Word: athist
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Iraq's Ba'athist insurgents have no intention of joining a political process that was "manufactured by and serves the occupying force," the highest-ranking figure from Saddam Hussein's regime still at large has told TIME Magazine. In an exclusive written interview - his first to the Western media - Izzat al-Douri said the Ba'ath Party will continue "to mobilize and bring together the energies of the people for the fight to expel the occupation...
...Douri, the former Vice-President - the "King of Clubs" in the U.S. deck of cards naming the Saddam regime's most wanted figures - is among several Ba'athist leaders believed to be hiding in Syria, under the protection of the regime of President Bashar Assad. He is believed to be in poor health, possibly suffering from stomach cancer. Nonetheless, al-Douri said the Ba'ath Party has been restructured under his leadership as a "revolutionary, struggle-oriented" organization, in which he plays an influential role...
...official in Baghdad familiar with Sunni politics confirmed that claim: "He's still in charge, still dedicated to a return of Ba'athist dictatorship," said the official. Although U.S. and Iraqi sources say there have been contacts, usually through intermediaries, with the party's leadership, they insist there can be no deal with al-Douri. "The only thing we will discuss with him is his surrender," says the U.S. official...
...Abdul-Mahdi succeeds Jafaari, don't expect any real change. He has switched directions so many times in his career, it's hard to know which way he's going. He has been a Communist, a Ba'athist and a liberal-secular democrat; these days, he represents the Shi'ite-fundamentalist Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, which, like Jafaari's Dawa Party, is beholden to Tehran. Halfway through last year, Mahdi told TIME he was about to bolt from SCIRI and form his own party. He changed his mind-likely because he knows he has no grassroots...
...invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration changed its tune. No longer were weapons of mass destruction (WMD) the causus belli. Instead, Iraq had been invaded with “regime change”—the violent overthrow of Saddam’s Ba’athist dictatorship—as the goal. Critics scoffed at the time at ex post facto change of objective, but now, just over two years after President Bush announced the end of major combat operations in Iraq on May 2, 2003, it seems that the man from Crawford might actually be intent...