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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Iraq
Index
Although the Baath in 1988 permitted the existence of several
non-Baathist political parties, it did not tolerate political
opposition to its policies. An effective security police
apparatus had forced underground those groups opposed to the
Baath
(see Internal Security
, ch. 5). Other opposition groups
operated in exile in Europe, Iran, and Syria. These included the
ICP, the KDP, the PUK, a Baath splinter that supported the
Damascus-based National Command, and several Islamic parties.
Although various opposition parties periodically succeeded in
carrying out acts of violence against regime targets, especially
in Kurdistan, for the most part their activities within Iraq did
not seriously challenge the Baath regime.
The opposition to the Baath historically has been fragmented,
and efforts to form alliances--such as the ICP's November 1980
initiative to create a Democratic and Patriotic Front of Kurdish
and Arab secular parties--foundered over ideological divisions.
Personality clashes and feuds also prevented the various Kurdish
and Arab secular parties from cooperating. In addition, many of
the opposition parties seemed to have a weak internal base of
popular support because of the prevailing perception that they
had collaborated with enemies of Iraq at a time when the country
was engaged in war with Iran.
The religious opposition to the Baath was primarily
concentrated among the devout Shia population. The most important
opposition party was Ad Dawah al Islamiyah (the Islamic Call),
popularly known as Ad Dawah, which originally had been
established by Shia clergy in the early 1960s. After the Baath
came to power in 1968, Ad Dawah opposed the regime's secular
policies, and consequently many prominent clergy associated with
the party, as well as some who had no connections to Ad Dawah,
were persecuted. In 1979, apparently to contain any
radicalization of the Iraqi Shia clergy like that which had
occurred in Iran, the regime arrested and subsequently executed
Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad Baqir as Sadr, the country's most
respected Shia leader. Sadr's precise relationship to Ad Dawah
was not established, but his death precipitated widespread,
violent demonstrations and acts of sabotage. Ad Dawah was banned
in 1980, and membership in the organization was made a capital
offense. After the war with Iran had begun, Ad Dawah and other
Shia political groups reorganized in exile in Europe and in Iran.
In late 1982, the Iranian authorities encouraged the Iraqi
Shia parties to unite under one umbrella group known as the
Supreme Assembly for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SAIRI).
Headquartered in Tehran, SAIRI was under the chairmanship of
Muhammad Baqir al Hakim, a prominent clergyman whose father had
been the leading ayatollah of Iraq in the 1960s. SAIRI's aim was
to promote the cause of Islamic revolution in Iraq by
overthrowing the Baathist regime. To further that objective, in
1983 SAIRI established a government-in-exile. SAIRI's activities
brought harsh reprisals against members of the extended Hakim
family still living in Iraq but were generally ineffective in
undermining the political controls of the Baath. Another
opposition element included in SAIRI was the Organization of
Islamic Action, headed by Iraqi-born Muhammad Taqi al Mudarrissi.
Data as of May 1988
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