According to historian Hanna Batatu, however, " the Ba'athists had ample opportunity to gather such particulars in 1958-1959, when the Communists came wholly into the open, and earlier, during the Front of National Unity Years 1957-1958 when they had frequent dealings with them on all levels . " In addition, " the lists in question proved to be in part out of date ", which could be taken as evidence they were compiled well before 1963.
