Dictionary

de-Baathification en · NOUN

Etymology

From de- + Baath + -ification. Modeled on denazification, a similar concept employed against the conquered Nazi government following the Second World War.

Meanings

1. (uncountable) The policy of removing Baath party members from Iraqi government positions following the fall of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
   • From informing the Bush administration that Iraqis would welcome U.S. troops with flowers to urging a methodical and comprehensive de-Baathification program under which tens of thousands of people lost their jobs through guilt by association, she said, the errors in the exiles' counsel only mounted and multiplied. 2006, Anthony Shadid, Night draws near: Iraq's people in the shadow of America's war, page 322:
   • Mr Maliki has worsened the situation by allowing and encouraging purges of Iraqi politicians in the name of de-Baathification and largely discontinuing the US-initiated policy of working with Sunni tribal leaders and their militias - the so-called Sons of Iraq - to isolate al-Qaeda. 2014 January 4, Marina Ottaway, “Analysis: Anbar violence goes beyond sectarian conflict in Iraq”, in BBC News:

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