| Summary/Abstract |
Vetting/lustration/purging is one of many transitional justice mechanisms, designed for addressing the atrocities of a former regime, restoring peace, providing justice and engendering unity and reconciliation. It specifically aims to purify the public sphere of former regime members or of people who lack integrity. de-Ba`thification of Iraq is one of the latest transitional justice mechanism that can be examined under this category. The process of de-Ba`thification holds lessons and provides valuable insight into policy-making well beyond the Iraqi context. This article presents a detailed analysis of the implementation of de-Ba`thification process in Iraq and a number of lessons to be learned/relearned by policy-makers. Data gathering involves in-depth and formal interviews with the designers and implementers of de-Ba`thification project including Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) administrator and advisors; Higher National de-Ba`thification Commission (HNDBC) and Accountability and Justice Commission (AJC) members; other US and Iraqi officials.
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