The Great Baath and the Electronic Opposition Dr. Wael Al-Qaisi Translated from Arabic by Sawtoroba

The Great Baath and the Electronic Opposition

Dr. Wael Al-Qaisi

Translated from Arabic by Sawtoroba.

A week ago, for five consecutive days, I tried to rely on my memory and on the information that arrives through WhatsApp and its sisters. Still, I had no choice but to use Google and the Grand Ayatollah of Artificial Intelligence, as long as his shadow lasted.

My goal was to list and classify the numbers and names of the parties that claim to represent the national opposition in occupied Iraq against the Iranian, American, Israeli, British, Turkish, and Gulf occupation, and against the direct and indirect interventions of China, Ukraine, some Frankish countries, and Lebanese Hezbollah (Iranian genetically and ideologically), as well as the presence of the Houthis, the Muslim Brotherhood, and perhaps Somalia as well.

Unfortunately, however, I publicly declare my failure and defeat in this arduous endeavor, not only because of their large number (as they appear to be artificial hatcheries for chicks), but also because they sometimes fragment. New currents, gatherings, councils, and parties emerge from them, separate from the parent entity, though some have unknown origins. The researcher is lost among their many titles.

All of them claim legitimacy, widespread presence, credibility, influence, and field presence within the country, even though they all originated outside it.

After extensive research, audits, and quality testing in specialized laboratories, and using multiple measurement and quality control devices, it became clear that some of its leaders were not convinced of the project, even their wives and children, except (in-laws, of course).

Other parties have memberships of two or three people (one is the secretary general or president, the second is his deputy, and the third is the coordinator of the third party’s affairs). In contrast, others seem to be merely representatives of the State intelligence services in which they established that party or entity.

All the individuals, means, and equipment these parties possess amount to websites and a few pages on Facebook, Mays, X, YouTube, and other social media platforms.

What is most striking about the names of these electronic parties and forces is that they include words such as: “patriotism, liberation, salvation, change, construction, democracy, and freedom.”

One of their supporters or allies might object, arguing that coordination with State intelligence services is necessary to obtain protection or approval, or, at best, to ensure they are not held accountable. However, they overlook the painful fact that sometimes the goal is to obtain moral support in exchange for a pledge to submit to the host State’s directives, policies and conditions.

The work and struggle of these opposition political parties do not go beyond issuing general and broad statements that fill their electronic pages. It is striking that the vast majority of their statements and publications conclude with the name of the entity, without mentioning the president, secretary-general, or leader of the grouping, except in rare cases.

When you inquire about their activity or their actual presence in the country, from the far north to the far south, you find no trace of them at all, and no one knows about them.

The only real party, without a rival, that you find a militant, organizational, and institutional presence in every inch of Iraq is the Arab Socialist Baath Party.

One paradox that enemies may not have realized before friends is that no peoples or societies have preceded us.

First, the largest percentage of those who believe in the Baath ideology and its ideology today are from the new generation, who grew up or were born after the American invasion and the Iranian occupation of Iraq in 2003. You see them fond of the martyred president, the leader Saddam Hussein, the achievements and exploits of the national government, and the heroism of all the comrades of the martyr leader, so much so that they called that stage the beautiful time.

Second, most of the youth of this generation, who did not live through the period of the Arab Socialist Baath rule, and did not organize or join its ranks, especially the people of the Middle Euphrates and the south of our beloved country, firmly believe in all the party’s goals and slogans, and vigorously defend them, and recall all its achievements, victories and moral values.

What distinguishes the strength of the party’s principles and the consistency of its approach to struggle from the other political groups, forces and parties that we mentioned at the beginning is that the presence of the bases of the Arab Socialist Baath Party and most of its leaders inside the country is more organized, effective, committed and militant than its organizations abroad, unlike the rest of the aforementioned opposition forces. The Baath Party is also the only one that has not presented itself as an opposition in the constructive sense adopted by others, because its goals are broader than the limited concept of opposition, especially since opposition does not necessarily mean liberation, as it is a multi-connotative concept. It does not reject reality entirely. Still, it oscillates between accepting the fait accompli and being willing to live with it in exchange for fulfilling some of the conditions it demands.