Baghdad, May 11: The US General who commanded the Iraq war issued a statement today saying Saddam Hussein's Ba’ath Party "is dissolved," ordering the political organization that ruled the country for 35 years to cease existence. The message from Gen Tommy Franks, commander of coalition forces, was read over US-controlled information radio today afternoon.
"The Iraqi Ba’ath Socialist Party is dissolved," Frank said in the statement, read by an announcer in Arabic. The station is broadcast across Iraq on the AM band. Franks' order came a month after US troops took Baghdad and unseated Saddam's regime, which had made sure the Sunni-dominated party - whose formal name is the Arab Ba’ath Socialist Party - extended its reach and its control into all corners of the country's society.
The statement told Iraqi citizens to collect and turn in any materials they had relating to the party and its operations. It called them "an important part of Iraqi government documents."
"Possessions of the Ba’ath Party must be delivered to the temporary coalition authority," the statement said. "Anyone who possesses documents related to the Ba’ath Party or the Iraqi government must maintain and protect them and hand these documents to the coalition." Meanwhile, Richard Perle, one of US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s closest advisers in the run-up to the Iraq war, told an Italian daily that a "serious" Iraqi government could be in power within 18 months, paving the way for US forces to go home. Bureau Report