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Iraq
Political Opposition
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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