Iraq has sentenced Saddam to death and his party back in power

[Actionmac]

kill the man, and bring back his group that did the actual killing... does that mean that Saddam had the correct idea or he was needed to keep the control of iraq?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,227741,00.html

[Kagemusha]

1. It means he was required to keep control of Iraq.

Without him, and without a suitable replacement, the present situation was largely inevitable. The US complicates matters by its presence but stands no chance of changing the ultimate context: the Shiites want their pound of flesh and unquestioned rule. The Sunnis don't want to be turned into a permanent persecuted minority in "their" country. The only way to keep control of both was through an iron fist. (The Kurds escaped that control but the USAF had a little to do with that.)

[MADem]

2. More Baathists from the predominantly Shiite southern Iraq lost their jobs than in Sunni areas

This isn't really about restoring the Sunni power base, it's about restoring the COMPETENCY aspect to government (not all Ba'ath jobs were patronage jobs--and if you're shi'a, it's less likely that it was a PATRONAGE job, because Saddam didn't do them many favors--so it makes sense that they'd get hired back first in the current situation) they need people who KNOW what they are doing and they aren't getting that thus far with open hiring.

By doing this, they accomplish a couple of important things: they throw a few good paying jobs to Shi'as while also claiming to allow all parties to compete in their 'open' government. After all, what could be more "open" than allowing Saddam's old party back to the game?

Ba'athism has an interesting history in the region. It's a blend of Arab nationalism, socialism, and most importantly, SECULARISM. It actually means 'renaissance' -- in theory, it's not terribly threatening, but in practice, it always seems to end up on the authoritarian side of the tracks. The original idea to throw out the western bastards and take control of the nation's own destiny over time morphed into a "Let's get the military in on the game and use sheer force to keep these bastards in line."

It's big in Syria, and we see how they play it there. And, FWIW, Saddam didn't invent it. The philosophy predated his rise to power by a couple of decades. He did put a curious and rather brutal stamp on it in Iraq though.

[Disturbed]

3. Iraqis can thank Ahmed Chalabi for the purge of Ba'athists

in Govt. jobs. He once said something like, having Ba'athists in Govt. is like having Nazis keep their jobs after Germany was defeated. Bremmer went along with the purge. It was a stupid policy backed by US Govt.