The USG Open Source Center translates two communiques from the Iraqi Baath Party. As long-time readers know, I believe the Baath Party cells are a significant component of what the US calls the ‘insurgency,’ but that they allow Salafi Jihadis to take the ‘credit’ for some of their terror operations. The first memo calls on Iraqis to provide information on the crimes of ‘Iranian agents’ during the spring, 1991 uprising against the Baghdad government. The subtext is that this uprising was planned and led by the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, then based in Tehran. The head of the dominant Shiite bloc in the current parliament is Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council. The Baath Party wants the information collected to help in the defense of Baath officials accused of putting down the rebellion with great brutality (some 60,000 rebels are estimated to have been killed.) The second threatens violent reprisals against parliamentarians who approve the draft petroleum bill being pushed for by the Bush administration.
Ba’th Party Urges Iraqis To Provide Information on Iranian Agents’ 1991 ‘Crimes’
Jihadist Websites — OSC Summary
Friday, August 10, 2007
Terrorism: Call to Ba’thists, Security Men, Members of Armed Forces, All Honorable Iraqis On 11 July, a jihadist website posted a statement by the Ba’th Party in Iraq calling, once more, on all “honorable” Iraqis who may have information about crimes against Iraqis committed by “Iranian agents” during 1991 and the role of Iran in such crimes to come forth and present it at the forthcoming trial. The statement was attributed to Al-Basrah Net.
A summary of the statement follows:
“Previously, we have issued a call for all Ba’thists, security agents, members of the jihadist armed forces, and all ‘honorable’ Iraqis to come forth and present information they may have about the ‘crimes committed by Iranian agents’ in 1991, as well as about the ‘role’ of Iran in such crimes. This information is needed in order to ‘bring it to the attention of world and Arab public opinion,’ and in order to make use of it to ‘contest’ the charges against the comrades in the forthcoming trials against them. Due to the fact that the trials will open soon, ‘we hope that all the comrades’ will speed up the dispatch of any information they have, especially those who lived in the Provinces of Basra and Maysan at the time.”
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Ba’th Party Issues Statement Warning of Reprisals Over Iraq Oil Law Approval
Jihadist Websites — OSC Summary
Friday, August 10, 2007
Terrorism: Ba’th Party Statement Promising Nationalization of Iraqi Oil On 11 July, a jihadist website posted a statement by the Ba’th Party in Iraq entitled: “The oil belongs to the people of Iraq; we will chop off the hand that hands it over to America.” The statement condemns the operative “oil law” and the Norwegian Government for concluding oil treaties with the “agent gangs” in northern Iraq.
A summary of the statement follows:
In the statement, the Ba’th Party wants to reemphasize what it has issued about the oil of Iraq previously, especially in light of the recent events about the all-important issue of oil.
First, control of the oil of Iraq was “one of the most important objectives” behind the US occupation of Iraq, not only to steal more other nations natural resources, but also in order that the United States uses oil as a means to “intimidate” the whole world, particularly the major powers, and “establish the global American dictatorship.”
Second, the “securing” of Iraqi oil and maintaining it under the control of the Iraqi people is one of the most important goals of the Ba’th Party and the armed Iraqi resistance.
Third, “our party warns” that anyone who attempts to hand the oil industry to the United States under the prevailing “oil law,” especially members of the so-called Council of Representatives, will be charged with “great national treason.” This includes those who may vote against the law, because their presence in that body alone will make them party to surrendering the oil to the occupiers.
Fourth, the Ba’th Party and the Iraqi armed resistance also warn Western companies, especially Norwegian ones, against “concluding deals” with the agent gangs that collaborate with the occupiers in northern Iraq, since northern Iraq is an indivisible part of Iraq.
Fifth, the so-called oil law, is an “obvious new indicator” that the occupation has failed finally, and that, before its withdrawal and through political pressure, the occupier is “looking for a major prize” to substitute for what it cannot achieve through military means. The party wants to assure all Arabs and Iraqis that keeping Iraqi oil under the sovereign control of the people of Iraq will be the best indicator of the independence of Iraq. When the “military liberation” of Iraq is accomplished, it only will be complete when the oil is liberated and returned to the people of Iraq.
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