The Modern History of Iraq

PREFACE

Although Iraq is a comparatively new state and a relatively small country, it has had a remarkably rich and varied history. I cannot hope to do justice to the full complexity of Iraq’s modern history, even for the short time span of 1920 to 1984. Indeed, the most difficult task in writing this book was deciding what to include and what to leave out. It seems relevant, therefore, to state my purpose in writing the book and the criteria I used in selecting which areas to cover.

This book is not meant to be an exhaustive and detailed history of modern Iraq; rather my aim has been to present a clear, readable, one-volume account of the emergence of modern Iraq and the forces that created it. I have drawn extensively on the many good monographs that have recently appeared on modern Iraq, and on the standard works of ‘Abd al-Razzaq al-Hasam on the pre-1958 period and Hanna Batatu, Majid Khadduri, and Edith Penrose and E. F. Penrose on the post-1958 period. It is my hope that the book will be of use both to the lay reader and to students of the Middle East. I have tried to include enough general interpretation of events to make the country and its people understandable, and enough detail to give depth and color to the events described. Above all I have tried to be evenhanded in depicting the course of events and to avoid oversimplifying complex situations. Although the book is directed at the general reader, I hope that scholars of the Middle East will also find it useful, both in providing a synthesis of a critical period of Iraqi history and in shedding new light on aspects of the subject not already covered elsewhere.

The material has been grouped around two main themes that, in my view, have dominated Iraq’s history from 1920 to the present day. The first theme is the creation and construction of a modern state within the boundaries bequeathed to Iraq by the British in 1920 and the search by its leaders for a cultural and national identity capable of knitting together its various ethnic and religious groups within the context of the broader Arab world. The second is the process of economic and social development, a process that began at the end of the nineteenth century but that reached breathtaking proportions since the mid-1970s. It is too soon to draw conclusions about these two processes because both are ongoing; I have tried to indicate the direction they are taking and the achievements made thus far.

I gathered the source material for this book over a period of many years of study and work in the Middle East, including several years spent in Iraq both before and after the revolution of 1958. I have drawn whenever possible on works written by Iraqis, and I have also used statistical data published by the Iraqi government and by various international organizations. Although such data are more available and accurate in recent years, readers should treat all statistics with some caution. Census taking in a developing country like Iraq is difficult, and accurate figures are rare. Often data are based on estimates. Nevertheless, the figures used in this book do illustrate economic and social realities; the reader should concentrate on the broad trends that the figures indicate, and not on specific numbers.

I have made extensive use of interviews with Iraqi educators, writers, political figures, and ordinary men and women in various walks of life. I would like to acknowledge the help of these Iraqis, who gave so generously of their time in answering my questions, in reminiscing about their experiences, and in criticizing and clarifying my ideas. The book could not have been written without their help and unfailing courtesy, and they bear a large responsibility for my continuing fascination with their country and its development. Most of these men and women have preferred to remain anonymous and I have respected their requests for privacy. Hence, the names mentioned below in no way exhaust the list of those to whom I am indebted.

I would, however, like to thank Yahya Qasim, whose help on the politics of the old regime was invaluable; Khaldun al-Husri, whose continuing criticism of the ongoing work was essential; Khayr al-Dln Haslb, who read and criticized the chapters on the Qasim and ‘Arif periods; and above all ‘Abd al-Razzaq al-Hasani, who kindly made his library and his vast store of knowledge available to me while I was working on my thesis in Iraq. I would also like to thank Edith Penrose and E. F. Penrose for clarifying many of my thoughts on Iraqi history and politics in a number of stimulating conversations. I am indebted to Joseph Chamie for providing access to a wealth of material in the Beirut offices of the UN Economic Commission for Western Asia (ECWA) and to Reeva Simon for unfailing help in ferreting out new source material. For encouraging my interests in the Middle East, for seeing me through my initial research on Iraq, and for sustaining me through the vicissitudes of my career, I owe more than I can express here to Sir Hamilton Gibb. I am also indebted to the Harvard Middle East Center and in particular to its former director, Derwood Lockard, for providing funds for residence and research in Iraq on several occasions and for a grant as research fellow at Harvard to work on Iraq. Finally, I would like to thank the history department of the University of Tennessee— particularly LeRoy Graf, its former head—and Robert Landen, dean of liberal arts, for providing funding and time off to write the manuscript. The interpretations as well as any errors in the manuscript are of course my own.

Phebe Marr