How does the Ba'thist government in Iraq maintain itself in power, despite its catastrophic record? This new edition of CARDRI's classic study of Iraq addresses this increasingly crucial question. It surveys Iraq's political history from the late 19th century to the present, looking at key aspects of a country that is potentially the world's second largest oil producer.
Updated to cover the end of the war, the role of Europeon and other arms suppliers and the issue of chemical weapons, the book also examines the changes the conflict has bought about in Iraqi society and the broader international context, notably Iraq's role within OPEC.
Saddam's Iraq provides a comprehensive account of Iraq. The authors, leading specialists, academics, journalists and researchers, cover all the issues, extending from the regime's shifting economic emphasis and the changing nature of the army to human rights and international relations. There are chapters on the opposition, notably the Kurds, the Communist Party, Islamic movements and Arab nationalism. The position of Iraqi women is also examined in detail.
'This book should be studied in every foreign office, by the diplomatic editors of all newspapers, by every IMP concerned about the Middle East and by all who wish to see freedom and justice in the world. It is a classic which no one who seeks the truth about the Middle East can ignore' Lord Fenner Brockway
'A helpful guide to all who seek a clearer insight into the tragedy of Iraq today' Donald Anderson MP
Contents
Foreword Fenner Brockway / ix Preface Ann Clwyd / x Introduction / xi List of Contributors / xv Maps / xvi
1. Iraq to 1963 Fran Hazelton / 1 19th Century European Economic Penetration / 1 Oil / 2 British Occupation / 2 The 1920 Revolt / 4 The ‘Arab Solution’ / 4 Oil Concessions, Air Bases and Iraqi ‘Independence’ / 6 The Political System / 9 The Army / 9 The Coups d’Etat 1936-41 / 10 The Labour Movement and National Liberation / 11 Britain, USA and the Middle East / 12 The ‘Portsmouth’ Treaty / 12 Al-Wathbah / 15 Solidarity and Repression / 17 Oil, Foreign Control and Social Dislocation / 17 Iraq’s Pre-revolutionary Social Structure / 18 Poverty / t / 20 Repression and Resistance / 20 The Baghdad Pact / 22 The National Unity Front / 23 The Revolutionary Coup d’Etat 14 July 1958 / 24 Wahda / 25 Suppression of the Communists / 26 The Overthrow of Qasim / 26
2. Political Developments in Iraq 1963-1980 U. Zaher / 30 The Fascist Coup of February 1963 / 30 Massacre of Communists / ' / 32 CIA Connection / 32 Popular Resistance / 33 International Solidarity / 33 Oil and Economy / 34 War in Kurdistan / 35 False Arab Unity / 35 Uprising in the Army / 36 Fall of the Ba‘th / 36 Military-Nationalist Rule: 18 November 1963 to 17 July 1968 / 38 Upsurge of the Democratic Movement / 40 Ba‘th Rule: 1968-1980 / 41
3. Oil and the Iraqi Economy Celine Whittle ton / 54 Pre-1958 Background — an Economy in Decay / 54 The July 1958 Revolution and the Economy / 57 The Agrarian Reform / 57 Confronting the Oil Companies — 1958-72 / 61 The Seven Fat Years of the Ba‘th / 64 Industrial Development — One Step Forward / 67 Guns Before Butter / 69
4. The Parasitic Base of the Ba‘thist Regime ‘Isam al-Khafaji / 73 The Private and Public Sectors in Iraqi State Capitalism / 74 Government Policy and the Contracting Bourgeoisie / 75 New Dependence Under the Ba‘th / 78 Some Consequences of Recent Economic Policies / 82 The Economic Function of the War / 84
5. Iraqi Ba‘thism: Nationalism, Socialism and National Socialism Marion Farouk-Sluglett and Peter Sluglett / 89 The Origins of Arab Nationalism / 90 Arab Nationalism after 1918: the Ideas of Sati‘al-Husri / 91 The Origins of the Ba'th Party: the Political Situation in Syria and Iraq, 1920-1945 / 92 The Ba‘th in Syria 1944-66 / 94 The Ba‘th in Iraq, 1949-58 / 96 The Ba‘th Nationalist Coalition, February-November 1963 99 The Return of the Ba‘th, July 1968 / 100 Towards an Understanding of Ba‘thist Ideology / 102
6. Ba‘th Terror — Two Personal Accounts / 108 1. Interview with an Iraqi Mother / 108 2. Torture in Iraq: A Personal Testimony Dr. Su'ad Khairi / 114
7. Women in Iraq Deborah Cobbett / 120 Traditional Customs and Attitudes / 121 Historical Background / 123 Women Organize in Iraq / 124 The General Federation of Iraqi Women / 126 Women Victims of Ba'thist Terror / 128 Women Against the Ba‘th / 130 Changes in the Law / 130 Women in the Iraqi ‘Parliament’ / 132 Women and Education / 132 Women in the Workforce / 133 Women and Health / 134 Effects of the War Against Iran / 135 Conclusions / 135
8. The Opposition U. Zaher / 138 Introduction / 138 The Communist Movement / 139 Working Class: Early Years / 140 The Foundation of the Iraqi Communist Party / 141 The Islamic Movement / 157 Shi'ism in 20th Century Iraq / 160 Organized Political Activity / 164 The Arab Nationalist Movement in Iraq / 168
9. The Kurds Peter Sluglett / 177 History / 178 The Republic of Mahabad / 183 Kurdish Politics 1947-58 / 186 The Kurds under Qasim, 1958-63 / 188 The Kurds since 1963 / 194
10. The Iraqi Armed Forces, Past and Presents. Abbas / 203 The Social Structure of the Iraqi Army / 204 The Army and Politics / 206 The Free Officers Movement / 208 Political Parties and the Army / 213 The Ba'thization of the Iraqi Armed Forces / 215 The Iraqi Armed Forces since the late 1970s / 217 Saddam Husain and the Iraqi Armed Forces / 222 Conclusion / 224
11. Iraq in the Gulf War Jabr Muhsin, George Harding and Fran Hazelton / 229 Origins of the War / 229 Invasion / 230 From Occupation to Retreat / 231 Internationalisation / 232 Tanker War: US Intervention / 233 Cities War / 235 Chemical Warfare / 236 Territory Lost and Regained / 237 Resolution 598 / 238
12. Whither Iraq? Celine Whittleton, Jabr Muhsin and Fran Hazelton / 242 Oil and the Iraqi Economy / 242 Opposition / 244 Women in Iraq / 247 Human Rights in Iraq / 249 UN Security Council Resolution 598 / 253
Chronology / 255
Bibliography / 261
Index / 264
PREFACE
This book by CARDRI (Committee Against Repression and for Democratic Rights in Iraq) is dedicated to all the victims of human rights violations in Iraq: Iraqis summarily executed, Iraqis tortured and killed, Iraqis who have “disappeared”, Iraqis detained without trial by the Saddam Husain dictatorship, Iraqis deported in their tens of thousands, Iraqis forced into exile or terrorized in their homeland.
Reports of terror and repression in Iraq in late 1978 led many British Parliamentarians and others, from across the political spectrum, to sponsor the formation of CARDRI, with the aim of exposing the brutality of the Ba‘th regime and developing solidarity with those in Iraq struggling for human and democratic rights in immensely difficult and dangerous conditions. Saddam Husain’s war against Iran launched in September 1980 brought the Iraqi people incalculable human misery and devastation to their economy. It has been used as a smokescreen for intensification of repression against all sections of Iraqi society.
What kind of regime would do so much damage to a country just to keep control of it? CARDRI welcomed Zed’s invitation to try to answer this question. The result is this book, a serious work of scholarship by British and Iraqi academics and activists, with personal testimonies from victims of Ba‘th terror.
Those in Iraq who suffer and sacrifice for democracy in their country are those the regime tries to silence with brutal repression. We hope we have helped their voices to reach you.
Ann Clwyd MP, Chair, CARDRI
Introduction
Iraq is a country three times the size of Britain with a population of 14 million. Most Iraqis are Arabs, but about 25% are Kurds, and there are ethnic minorities such as Assyrians, Turcomans and Armenians. Although Islam is the religion of the state, there are about half a million Christians and other smaller religious minorities. About 75% of Iraqi Arabs are Shi'is, but the Kurds are mostly Sunnis, with the result that the Sh‘is form between 55 and 60% of the total population.
In 1947 about 35% of the population lived in towns and 65% in the countryside. According to the latest census, taken in 1977, 64% of the population live in towns and 36% in the countryside, a direct reversal of the urban-rural proportions in only 30 years. There are 114 million industrial workers, making up to 5 million with their families. The main industries are the oil industry, textiles and transport (particularly railways and docks). Iraq exports mainly oil and dates, and imports food, consumer goods, machinery and armaments.
Iraq’s main towns are the capital, Baghdad, which has a population of about 3 million; Basra, a southern oil town and the country’s main port, on the Gulf, with a population of about 400,000; Mosul, the largest town in the north, with a population of about 300,000; Kirkuk, the central town of the northern oilfields, with a population of about 200,000; the Kurdish towns of Arbil and Sulaimaniya;and the Shi‘i holy cities of Najaf and Karbala.
The mountainous north of Iraq borders Turkey and northern Iran; the marshy south borders southern Iran; and the desert west borders Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria. There is fertile land around Iraq’s two great rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. Their junction is claimed to be the site of the Garden of Eden and they gave the area its Greek name, Mesopotamia, “land between the two rivers”.
Mesopotamia was one of the places where human civilisation began nearly 5000 years ago and its ancient cities of Ur, Babylon, Assur, Nimrud and Nineveh were probably the source of the Old Testament stories of Noah’s Flood and the Tower of Babel. The Code of Hammurabi, king of Babylon about 2000 BC, contained the world’s earliest written laws. It decreed the death penalty for the builder of a badly made house if it collapsed killing the owner; and in the case of a robbery “if the robber is not caught, the man …
CARDRI
Saddam’s Iraq Revolution or Reaction?
Zed Books
Zed Books Ltd Saddam’s Iraq Revolution or Reaction? Committee Against Repression and for Democratic Rights in Iraq CARDRI Foreword by Fenner Brockway Preface by Ann Clwyd MP
Saddam’s Iraq: Revolution or Reaction? was first published by Zed Books Ltd., 57 Caledonian Road, London N1 9BU, and 171 First Avenue, Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey 07716, USA and by the Committee Against Repression and for Democratic Rights in Iraq (CARDRI), PO Box 210, London N16 5PL, in 1986.
New and Updated Edition published by Zed Books Ltd and CARDRI in 1989
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data CARDRI Saddam's Iraq: revolution or reaction? 1. Iraq. Political events I. Title 956.7’043 ISBN 0-86232-820-9 ISBN 0-86232-821-7 Pbk
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Saddam's Iraq. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Iraq—Politics and government. 2. Iraq— History—1921- / I. Committee Against Repression and for Democratic Rights in Iraq. DS79.65.S23 1988 / 956.7'04 / 88-20588 ISBN 0-86232-820-9 ISBN 0-86232-821-7 (pbk.)
