Mechanisms of Control

This chapter discusses the way in which the Ba’thist regime monitored and enforced boundaries on acceptable interpretations of religion in Iraq. The Ba’thists built on and expanded the instructions that it had developed during the first decade of Saddam Hussein’s presidency. The work of local committees became more thorough and systematic. Party bureaus and security services controlled who could work in the religious landscape as well as what they could say. Local branches of the Ba’th Party began keeping spreadsheets on every mosque and all religious leaders in their territories. They maintained and updated these spreadsheets through national “inventories” they conducted of the religious landscape. Iraqi intelligence and security services also updated their structures to better monitor and mitigate threats coming from religious actors; they were always on the lookout for ways to infiltrate various circles within the religious opposition by using spies.