Book Description

Mechanisms of transitional justice are used by post-conflict societies emerging from authoritarianism or civil wars as they confront the crimes and injustices of the past. Vetting is one of many transitional justice mechanisms that aim to purify the public sphere of former regime members or of people who lack integrity. Many post-World War II and post-communist European countries endorsed some form of vetting. De-Ba`thification of Iraq is the latest effort that can be investigated under this category. Government officials from the Saddam Hussein government were purged in 2003, and many institutions that represented Ba`th party's brutalities were dissolved under a program that borrowed in part from the de-Nazification program established in Germany after World War II. The process of de-Ba`thification in Iraq provides a unique case study for the vetting literature, not only because it is the latest example, but also because it was initiated and administered by an occupying power whose policies contributed to a countrywide insurgency. Also, the process of de-Ba`thification holds lessons and provides valuable insight into policy-making and implementation for policy makers well beyond Iraqi context. The main questions of this dissertation are: What are the rationales given by U.S. and Iraqi officials for adopting de-Ba`thification? How was it designed and implemented? To what degrees were the rationales incorporated in the design and implementation of de-Ba`thification? In order to answer these questions two different data gathering methods are utilized: archival research and interviews with U.S. officials and Iraqi elites who were actively involved in the decision-making, planning and implementation of de-Ba`thification and Iraqis who suffered under or supported the Ba`th regime. The findings of this dissertation indicate that the main rationales for de-Ba`thification were transforming institutions in order to safeguard the democratic transition, satisfying expectations of the Iraqi public, gaining Iraqi support and trust in U.S. leadership, balancing the interests of Kurds and Shi`is against Sunnis, securing the new regime, preventing a Ba`thist revival, normalization and reconciliation, promoting the 'de-ideologization' of Iraqi society and removing Ba`thist ideology from the social, political and education systems, cleansing the system from corrupt and criminal activities that were tolerated under the Ba`th regime, preventing a revenge campaign against Ba`thists, establishing meritocracy, and comforting the victims of the Ba`th party. Most of these rationales were not considered when designing and implementing the de-Ba`thification program. For instance, the positions and persons who were subjected to de-Ba`thification were identified arbitrarily, there was not enough guidance on how to implement the de-Ba`thification especially at the provincial and ministerial levels, there was a great deal of ignorance about the composition of the Ba`th party and Iraqi culture. The commissions that were responsible for implementing the program were highly politicized, and consequently implementation process was inconsistent and corrupt. All of these problems left Iraq in the midst of broader protected quandaries including sectarianism, extra-judicial killings and governance gap.