BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 21 — Purging Iraq of the Baath Party, the backbone of Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, has proved more difficult than many Iraqis had imagined.
In some provinces where the party's roots were deep, high-ranking party members kept their government jobs because local officials said they were afraid to make changes. In other cases, American Army commanders have intervened to keep senior Baathists on the official payroll, reasoning that firing people only feeds public resentment.
Even when there is the will to dismiss top Baathists, it has sometimes been difficult to find the way. In the chaotic weeks following the old government's collapse, computer records in many ministries were stealthily altered to effectively demote thousands of once privileged party bosses, said officials of Iraq's interim government.
"A lot of Baath Party members changed their ranks in the files during April and May, when the institutions of the state were empty," said the new minister of finance, Kamel al-Keilani, who is the paymaster of the huge public sector. "You'd think the only active Baathist was Saddam Hussein and all the rest were low-ranking nobodies."
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http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/22/international/middleeast/22BAAT.html