Abdul Karim Qasim

Abdul Karim Qásim, whose full name was Abdulkarim Qasim Muhammed Bakr el-Fadhli ez-Zubaidi (in Arabic: عبد الكريم قاسم‎ 'Abd al-Karīm Qāsim AFI: /ʕabdulkariːm qaːsɪm /; Baghdad 1914-ibid. 1963) was an Iraqi politician and military man who held the positions of Prime Minister of his country, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces and Minister of Defense between 1958 and 1963. He led the Revolution of July 14, 1958 in which the Iraqi Free Officers, backed by Egypt, overthrew the Hashemite monarchy and proclaimed the republic. He is considered by many to be the father of modern Iraq.

His name can be transliterated in different ways from Arabic: Abdulkarim Kasem, Abdel-Karim Qassim, Abdul Karim Qasem.

Childhood and youth

Abdul Karim Qasim was born on Saturday, November 21, 1914 in the El Rusafa district, Baghdad (then controlled by the Ottoman Empire), into a poor family. He was the fourth of five brothers. His father was Qasim Muhammed Bakr El-Fadhli ez-Zubaidi, a farmer from the south of Baghdad who professed the Sunni Muslim religion and died shortly after Qasim was born. His mother, Kayfia Hassan Yakub Al-Sakini, professed the Shiite Muslim religion, was of Kurdish origin and a native of Baghdad.

Qásim's family made a living selling grain in the poor neighborhoods of Baghdad. With the start of World War I, his father was forced to enlist in the army and serve on the front, where he died.

In 1920 Abdul Karim and his family moved to Suwayra and six years later to Baghdad where Qasim studied high school thanks to a scholarship granted by the government for his good school results, obtaining his degree in 1931. Qasim had the possibility of obtaining a scholarship to continue studying at Al-Shamiya, but he rejected it, because the young man was clear that his real vocation was to be a soldier.

In 1932 he entered the Military Academy, graduating in 1934 as a second lieutenant. In 1935 he was part of the section of the army sent to repress the tribal revolts that occurred in the middle Euphrates. He was also deployed in May 1941 during the Anglo-Iraqi War, which led to the restoration of the Hashemite monarchy. He later entered college, where he graduated with honors. He later participated as a soldier in the suppression of the Kurdish insurrection that arose between 1945 and 1946, and later in the Arab-Israeli war of May 1948 to June 1949 during which he led a battalion. In 1951 he undertook a military course in Devizes Wiltshire, where he earned the nickname "snake charmer" due to his persuasive abilities. Between 1956 and 1957 he was sent to Mafraq, a city in Jordan, during the Suez Crisis.

During his military career Qasim had gained renown and leadership within sectors of the army dissatisfied with the regime and the monarchy.

Qasim and the Free Officers

Nasserism affected all countries in the region. Since the Egyptian revolution of 1952, sectors of the army had been plotting against the Hashemite monarchy, with Abdul Karim Qasim, brigadier general, and Abdul Salam Arif, colonel and Nasserist at the head. This group of soldiers called themselves “Free Officers” referring to the example of Egypt, and determined that the order established by the British since 1920 should be eliminated through revolutionary and violent means. It was made up of different ideologies, among which were Nasserists, Iraqi nationalists, autonomists, communists or social democrats.

The free officers opposed the Hashemite monarchy, which they accused of colluding with Great Britain and its imperialist interests. The British government had returned to power the Hashemite monarchy, which facilitated the achievement of its interests in the region and which the Free Officers considered pro-Western, under whose mandate the controversial Anglo-Iraqi Treaty had been signed in 1930 and the Pact of Baghdad in 1955, fueling accusations against the monarchy and Prime Minister Nuri al-Said of allowing British influence to continue in the country.

On January 31, 1958, the United Arab Republic was created, which Iraq tried to counterbalance politically by creating the Jordanian-Iraqi Arab Union on March 29 of that same year. The Arab Union, created to counteract the power of the United Arab Republic and Nasserism, was a federal project that united the two Hashemite monarchies, maintaining the sovereignty and independence of both countries and that sought to unify both armies and lead to carry out a foreign policy jointly. This situation is not well accepted in the army, in which two factions of “free officers”, independent and unrelated to each other, who had been organizing since the Egyptian coup d'état of 1952, come into contact with the creation of the Arab Union Jordanian-Iraqi and merge in order to overthrow the Hashemite monarchy.

The July 14 Revolution.

Due to the obligations contracted through the Arab Union created on March 29, 1958, Iraq ordered troops to be deployed on the border with Jordan to secure it against a possible attack from Syria or Egypt. The Free Officers found the perfect opportunity for the uprising since to reach the border it was necessary to pass through Baghdad.

On July 14, 1958, the Free Officers, led by Qasim, concentrated the troops under their command in the center and strategic places of Baghdad in order to carry out the coup d'état.

Groups of Free Officers divided to put an end to the main points of power. A platoon was sent to the royal palace with the order to execute the monarch Faysal II of Iraq and his family entourage, executed that same night, while other platoons went to the homes of important officials of the regime and Prime Minister Nuri al-Said, the who escaped that night dressed as a woman and would be captured and murdered by the masses the next day.

On the other hand, a platoon led by Abdul Salam Arif was in charge of taking over the radio station and announcing to the country that the government had been overthrown and that the Free Officers were in charge of the country, urging Iraqis to take to the streets and storm the royal palace, making them participate in the overthrow of the regime. During the following hours there was a wave of blood in the streets of Baghdad, with the murder of anyone accused of belonging to or sympathizing with the already overthrown monarchy or government.

It should be said that this revolution had great support, both popular and military. It was nothing more than the culmination of a discontent that had been brewing practically since the independence of Iraq and the concretion of the first Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1922, discontent that had also manifested itself on successive occasions, during the Kurdish revolts of 1935 or the coup d'état. of the Kurdish general Bakr Sidqi in 1936.

Government

Beginnings

After the coup d'état of the Free Officers, the Republic of Iraq was proclaimed (1958-1968), governed by a socialist military dictatorship.

A Sovereignty Council was created, headed by three military representatives representing the three main ethnic-denominational sectors of the country's population; the Sunni Muhammad Najib ar-Ruba'i, the Kurdish Khalid al-Naqshabandi and the Shiite Muhammad Mahdi Kubba. Aref, who had led the revolt along with Qasim, is appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy Commander-in-Chief. Qasim, at the head of the movement and the Government of the new republic, is appointed head of the Armed Forces, head of the Cabinet and Minister of Defense.

In the following weeks, numerous reforms were adopted: distribution of agricultural land, aid to poor families, urban plans, etc.;

Initially there was a certain plurality and openness, materialized in the provisional Constitution promulgated on July 27 of that same year, which even recognized the binational character of the Iraqi State, equality before the law and freedom regardless of ethnicity, nationality, language or religion. He also granted amnesty to Kurdish prisoners. However, Qasim began to shift towards greater authoritarianism.

He appointed Minister Naziha al-Dulaimi, who thus became the first female minister in the history of Iraq and the Arab world. She was also involved in drafting the Civil Affairs Law of 1959, which was far ahead of its time in liberalizing marriage and inheritance laws for the benefit of Iraqi women.

Dissent

Soon there was dissent within the government between the defenders of integration into the Nasserist project and the United Arab Republic and the nationalists, defenders of ensuring the independence and autonomy of Iraq. Abdul Karim Qasim, supported by the Iraqi Communist Party, the Kurds and the Shiites, belonged to this second group reluctant to integrate Iraq into Gamal Abdel Nasser's project. The other head of the revolution, Arif, supported by the Baath and the Nasserists, was sympathetic to the idea of integrating Iraq into the United Arab republic. On September 30, 1958, Qasim ordered the imprisonment and execution of Arif, his opponent within the party, whom he later pardoned and who, paradoxically, is the one who in 1963 would overthrow him and order Qasim to be executed.

Approach to the Soviet Union

Qasim began to build relations with the Iraqi Communist Party. He was his greatest government ally, although always subject to tight control and sometimes repression, in the eyes of public opinion he was equivalent to the regime. He in turn broke off relations with Western regimes and his foreign policy turned towards the Soviet Union. He also moved away from Egypt, thus eliminating the idea of joining the United Arab Republic and forming a Cairo-Damascus-Baghdag axis.

On September 3, 1958, an Agrarian Reform Law was approved that regulated property and promoted measures to improve the health, education and housing of the population. In February 1959 it signed an agreement with the Soviet Union to receive technical and industrial support and on March 27, 1959 it withdrew Iraq from the Baghdad Pact, reaffirming its anti-Western and socialist position and completely changing its position with respect to the old Government.

Coup attempts

During his mandate, Qasim had many open fronts and enemies both internal and external. He suffered coup d'état attempts such as the one in March 1958 in Mosul, promoted by groups dissatisfied with Qasim, among which were Baathists, Nasserists, groups of free officers related to Arif and the Muslim Brotherhood who had been removed from power. A second attempt occurred in March 1959, promoted by Commander Shawaf. On October 7, 1959, given the failure of previous attempts, he suffered an attack planned by the Baath party and the Nasserists, which took place on al-Rashid Street in Baghdad. Qasim was injured by several gunshots and remained in the hospital for a few days.

During his mandate, Qasim had many open fronts and enemies both internal and external. He suffered coup d'état attempts such as the one in March 1958 in Mosul, promoted by groups dissatisfied with Qasim, among which were Baathists, Nasserists, groups of free officers related to Arif and the Muslim Brotherhood who had been removed from power. A second attempt occurred in March 1959, promoted by Commander Shawaf. On October 7, 1959, given the failure of previous attempts, he suffered an attack planned by the Baath party and the Nasserists, which took place on al-Rashid Street in Baghdad. Qasim was injured by several gunshots and remained in the hospital for a few days.

Iraq National Oil Company

In September 1960, Qasim's government demanded that the Iraq National Oil Company (IPC), owned by other Anglo-American oil companies, give up part of the property and profits of the company. company to the Iraqi State. The IPC rejected the proposal, to which the Iraqi government reacted by publishing Public Law No. 80 by which it nationalized the IPC, an act that raised great opposition to the regime abroad and by which the United States government He was forced to put pressure on Qasim to no avail. That same year, OPEC was founded, of which Iraq was a part.

Ramadan Revolution

In 1961, Qasim's government demanded the annexation of Kuwait, which meant that it gained opposition from Arab countries since Kuwait was supported by the Arab League.

Over the next two years Qasim's position continued to weaken and he lost support both internally and externally. On February 8, 1963, the fourteenth day of Ramadan, Baathist forces staged a coup d'état in order to overthrow Qasim. The coup was led by his former comrade, Colonel Abdul Salam Arif, who, together with the Baathists and supported by the Egyptian regime, rose up against the regime in search of installing a pan-Arabist and pro-Nasserist government, as well as suppressing the influence of the communists.

Jalal al-Awqati, head of the communist air force, was assassinated and the Abu Ghraib radio station was subsequently occupied. For two days there were clashes between the Baathist militias led by Arif, and those related to General Qasim, who took refuge in the Ministry of Defense. There was a fierce and ruthless persecution, unleashing a series of bloody massacres against communist militants and those suspected of sympathizing with Marxism. Around five thousand civilians suspected of being communists were massacred by the Baathists in two days. The cruelty of the massacres was such that it scandalized the international community, and the Soviet Union even asked the UN for intervention to stop what the Soviets described as "genocide."

On February 9, after two days of brawls, Qasim surrendered in exchange for being allowed to leave the country alive and remain in exile, but his proposal was rejected and that same day he was executed by order of the organ of government formed by the coup plotters, the National Council of the Revolutionary Command.

The image of his corpse was broadcast on television after he was executed.

Regarding the coup against the Qasim regime, some sources maintain that the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was behind it. Although direct intervention has not been proven, the US government's knowledge and monitoring of the conspiracies against the Qasim regime can be affirmed.

Legacy

Qásim's government nationalized the oil industry and founded the Iraq National Oil Company.

On the socioeconomic level, he carried out progressive measures such as the abolition of polygamy, feudalism and the tribal system. He also carried out land reform and drew up a plan to extend literacy, healthcare and housing to the majority of the population.

In the cities, laws were enacted to improve the situation of the working class for which a large modern neighborhood was built on the outskirts of Baghdad that is today known as Sadr City.