tagged w/ Baath Party
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What is happening in Syria feels like one of the last gasps of the age of the military dictators. An old way of running the world is still desperately trying to cling to power, but the underlying feeling in the west is that somehow Assad's archaic and cruel military rule will inevitably collapse and Syrians will move forward into a democratic age. That may, or may not, happen, but what is extraordinary is that we have been here before. Between 1947 and 1949 an odd group of idealists and hard realists in the American government set out to intervene in Syria. Their aim was to liberate the Syrian people from a corrupt autocratic elite - and allow true democracy to flourish. They did this because they were convinced that "the Syrian people are naturally democratic" and that all that was neccessary was to get rid of the elites - and a new world of "peace and progress" would inevitably emerge. What resulted was a disaster, and the consequences of that disaster then led, through a weird series of bloody twists and turns, to the rise to power of the Assad family and the widescale repression in Syria today. I thought I would tell that story. http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/recent-news/43026-syria-bloody-travel-from-of-first-american-democratic-experiment-from-1947-2011What is happening in Syria feels like one of the last gasps of the age of the military... more
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worrg
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added this
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1 year ago
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The US military in Iraq freed an Iraqi freelance journalist working for Reuters news agency last week after he had been held without charges for 17 months.The US military in Iraq freed an Iraqi freelance journalist working for Reuters news... more
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Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki last week called in the Iraqi Army to cordon off the provincial council building in Tikrit. It was the latest in a series of actions by Iraq’s prime minister that have infuriated his political opponents while raising doubts about the strength of the country’s laws and democratic institutions.Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki last week called in the Iraqi Army to cordon off... more
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Appeals by prominent Sunni politicians against a move to ban them from next month’s election have failed, which could lead to sectarian conflict that might tarnish the vote.Appeals by prominent Sunni politicians against a move to ban them from next... more
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In Iraq, the New York Times reports that nearly 500 candidates, many of whom are Sunni Muslim, have been barred from the March elections there. The decision plunged Iraqi politics into turmoil as leading candidates vowed a boycott of the vote, perhaps the most important since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Protests were threatened, and anger rippled through Iraq’s Sunni communities.In Iraq, the New York Times reports that nearly 500 candidates, many of whom are Sunni... more
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However, the move reflects the concern of Iraq's government over the presence of the Baath Party in Iraq, Saddam Hussein's political movement.
The party and its symbols have been banned in Iraq.
(Full article at link)However, the move reflects the concern of Iraq's government over the presence of... more
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islek
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added this
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3 years ago
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Four generals are among 35 Iraqi officials in the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior have been arrested in a plot to reinstate Saddam Hussein's Baath Party. Among the ringleaders was Ahmed Abu Raqeef, the ministry's director of internal affairs. The raids were carried out over the last three days by an elite counterterrorism force, which reports directly to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal Al Maliki. "The arrests reflect a new set of political challenges for Iraq. Mr. Maliki, who has gained popularity as a strong leader but has few reliable political allies, has scrambled to protect himself from domestic rivals as the domineering influence of the United States, his leading backer, begins to fade," writes The New York Times.Four generals are among 35 Iraqi officials in the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior have... more
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