The Iraqi government's recent decision to amend paragraphs in the Justice and Accountability Law related to de-Baathification and show flexibility in dealing with Baathists has induced a storm of conflicting reactions. The most heated reactions have come from Shiite political and cultural circles, which have insisted that Baathists cannot be dealt with before achieving justice for their victims.

The Baath Party, which ruled Iraq for more than three decades, is deserving of the measures contained in the Iraqi constitution. The constitution criminalizes the party and prevents it from participating in Iraqi political life,  against the backdrop of the crimes it committed and the disasters it caused throughout its reign.

But what applies to the Baath party should not apply to the Baathists as individuals. Everyone in Iraq agrees that a set of pressures, compromises and ambiguities forced millions of Iraqis to join this party, which reduced the state and linked all of its aspects to the party. It even linked the concept of "national identity" to "belonging to the Baath Party.”

But the agreement on this fact has not prevented Iraqi politicians from using the Baath Party issue for very bad political purposes. The de-Baathification issue was often used for political or partisan purposes, and was interpreted by some — such as the Sunni Arabs — as a "sectarian" act. It was also often used for propaganda purposes, or bargains that are actually different from the very essence of the "de-Baathification" law itself.