ERBIL, Iraq — Thirteen years after the fall of the Baath Party, Iraq's parliament voted in favor of a law to ban the Baath Party on July 30. The law caused widespread reactions in the Iraqi Arab street. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi described the vote in favor of the law as "victory." The law has given the Shiite parliamentary blocs further momentum to vote in favor of other laws against the Baathists.
State of Law Coalition parliamentarian Adnan Chahmani said Aug. 6, "The [Shiite] National Alliance is determined to pass the Accountability Law next Tuesday [Aug. 9] to turn the page of the Baath [Party] once and for all at the doctrinal and political levels." He accused the majority of the Sunni Iraqi Forces Alliance's members of supporting "the Baath [Party]."
