On May 15, 2003, “the day before [Director of Reconstruction in Iraq L. Paul] Bremer signed the de-Baathification Order, [Undersecretary of Defense Douglas] Feith gave testimony in front of the House International Relations Committee on the conditions inside Iraq. He explicitly rejected the possibility of keeping senior Ba’athists in office as a price for maintaining the proper functioning of government. ‘Our policy,’ he said, ‘is *De-Baathification*–that is the disestablishment of the Ba’ath Party, the elimination of its structures, and the removal of its high-ranking members from positions of authority in Iraq.’ ”
– Ali A. Allawi, The Occupation of Iraq, Page 151