11.1 | De-Ba’athification

between criminal Ba’athists and those Ba’ath Party members who were not

criminals …”

143. In late April, Sir David Manning reported from Washington that de‑Ba’athification

was featuring regularly in US media comment on Iraq:

“Most commentators have portrayed Bremer’s new instructions to the IGC as

a long‑overdue reversal of a fundamental error, and an attempt to clip Ahmed

Chalabi’s wings. Chalabi put a different spin on the decision … arguing that Bremer

had not changed the policy, but had agreed with the de‑Ba’athification Commission

on the need to speed up the appeals process.”126

144. On 20 May, during one of their regular video conferences, Mr Blair proposed

to President Bush that they should look at the approach to de‑Ba’athification.127 He

suggested that there were probably a few individuals who could play a role in “calming

the Sunnis”.

145. Mr Richmond’s assessment, at the end of May, was that “implementation of

Bremer’s initiative to alleviate the consequences of de‑Ba’athification has been slow”.128

However, the appeals process was working, and was having significant results in the

education sector.

146. In higher education, there had been 1,681 appeals, of which 750 had been

successful already and the remainder were expected to be granted shortly.

147. In the primary and secondary education sector, 12,000 employees had been

removed under the de‑Ba’athification rules, around 9,000 of whom were entitled to

appeal. So far, 4,600 had appealed successfully and a further 1,300 successful appeals

were expected by the end of the month, although there were significant variations

between governorates: “Several southern governorates, including Najaf and Nasiriyah,

have reported that local political and community groups blocked the appeals process.”

148. Set against that progress, there were not always jobs available for those who were

reinstated. Within the university sector, a number of posts had been filled and vacancies

no longer existed. Elsewhere, reinstated teachers were “facing competition for jobs from

some 6,000 colleagues who had been removed by Saddam for political reasons and are

now eligible to return to work”.

126 Telegram 530 Manning to FCO London, 27 April 2004, ‘Iraq: The Public Debate, 26 April’.

127 Letter Quarrey to Owen, 20 May 2004, ‘Prime Minister’s VTC with Bush, 20 May: Iraq’.

128 Telegram 257 IraqRep to FCO London, 26 May 2004, ‘Iraq: de‑Ba’athification Update’.

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