Al-Ta'akhi: US in Iraq remove tomb of Michael Aflaq

An official in the Iraqi police said that the American forces removed the tomb of the founder of the dissolved Baath party, Michael Aflaq, and leveled it to earth, in implementation of the decision to desolve this party following the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime.

The Iraqi daily al-Ta'akhi ( fraternity) paper quoted the source as saying yesterday that the Iraqi police attended the removal process of the "tomb of the founder of the Socialist Arab Baath Party which was removed with the help of vehicles which leveled the tomb to earth."

The source explained that "the removal of the tomb came following the decision taken by the Interim Governing Council in Iraq to eradicate the Baath party."

The source added that the area where the tomb exists, which was used to be allotted for officials residence in the former regime, will be converted to public gardens and resorts.

The tomb which is situated near the presidential palace, adjoining the party's national leadership building ( downtown ) of Baghdad was built in the 1980s at an area of 10 square KM. It include a dome with a bronze statue for Aflaq in front of it.