Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Baathists?

Saleh al-Mutlaq had been a member of Iraq's Baath Party since it first attempted to seize power in 1963, when he was 14 years old. Though the Baathists were quickly expelled that year, they returned in force in 1968, and Mutlaq rose in prominence in the party. In less than a decade, he became involved in a research foundation directly connected to Saddam Hussein, who was then Iraq's vice president but was largely calling the shots. It was then, at age 30, that Mutlaq arrived at a moral crisis. It was 1977, and the Iraqi leadership had just provoked a violent uprising among Shiites in the south. Police forces had attacked pilgrims heading to the holy city of Karbala. Riots ensued, and Saddam ordered the execution of eight Shiite men