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5 The Revolutionary Era, 1958–1968 In 1958, a coup d’état by Abd al-Karim Qasim felled the monarchy, and this would be the first of four coups in ten years. Qasim and his followers did not just change the cabinet; they violently overthrew the Hashemite monarchy. Qasim intended to bring about long overdue changes within Iraq, thereby helping large numbers of poor people. Thus, he passed Law No. 30, which allowed the government to expropriate land from large holders and redistribute it to peasants. Oil income was finally beginning to flow in Iraq, and Qasim also intended to make sure that the poor, not just the traditional oligarchic elite, would benefit. As a result, the government would spend millions of dollars on housing projects in Baghdad. Despite Qasim’s populist reforms, however, there was no hiding the fact that he ruled by virtue of military force. And so, it would be military force that would end his regime, commencing a cycle of coups that marked the decade. The emerging Ba’th Party overthrew Qasim’s regime in 1963, gaining control of the government only after two days of street-fighting. Its authoritarian tendencies soon made themselves known, but the Ba’th could, at that point, only maintain control for nine months. In November 1963, the more moderate Abd al-Salam Arif, a conservative Sunni, took over, but he too relied on the loyalty of the military in holding onto his power. When he died in 1966, his brother Abd al-Rahman took over the reins of power. His rule did not last long. In 1968, the Ba’th once again took power, this time definitively , ruling until 2003. This chapter provides insight into a decade consisting of political instability amid some socioeconomic advances. The American ambassador published a firsthand account of the coup of 1958, and his description gives readers insight into U.S. responses to Qasim’s radical platform. An anonymous author draws attention to the reasons for this coup, showing how the corruption of Hashemite officials affected the middle and lower classes. The politicization of Iraqis, however , was pooh-poohed by American magazines like National Geographic, which The Revolutionary Era, 1958–1968 / 161 presented Iraq as an a-historical fantasyland. Fearing disenfranchisement, some rich Arab Sunnis plotted Qasim’s overthrow. One Kurd’s testimony provides a window on the failed coup by Abd al-Wahhab al-Shawwaf in Mosul in 1959. This revolt was put down, and Qasim continued with his reforms. These reforms embraced a revolution in the status of women, so this chapter includes testimony by upper-class women who benefited from new laws regarding women in the 1950s and 1960s. Despite advances in women’s rights, all was not well in Iraq. The government waged a war with Kurds between 1961 and 1963. An American journalist traveled with Mustafa Barzani, leaving a firsthand account of the toll this war took on Kurdish people. American Response to Qasim’s Coup d’État The Cold War officially came to the Middle East in November 1956. That year, the former colonial powers France and Great Britain—along with Israel—instigated the Suez Crisis, forcing the United States to support its erstwhile nemesis Egypt’s President Gamal Abdel Nasser. The United States did so in order to preserve the peace and ensure that the Soviet Union did not get a foothold in the region. Two months later the U.S. President issued his eponymous Eisenhower doctrine, which allowed any Middle Eastern country to request economic or military aid to resist aggression. With this doctrine, the United States made it clear to the world that it had a vested interest in the goings-on in the Middle East. Based on this doctrine, the United States would militarily intervene in civil conflict in Lebanon in order to secure their interests in this pro-Western country . This military intervention in July 1958 had unanticipated (and unwelcome) consequences in Iraq. In fact, this military intervention acted as a catalyst for the overthrow of the Hashemite regime by Gen. Abd al-Karim Qasim and his supporters. Qasim was a Brigadier General in the Iraqi army, and his unit was to be sent to the Iraqi border with Lebanon. Instead, his unit stopped in Baghdad and overthrew the government. Forces loyal to him killed the royal family and Prime Minister Nuri al-Said, who was trying to escape dressed as a woman. Qasim insisted that he would make Iraq a democratic country, but...

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