Collection Guide
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Hizb al-Ba'th al-'Arabi al-Ishtiraki in Iraq [Ba'th Arab Socialist Party of Iraq] records
2009C50
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Table of contents
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North Iraq dataset (NIDS) 1980s
These documents were created by security, intelligence, military, Ba'th Party, and other government agency offices in northern
Iraq, primarily in the three northern governates (provinces) of Sulaymānīyah, Dahūk, and Irbīl. Focusing on these governorates,
this series covers the period of the consolidation of power of the Saddam Hussein regime, the Iran-Iraq war, the Kurdish insurgency,
the Anfal operations of 1987-1988, and the prelude to the second Gulf War. The NIDS provides documentation of the bureaucratic
apparatus of the Iraqi State.
In the database, keyword searches on extensive English language descriptive data, including corporate names, personal names,
place names, and subjects, cover all of the 2.4 million pages in this dataset. All fields are in English except the title,
which is in both Arabic and English.
Browsing by names of individuals, localities, entities, or topics (all in English) is also available for all of the 2.4 million
pages. Browsing by serial-sheet number is also possible for the entire dataset.
Another browse option, by annotation, covers a 369,309-page subset (about 15 percent) of the 2.4 million pages in this dataset.
This browse option provides two tiers. The first is a list of 9 major topics; selecting one of them opens a second list of
subtopics.
The 9 major topics are:
Issuing agencies (4,044 subtopics)
Concerned localities (1,664 subtopics)
Communal affiliations (8 subtopics: Assyrians, Christians, etc.)
Political affiliations (7 subtopics: Communist Party, Da'wa Party, etc.)
Individuals (10 subtopics)
Dates (496 subtopics)
Topics (20 subtopics: Anfal, arrest, CBN weapons, etc.)
Categories (2 subtopics: administrative, political)
Glossary (25,492 subtopics: A'stebl, A'athis, A'deserter', A'na, etc.)
The 9 major topics are:
Issuing agencies (4,044 subtopics)
Concerned localities (1,664 subtopics)
Communal affiliations (8 subtopics: Assyrians, Christians, etc.)
Political affiliations (7 subtopics: Communist Party, Da'wa Party, etc.)
Individuals (10 subtopics)
Dates (496 subtopics)
Topics (20 subtopics: Anfal, arrest, CBN weapons, etc.)
Categories (2 subtopics: administrative, political)
Glossary (25,492 subtopics: A'stebl, A'athis, A'deserter', A'na, etc.)
When accessing the digitized documents through the search and browse options that cover the entire 2.4 million pages in the
dataset, clicking on a listing leads to a computer-generated form showing the descriptive data for a batch documents. The
batch of documents may not be logically related--the documents in a batch might be about several disparate topics. You must
look through all of the documents in a batch to find the ones related to your interest. On average, one form describes 60
pages of documents; the maximum is 100 pages of documents.
This descriptive data was created by U.S. government reviewers from 1992 to 1994. They used a "screening sheet" to describe
the contents of a batch of documents. The dataset uses 40,826 screening sheets. These pre-printed forms listed numerous categories
of data that were checked off when applicable to the batch of documents being reviewed. For example, "Revolutionary Command
Council" and "Presidential Cabinet" are two of the data categories on the form, and a reviewer would place a check next to
"Presidential Cabinet" when at least one page in a batch related to the presidential cabinet. After checking all the relevant
data categories, the reviewers wrote comments that provided details. All data was recorded in English.
The original screening sheets, with the handwritten notations made by reviewers, were scanned and appear as the first pages
in the batch of digitized documents. The categories used on the screening sheets changed somewhat over time.
Up to 100 pages of documents were grouped into a batch, and the documents did not necessarily all relate to each other or
a single subject. Reviewers receiving a batch of documents could choose to break the batch into smaller groups, each with
a separate screening sheet, or keep them as one group with one screening sheet.
When accessing the subset of 369,309 digitized pages covered by the "browse by annotations" option, clicking on a topic and
then a subtopic leads to the serial number and sheet number for the actual page; from there you click once more to view the
actual page. Annotations were made at the page level, so that each page of a multi-page document was annotated separately.
A subtopic can contain just one page or thousands of pages of actual documents. (The subtopics used in these annotations are
not all searchable via the database's search function.)
The annotations were created by the Iraq Research and Documentation Project (IRDP), a predecessor of the Iraq Memory Foundation
(IMF), from 1999 to 2002. IRDP staff reviewed the screening sheets created by U.S. government reviewers and assigned priority
levels based on the screening sheet data. Those pages deemed highest priority were "annotated" by IRDP staff. Annotating involved
assigning terms represented in the "browse by annotations" list. The annotations were refined since 2002 by the IMF.
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Kuwait dataset (KDS) 1990-1991
These documents were created by Iraqi military and political agencies and were gathered by the Coalition forces after the
retreat of the Iraqi military from Kuwait in 1991. They document the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait from 1990 to 1991, including
the conduct of the war and the treatment of the civilian population. Personal documents left behind by Iraqi soldiers and
operatives are included.
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School registers dataset (BRCC-SRDS) 1983-2002
Part of the Ba'th Arab Socialist Party Regional Command collection, these lists of students were created by the general security
service (Al-Amn Al-Am) of the Ba'th Party, which performed an annual accounting of the high school student population. Boys
are typically included from age 11 or 12 into adulthood. The registers cover all of the 18 Iraqi governates: Al Anbar, Arbil,
Babil, Baghdad, Basra, Basra, Dhi Qar, Diyala, Dohuk, Karbala, Kirkuk, Maysan, Muthanna, Najaf, Nineveh, Al-Qadisiyyah, Saladin,
Sulaymaniyah, and Wasit. The bulk of the registers were created in the years following the 1991 Gulf War.
For each student, the registers list name, year, city or geographic area, party affiliation, and date the student officially
joined the party. Some data is political, monitoring the inclinations and affiliations of the students and their extended
families as well as specifics related to key events in Iraqi history, including the Iran-Iraq war and the 1991 uprising. Boys
recorded as "independent" refused to join the Ba'th Party. The original registers were large-format bound volumes averaging
about 150 pages.
All of the names in this dataset have been redacted to protect the privacy of the students.
Browsing is by names of governates, localities, or dates (all in English). Once a term is selected, a list that provides (in
English): register number, number of pages in register, type (Hizb or Amn, which indicates Ba'th Party or security as the
authority), governate, localities within the governate, year, and volume number. This data was generated by the IMF from 2005
to 2008.
One database record describes 150 pages on average.
Boxfiles dataset (BRCC-Boxfiles) 1991-2003
Part of the Ba'th Arab Socialist Party Regional Command collection, this dataset contains several series (described below)
that were originally housed in "boxfiles" (binders) averaging about 430 pages. The main elements of the BRCC Boxfiles Dataset
are Regional Command correspondence, Regional Command dossiers, National Command dossiers and Ba'th Arab Socialist Party (BASP)
special membership files.
Keyword searches of the database search the boxfile title, which was written on the spine of each boxfile by the BRCC, as
well as years, geographic names, corporate names, and specific subjects supplied by the IMF. All fields are in English except
the title, which is in both Arabic and English. This data was generated by the IMF from 2005 to 2008.
Clicking on an entry in the search results leads to a display of the complete database record for that boxfile, with all of
the descriptive data. From there, the page images can be viewed.
Two browsing options are available, serial number and broad topics. There are 23 broad topics:
Administrative (Including correspondence, notices, and reports of routine organizational character)
Personnel (Including correspondence, notices, and reports referencing identified regime affiliated individuals)
Correspondence (Including documents between government agencies and/or individuals)
High Command (Including the Presidency, government, and Ba'th party leadership)
Party Branches (Including hierarchical divisions of the Ba'th party)
Party Organizations (Including specialized institutions for women, students, veterans, etc affiliated with the Ba'th Party)
Party Events (Including anniversaries, special celebrations, and occasional events sponsored by the Ba'th Party)
Party Honors (Including decorations, honorary ranks, promotions, and special compensations issued by the Ba'th Party)
Party Literature (Including organizational, ideological, and political publications, tracts, and reports issued by the Ba'th Party)
National Events (Including anniversaries, special celebrations, and occasional events sponsored by the Iraqi Government)
State Institutions (Including ministries, agencies, departments, and organizations affiliated with the Iraqi Government)
Security (Including security, surveillance, and counter-insurgency concerns)
Prisoners of War (Includes the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) and other prisoner of war affairs)
North (Governorates of the North of Iraq, Kurdistan Autonomous Region)
Center (Governorates of the Center of Iraq, Baghdad, and Western provinces)
South (Governorates of the South of Iraq, Middle Euphrates and Marshes)
Opposition (Groups and parties in active hostility against the regime)
Admissions and Exclusions (Educational policies and actions of selective admission and denial of admission to institutions)
Party Management (Party organization and affairs, recurrent amendments on party structure)
News Events (Documents referencing national, regional, and international events)
Other Parties and Organizations (Parties and organizations not actively hostile against the regime Date (Documents including an identifiable date)
Others (Documents with notable topics or themes not covered by the above)
These topics were chosen by the IMF, and each boxfile was assigned to one or more topics by the IMF. Each topic leads to a list of boxfile titles assigned to that topic. Clicking on an entry in the topical list of boxfile titles leads to a display of the complete database record for that boxfile, showing all of the descriptive data. From there, the page images can be viewed.
Administrative (Including correspondence, notices, and reports of routine organizational character)
Personnel (Including correspondence, notices, and reports referencing identified regime affiliated individuals)
Correspondence (Including documents between government agencies and/or individuals)
High Command (Including the Presidency, government, and Ba'th party leadership)
Party Branches (Including hierarchical divisions of the Ba'th party)
Party Organizations (Including specialized institutions for women, students, veterans, etc affiliated with the Ba'th Party)
Party Events (Including anniversaries, special celebrations, and occasional events sponsored by the Ba'th Party)
Party Honors (Including decorations, honorary ranks, promotions, and special compensations issued by the Ba'th Party)
Party Literature (Including organizational, ideological, and political publications, tracts, and reports issued by the Ba'th Party)
National Events (Including anniversaries, special celebrations, and occasional events sponsored by the Iraqi Government)
State Institutions (Including ministries, agencies, departments, and organizations affiliated with the Iraqi Government)
Security (Including security, surveillance, and counter-insurgency concerns)
Prisoners of War (Includes the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) and other prisoner of war affairs)
North (Governorates of the North of Iraq, Kurdistan Autonomous Region)
Center (Governorates of the Center of Iraq, Baghdad, and Western provinces)
South (Governorates of the South of Iraq, Middle Euphrates and Marshes)
Opposition (Groups and parties in active hostility against the regime)
Admissions and Exclusions (Educational policies and actions of selective admission and denial of admission to institutions)
Party Management (Party organization and affairs, recurrent amendments on party structure)
News Events (Documents referencing national, regional, and international events)
Other Parties and Organizations (Parties and organizations not actively hostile against the regime Date (Documents including an identifiable date)
Others (Documents with notable topics or themes not covered by the above)
These topics were chosen by the IMF, and each boxfile was assigned to one or more topics by the IMF. Each topic leads to a list of boxfile titles assigned to that topic. Clicking on an entry in the topical list of boxfile titles leads to a display of the complete database record for that boxfile, showing all of the descriptive data. From there, the page images can be viewed.
One database record describes 430 pages on average.
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Regional Command correspondence
Within the BRCC boxfiles dataset, the Regional Command correspondence represents many key agency offices, including Diwan
al-Ri'asah, al-Mukhbarat, al-Amn al'Am, and al-Istikhbarat, and is typically grouped by originating office and date. Documents
may have been excluded from this series based on their level of classification.
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Artifacts dataset (BRCC-Artifacts) 1968-2003
Physical Description: 73.0 items
Conditions Governing Access note
While the materials in this dataset are closed, the descriptions of them in the IMF database are open.
The BRCC Artifacts dataset is a small set of objects, damaged papers, sound and video recordings, separated from the Ba'th
Regional Command Collection (BRCC) boxfiles during the initial digitization because they could not be digitized with the same
equipment. Deemed "Artifacts" at the time, they include audiovisual materials and other non-paper items such as bullets, medals,
and spices, as well as problematic paper items such as torn photographs, moldy documents and envelopes with contextual information
written on the outside. The artifacts are mostly, but not always, evidence submitted to the Ba'th Regional Command as part
of a case or investigation. Some material was digitized later by the IMF; other materials were digitized by the Hoover Institution.
Membership files dataset 1991-2003
A mixture of the Ba'th Arab Socialist Party Regional Command collection and the 2004 secondary collection, this dataset contains
several series of membership files, described below, that provide a detailed record of the initiation, promotion, and activities
of members of the Ba'th party throughout Iraq.
This dataset cannot be searched at this time, but can be browsed by box-batch-page number.
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Ba'th Arab Socialist Party (BASP) regular membership files
Part of the Ba'th Arab Socialist Party Regional Command collection, these folders concern BASP members in various branches
throughout Iraq. They represent the higher echelons of party membership. Files typically include applications for membership,
recommendations by party superiors, and letters and requests by members.
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Ba'th Arab Socialist Party (BASP) special membership files
Part of the Ba'th Arab Socialist Party Regional Command collection, these files are physically distinguished from regular
membership files by their housing in boxfiles rather than folders. The criteria for this special membership classification
seem to vary. Each top-tier party leader has a boxfile, though the documents in the binder are not the membership records
of that individual, but rather contain information about security details and other tangential issues. Boxfiles also exist
for some second-tier leaders and some members who were not leaders but were subject to various actions like dismissal from
the party. Where regular membership files provide a wide view of party membership, these special membership files allow in-depth
study of party procedures, corrective measures, and special allowances.
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Regional Command Ba'th Arab Socialist Party (BASP) membership files
Part of the 2004 secondary collection, these files document the initiation, promotion, and functions of BASP members in various
BASP branches throughout Iraq, much like the BASP regular membership files. The files represent the higher echelons of party
membership. Included are applications for membership, recommendations by party superiors, letters and requests by members.
The files are typically grouped by originating office and date. The files contain correspondence originating from many key
agencies and offices including Diwan al-Ri'asah, al-Mukhbarat, al-Amn al'Am, al-Istikhbarat, and others.
In terms of custodial history, it is not clear whether the removal of these files from the Ba'th Regional Command site predates
September 2003, when the IMF acquired the Ba'th Arab Socialist Party Regional Command collection, or if the files were overlooked
by the IMF when it investigated the Ba'th Regional Command headquarters in September 2003.
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Special Security Agency files
Part of the 2004 secondary collection, the files record the involvement of individuals in the Special Security Agency (Jihaz
al-Aman al-Khass). A file generally includes detailed biographical notes, photographs, personal statements, and various reports.
Additional files include correspondence and administrative records documenting the operational and administrative procedures
of the Jihaz al-Aman al-Khass, providing details about intelligence and surveillance interests.
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2005 secondary collection dataset
The 2005 secondary collection dataset was created by various units of the Iraqi government and were collected by many different
Iraqi secondary sources after the fall of the regime. When the documents became problematic the secondary sources discarded
them, at which point the IMF collected them. Despite their seeming randomness, the content exhibits much coherence. This dataset
represents the output of the digitization process in Baghdad of materials acquired from secondary sources in 2005.
These documents are believed to have been widely mishandled, so that document components could be lost, and other documents
could be introduced that were out-of-context, altered, redacted, or forged.
Derived from different original sources, the materials include a high concentration of documents from the Special Security
Agency (Jihaz al-Aman al-Khass). The material is largely consistent and likely stems from the same sources as the 2004 secondary
collection.
The dataset contains materials that were originally housed in "boxfiles" (binders) averaging about 150 pages.
Keyword searches of the database target the boxfile title, which was written on the spine of each boxfile by the Iraqi government
creator. The boxfile titles are in Arabic only. Dates or numbers included in the boxfile title are also searchable.
Browsing is by batch-page number. One database record describes 150 pages on average.
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Ministry of Information selected documents dataset 1991-2003
Physical Description: 1336.0 pages
Amir al-Hilu, a Ministry of Information insider, selected these ministry records which include pronouncements that commend
or condemn individuals, as well as other materials.
This dataset cannot be searched at this time. Browsing is by file number, which equals one page.
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Jewish presence in Iraq dataset
Physical Description: 283.0 pages
These records concern the 2001 nation-wide effort to document all individuals of the Jewish faith residing in Iraq, as well
as individuals of known Jewish ancestry. Detailed reports from Party branches across Iraq and in Kurdish territory survey
the small Jewish community.
This dataset cannot be searched at this time. Browsing is by file number, which equals one page.
Video documents from the Ba'th Regime Era 1978-2003
Physical Description: 28.0 video_files
These video recordings were created by government agencies and individuals during the Ba'th regime. They come from both the
Ba'th Regional Command collection and the 2004 secondary collection. The original recordings were on VHS videocassettes that
were digitized by the IMF and received by Hoover as file-based recordings.
All materials are described in the "Video Documents" section of the searchable database designed and populated by the Iraq
Memory Foundation. The videos are listed under "Video from the Ba'th Regime Era" to distinguish them from video recordings
created by the IMF that are in the same database, but intellectually part of a different collection at Hoover (Mu'assasat
al-dhākirah al-'Irāqīyah [Iraq Memory Foundation] records).
The videos are searchable, with some terms in Arabic while others are in English. Browsing within each series is by title
and description, which are chiefly in Arabic. Some titles in English are available for the Broadcast elements. One database
record describes one video file, which may contain multiple segments on different topics.
Two browsing options are available, by serial number and broad topics. There are 23 broad topics:
News and Documentaries
Michel Aflaq - National Conference
Michel Aflaq Speeches
Torture
Individuals
High Command Activities
International Activities
People Activities
Party Literature
Party Events
Private Events
Religious
Interview
Military Parade
Anfal
Security
North
South
Center
East
West
Date
Other
News and Documentaries
Michel Aflaq - National Conference
Michel Aflaq Speeches
Torture
Individuals
High Command Activities
International Activities
People Activities
Party Literature
Party Events
Private Events
Religious
Interview
Military Parade
Anfal
Security
North
South
Center
East
West
Date
Other
These topics were chosen by the IMF, and each video was assigned to one or more topics by the IMF. Each topic leads to a list
of video titles assigned to that topic. Clicking on an entry in the topical list of video titles leads to a display of the
complete database record for that video, showing all of the descriptive data. From there, the video recording can be viewed.
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Broadcast elements from the Ba'th Regime Era
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Non-Broadcast elements from the Ba'th Regime Era
Physical Description: 28.0 video_files
The non-broadcast elements depict Saddam Hussein's speeches, mass graves, women's meetings, parties given by Uday Saddam,
etc. Eleven files chronicle the activities of Ba'th Party founder, Michel 'Aflaq, including a posthumous conference on the
topic of his thought. Files range from 31 minutes to 2 hours in duration.