What’s in Store for Iraq

Abdul Karim el-Kassem, late dictator of Iraq, went out the way he came in. He was personally responsible for the brutal murders which accompanied the coup of July 14, 1958; he met an equally summary and brutal death at the hands of his successors. It rarely works out so neatly. But there was one element of irony. What ultimately brought about Kassem’s downfall was not that he was too ruthless but that he was not ruthless enough. Four years ago one of Kassem’s military tribunals sentenced Abdul Salam Aref —the present strongman—to death for his part in a plot to murder Kas-sem. And Kassem let him off. They had been close friends and fellow conspirators. When Kassem’s Bastille Day revolution exploded on a hot July morning in 1958, it was Aref, a colonel in Kassem’s division, who actually seized Baghdad; Kassem himself held the rest of the force in reserve. This was the kind of soldierly friendship Kassem found hard to forget; because of it, he spared Aref’s life. Aref show no such compunction when his moment came.

The new regime is already many things to many people. At the moment, it is cracking down on the powerful Communist Party in workmanlike fashion, showing a realistic approach to power politics which Kassem never demonstrated. Whether the Communists were within an ace of taking over, as the new leaders proclaim, is uncertain. They came close to seizing power last July, and Aref is taking no chances. In the last fortnight his forces are reported to have rounded up ten to twenty thousand Communists or pro-Communists.

SH

About the Author

Susan Huck

Featured Tags

Abdul Karim el-Kassem, late dictator of Iraq, went out the way he came in. He was personally responsible for the brutal murders which accompanied the coup of July 14, 1958; he met an equally summary and brutal death at the hands of his successors. It rarely works out so neatly. But there was one element of irony. What ultimately brought about Kassem’s downfall was not that he was too ruthless but that he was not ruthless enough. Four years ago one of Kassem’s military tribunals sentenced Abdul Salam Aref —the present strongman—to death for his part in a plot to murder Kas-sem. And Kassem let him off. They had been close friends and fellow conspirators. When Kassem’s Bastille Day revolution exploded on a hot July morning in 1958, it was Aref, a colonel in Kassem’s division, who actually seized Baghdad; Kassem himself held the rest of the force in reserve. This was the kind of soldierly friendship Kassem found hard to forget; because of it, he spared Aref’s life. Aref show no such compunction when his moment came.

The new regime is already many things to many people. At the moment, it is cracking down on the powerful Communist Party in workmanlike fashion, showing a realistic approach to power politics which Kassem never demonstrated. Whether the Communists were within an ace of taking over, as the new leaders proclaim, is uncertain. They came close to seizing power last July, and Aref is taking no chances. In the last fortnight his forces are reported to have rounded up ten to twenty thousand Communists or pro-Communists.