
fledgling agents.

Baathists ``have their weapons and they have their money and they are
still in Iraq,'' Kadhim said. ``Some of them are highly capable and
they resent the fact that they are no longer in charge.''

Brazen announcement

The most brazen announcement of the Baathist resurgence came April 7,
the 57th anniversary of the party. A statement posted on the Internet
lamented that the holiday would be celebrated under occupation. It
also made clear members' plans to take back western Iraq's Anbar
province, home of the flash point Sunni towns of Al-Fallujah and
Ar-Ramadi.

``The Baath Party and resistance are to implement a series of 
military
operations against the U.S. Marines newly situated in western Iraq,''
the announcement read.

The same week, the hostility between Al-Fallujah fighters and U.S.-
led
forces erupted into a full-scale uprising and a bloody, monthlong
siege on the city by the Marines. By the time it was over, the 
Marines
had effectively ceded control of Al-Fallujah to a loosely connected
band of Islamist extremists and former Baathists. The entire province
is now a ``no-go'' zone for foreigners, particularly Americans.

Neo-Baathists describe the Al-Fallujah ending as a victory, and they
are using the model to recruit new members or woo former Baathists
back into the fold. Several former members who have now distanced
themselves from the party told Knight Ridder they had received
late-night visits from their former comrades, asking for donations or
reminding them of the privileges they enjoyed under Saddam.

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Néstor Miguel Gorojovsky
nestorgoro en fibertel.com.ar

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"Sí, una sola debe ser la patria de los sudamericanos".
Simón Bolívar al gobierno secesionista y disgregador de 
Buenos Aires, 1822
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