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Iraq Since 1958


Auteurs : |
Éditeur : I.B.Tauris Date & Lieu : 2001, London
Préface : Pages : 390
Traduction : ISBN : 1-86064-622-0
Langue : AnglaisFormat : 140x215 mm
Thème : Histoire

Présentation
Table des Matières Introduction Identité PDF
Iraq Since 1958

Iraq Since 1958: From Revolution to Dictatorship

Since the Second World War the Arab states of the Middle East and North Africa have undergone a series of socio-political and economic upheavals that, whatever the political complexion of particular governments, have been broadly similar in content. These include the overthrow of the old landowning and politically dominant classes (or the expulsion of the European settlers, in the case of North Africa) and their replacement by social strata drawn largely from the ranks of the lower middle classes and the petty bourgeoisie; the dismantling of the political systems installed by the British or French and their replacement by one party systems that are often forms of military dictatorship; a growing concentration of economic activity in the hands of the state, or more accurately in the hands of the ruling party or the clique which dominates it, and the commitment of the state itself to ‘development’, however this conceptmay be defined by particular regimes. In broad outline, allowing for some local variations, particularly in the Arabian peninsula where the old social classes often managed to absorb and incorporate some of the social groups formerly excluded from power, most of these phenomena can be found in all the states between Morocco and Iraq...


Foreword to the Third Edition

It is not easy, especially with a long background of involvement with Iraq and Iraqis, to write dispassionately about Iraq at the spring of 2001. The first edition of this book was written in 1985; sixteen years later, the same hideous regime is still in power. The situation of the ordinary person in Iraq has deteriorated immensely; infant mortality, however caused, has risen from 56 per 1000 in 1984–89 to 131 per 1000 in 1994–99; three million Iraqis live outside Iraq, and many more would leave if they could. In 1985, one US dollar was worth one third of an Iraq dinar; in 2001 one US dollar is worth more than 2,200 dinars. The austere system of food rationing introduced in the early 1990s has become even harsher in recent years, so that families often run out of food by the middle of the month. It is extremely difficult to obtain a clear picture of what is going on inside the country, although there are occasional reports of further devastation of the infrastructure, continuing atrocities, and of failed coups d’état.

The reaction of many concerned individuals outside Iraq, particularly among the old anti-imperialist left, is to blame the West and the sanctions for most of Iraq’s sufferings. With due respect to the many decent individuals who hold such views, I am not convinced. Of course the sanctions regime works inefficiently, the United Nations has no experience in running such a programme for such a long period, and there have been examples of heavy-handedness, stupidity, and bad faith. Tragically, the people of Iraq have suffered, and continue to suffer, immensely. But it is surely reasonable that an attempt should have been made to force Iraq to give up its weapons of mass destruction. Ultimately, the sanctions regime is still in place because the ruler of Iraq thinks it more important to retain access to these weapons than to relieve the suffering of the people over whom he rules.

It took over four years for the oil-for-food arrangements proposed by the United Nations to be put in place. The Iraqi regime demurred because of what it saw as a derogation of national sovereignty. Do Saddam Husayn and his entourage in some sense represent the people of Iraq? The West’s crime (in this case abetted by the former Soviet Union and its allies) has been to tolerate, and to build up, regimes like those of Slobodan Milosevic, Saddam Husayn, and many others, for so long. Iraq longs to be rid of Saddam Husayn, and it is in no one’s interest but his own that he should remain in power. It is a tragic irony that the West and others have made him so invincible.

In preparing this third edition, I have been somewhat, but not significantly, constrained by a number of technical considerations. Chapters 1–7 have been reproduced more or less as they were, although factual and other errors have been corrected. All the notes, and Chapters 8 and 9, have been rewritten; specifically, the notes to the earlier chapters have been expanded to take account of scholarly work since the first edition, and the bibliography has been completely updated.




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