A Dangerous Job
Looking at the biographies of Saddam Hussein's predecessors, Vlast analytical weekly found that his fate was far from unique. In the 85 years of its existence, almost none of its leaders have died in bed.
The First Steps of Iraqi Statehood
Iraq was formed as a state within its current borders in 1920 after the breakup of the Ottoman Empire. Great Britain received the mandate to rule the country. On August 23, 1921, the British appointed Faisal ibn-Hussein al-Hashimi king of Iraq. He already had leadership experience. From March to July 1920, he had been king of Syria. In spite of regular anti-British uprisings and frequent changes of prime ministers, Faisal I was able to maintain his power and even achieved Iraqi independence in 1932. That independence was a formality, since two large British military bases remained in Iraq and British advisors controlled the Iraqi government and transportation systems, mostly importantly the port of Basra, through which all the country's shipments by sea passed.
Faisal I was the only Iraq ruler to die of natural causes and remain in power to the end of his life. He died of a heart attack at the age of 50 on September 8, 1933, in Berne, Switzerland. His son, Ghazi I, inherited the throne. The young king faced the same problems as his father: political instability (the cabinet of minister changed four times between 1933 and 1936), popular uprisings (there were at least three major uprisings in those same three years) and nationalist and leftist activity. On October 29, 1936, there was a military coup in Iraq. Formally, Ghazi I remained in power, but in reality the Kurdish minister of the military Bakr Sidqi was the country's dictator. He ruled a total of ten months. A group of officers, dissatisfied with having a Kurd controlling the country, infiltrated the Sidqi's bodyguards with an agent. The conspirators had four plans to assassinate Sidqi. One of those plans worked when a soldier killed the dictator with two shots in the airport in Mosul.
Ghazi I soon joined the list of Iraqi leaders who died young. In April 1939, he died when the sports car he was driving wrecked. The exact circumstances of his death are unclear. It is known that he hot a road block at a high speed. Some historians link his death to the fact that he had ordered an invasion of Kuwait just before his death. Others have suggested that the king was the victim of a British conspiracy intended to prevent the Arab countries from uniting.
Clashes of Powers
After Ghazi I's death, the throne passed to his son Faisal II, who was four at the time of his father's death. The late king's cousin Abd al-Ilah was appointed regent. Soon the Second World War began in Europe and Germany and Great Britain began interfering in Iraq politics. Both countries were interested in Iraqi oil. Iraq also occupied an important position geographically on the approach route to the jewel in of the British Empire, India.
Rashid Ali al-Kaylani was appointed prime minister in 1941. He demanded that the British remove their forces from Iraq. In response, the British landed infantry in Basra, which marched to Baghdad in a month. al-Kaylani fled to Iran.
The regent was restored to power and Nuri Said, a staunch defender of British interests who had landed in Basra with infantry, became prime minister. He held that post a total of 14 times in his career.
In wartime, with a 100,ooo-strong contingent of British troops on its soil and a ban on the activities of political parties, stability reigned in Iraq (not counting regular Kurdish uprisings). No more leaders died. At the end of the war, the ruling elite of the country, that is, the regent, the young king and the regularly-appointed Nuri Said, thanks to their anticommunism and signatures on oil agreements, had good relations with Britain and the United States. In 1953, Faisal II reached 18 and was crowned. His rule lasted five years.
On July 14, 1958, there was a military coup in Iraq by the Free Officers organization. The mutineers surrounded the Royal Rihab Palace and fired on it with artillery. After the upper levels of the palace had been destroyed, the king came out, and was killed by machinegun. His body was put on display in front of his residence. The former regent Abd al-Ilah was also killed. His body was tied to a car and driven through Baghdad before it was finally hung from a bridge over the Tigris.
The king's sister and several dozen more distance relatives of the king were killed as well, as was Nuri Said. Of all the members of the royal family inside the palace, only Abd al-Ilah's wife Princess Hiyam remained alive, because the soldiers did not notice the wounded princess under a pile of bodies. Later, she was able to flee to Saudi Arabia.
The Generals' Republic
After the coup, Iraq was ruled by one of the Free Officers, Abd al-Karim Qassim, who held the posts of prime minister, defense, minister and chief commander of the armed forces. To avoid confusing his titles, Gen. Qassim was usually referred to as the “sole leader.” The new government turned away from the former pro-Western policy and oriented itself to the USSR.
The Baath (Renaissance) Arab socialist party became active at this time. The party was founded in 1943 by Syrian Christian Michel Aflaq and quickly gained popularity in the Arab world, especially in Syria and Iraq. Calling itself a pan-Arab party, it called for the unification of all Arab countries.
This new force began to fight for power. On October 7, 1959, Gen. Qassim survived a Baathist assassination attempt. His bodyguards shot the majority of the attacker, but 22-year-old Saddam Hussein was able to escape with injuries.
Gen. Qassim was popular with the people. At the beginning of 1963, he bragged that he had survived 38 assassination attempts. The 39th was fatal, however. He was overthrown by his former advisor and professional military man Abdul Salam Arif, who entered into a secret agreement with Baath and staged a coup on February 9, 1963. Qassim was arrested in Baghdad and shot after a hasty trial. The bloody corpse of the sole leader was shown on television for several days to convince the people that he was really dead.
Power now rested with Gen. Arif as the chairman of the command council and Ahmed Hasan al-Bakr as prime minister. The military-Baath coalition lasted ten months. On November 18, 1963, there was another military coup. Gen. Arif removed all members of al-Bakr's Baath party from power and declared himself president. He began to build “Arab socialism.”
On April 13, 1966, Abdul Salam Arif was killed in a helicopter crash in southern Iraq. His brother, Gen. Abdul Rahman Arif, a participant in the 1958 uprising, took the reigns in the country, but not for long. On July 17, 1968, Baathists and members of the underground officers' Arab Revolutionaries Movement staged a coup. Abdul Rahman Arif avoided the fate of his predecessors, however. After being deposed, he was sent into exile. In 1979, the former ruler returned to Iraq to live out his days.
Baathist Rule
Remembering their unfortunate experience with the 1963 military coalition, the Baathists were quick to remove army officers from leadership positions. The Revolutionary Command Council became the highest governing body. It was led by Ahmed Hasan al-Bakr, who had been in office in 1963. Beginning in the mid-1970s, power gradually shifted to vice president Saddam Hussein, who controlled the special services, among other things.
Gen. al-Bakr ruled until July 1979, when he stepped down for health reasons. He died from his illness on October 4, 1982, the third Iraqi ruler to die of natural causes.
Saddam Hussein became the head of state on July 16, 1979. His first move in his new capacity was to repress all supporters of al-Bakr, in a manner reminiscent of the Stalinist purges in the USSR. Soon after al-Bakr's resignation, Hussein gathered all the country's top leadership in a large hall. A deputy prime minister and distance relative of Hussein took the podium and unexpectedly began to repent for a conspiracy against the state. Hussein theatrically clutched his head and cried out “Could you really do all of that?” The supposed conspirator then pointed out nine members of the Revolutionary Command Council, who were arrested on the spot and executed several days later.
Hussein constantly changed his inner circle and cruelly repressed any signs of dissatisfaction or disagreement. He ruled for 24 years, longer than any Iraqi ruler. He left office only in April 2003, when American forces and their allies entered Baghdad. Then he hid for some time. He was uncovered in December 2003 and handed over for trial. Last week, he was sentenced to be hanged. Even if that sentence is reduced, he cannot be counted among the Iraqi leaders who had a peaceful old age.
Mikhail Alexeev, Evgeny Khvostik
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 13, 2006
|
