Al-Binna'a objected on the grounds that Al-Jarba's role in the deposed Saddam regime disqualified him for a Cabinet post under the program of
de-baathification. For its part, Al-Binna wanted Falih Al-Fayadh, who has just become the National Security Adviser, to take charge of the powerful Interior Ministry.
Above all, there was the Bush administration's "
de-Baathification" policy, which sought to eliminate every vestige of Saddam's neo-Baathist regime.
Paul Bremer III for the failure of postinvasion Iraq, namely
de-Baathification and disbanding of the Iraqi military.
Under the U.S.-led
de-Baathification of Iraq, all of the Sunnis who had enjoyed senior positions under Saddam's rule were relieved of their powerful posts.
She noted that "standards prepared by the Commission for the selection of ministers include not to nominate any former minister or agent of the Ministry or even the retired in rank of undersecretary of the Ministry, and must have a bachelor's degree or above, and have experience in the field work occupied in the ministry, at least 20 years, and to be of good conduct and reputation and not to be involved in issues of integrity or acts involving moral turpitude and also make it clear that covered by the
de-Baathification."
Like Maliki, Abadi is a member of the Shiite Dawa Party, which along with other Shiite groups carried out a US-initiated
de-Baathification campaign, effectively removing Sunnis from state, army and police positions.
America remained most unprepared -- there was no post-invasion plan -- and wanted to hand over the responsibility to the UN too soon, and most importantly, the superpower yielded to the Shi'a majority pressures to marginalize the Sunnis through the most irresponsible and most exhaustive
de-Baathification processes that ignited the sectarian inferno in the land.
Iraqi Sunnis say such"
de-Baathification" laws unfairly disqualify Sunnis whose low-level party membership involved no complicity with Hussein's crimes.
In 2003, Order Number 1 of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) was the
de-Baathification order designed to rid the new Iraqi political system of Saddam Hussein's Baath party influence.
The Vice President stressed that Iraq must now make its own "sovereign choices under the authority of elected representatives of an Iraqi Government." Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi will make his first visit next week to Washington where he and Biden will discuss "legislation designed to advance national reconciliation, including
de-Baathification, continuing to mobilize and integrate and arm and pay Sunni forces -- empowering local governance and planning for reconstruction in the liberated areas consistent with their notion of federalism," Biden indicated.
The harsh
de-Baathification laws, a legacy of the 2003 Iraq war, left the Sunni population marginalized politically.
Muhannad Hussam, a politician and close aide to Deputy PM Saleh al-Mutlaq, said the measure on "
de-Baathification" adopted by Shiite government ministers without their Sunni counterparts was a disaster.