Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr
Adnan Khairallah | |
---|---|
1st Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council | |
In office 17 July 1968 – 16 July 1979 | |
Deputy | Saddam Hussein |
Preceded by | Post established |
Succeeded by | Saddam Hussein |
Regional Secretary of the Regional Command of the Iraqi Regional Branch | |
In office October 1966 – 16 July 1979 | |
National Secretary | Michel Aflaq |
Preceded by | Saddam Hussein |
Succeeded by | Saddam Hussein |
In office 11 November 1963 – February 1964 | |
Preceded by | Hamdi Abd al-Majid |
Succeeded by | Saddam Hussein |
Member of the Regional Command of the Iraqi Regional Branch | |
In office 11 November 1963 – 16 July 1979 | |
Personal details | |
Born | |
Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr
Al-Bakr first rose to prominence after the
Al-Bakr and the party then pursued underground activities and became vocal critics of the government. During this period, al-Bakr was elected the Ba'ath Party's Iraqi branch's Secretary General (the head), and appointed his cousin, Saddam Hussein, the party cell's deputy leader. Al-Bakr and the Ba'ath Party regained power in the coup of 1968, later called the 17 July Revolution. In the coup's aftermath, he was elected the chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council and the president; he was later appointed the prime minister. Saddam, the Ba'ath Party's deputy, became the deputy chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council and vice president, and was responsible for Iraq's security services.
Under al-Bakr's rule, Iraq grew economically due to high international oil prices, which strengthened its position in the Arab world and increased Iraqis'
Early life and career
Al-Bakr was born 1 July 1914 in
In the late 1950s, when Saddam became a member of the Ba'ath Party, the two established a bond. Their future close relationship became possible because of Saddam's uncle, Khairallah Talfah. At the very beginning, Saddam was only a Ba'ath Party member, not a party activist.[6]
Because of Qasim's government's repressive policy towards the opposition, Ali Salih al-Sa'di, Secretary (leader) of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party's Iraqi branch, reorganised the party's rank and file, and on 24 December 1962 launched a nationwide protest against Qasim's government. The government's treatment of dissent did not soften and by 1963 several leading Iraqi Ba'athists had travelled to Beirut to plan a coup against Qasim. The plan was simple: to build a support network in the military.[7] A Military Bureau was established to set these plans in motion.[8] Al-Bakr was elected its chairman.[9] The bureau managed to recruit increasing numbers of officers, most often through personal attachments to certain people; for instance, some officers attached themselves to the bureau because of their relationship with al-Bakr.[10] Al-Bakr led the February 1963 Iraqi coup d'état,[5] later called the Ramadan Revolution, and overthrew Qasim's government.[7]
On the road to power
Prime Ministership: 1963
In the coup's aftermath,
To solve the ideological differences between the party factions, al-Bakr called a meeting of the National Command, the leading organ of the Ba'ath Party. The meeting did not go as al-Bakr planned, and Michel Aflaq, the Secretary General of the National Command (the Ba'ath Party leader), suggested that the National Command should take over the Iraqi Ba'ath Party cell. The meeting led Arif, the President, to lead the November 1963 Iraqi coup d'état.[12]
Underground and the 17 July Revolution: 1964–1968
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Following his and the party's ouster, al-Bakr was jailed.
Following the
The coup of 1968, later referred to as the
Immediately after the coup, a power struggle broke out between Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party led by al-Bakr and the military wing, led predominantly by an-Naif and Daud. an-Naif and Daud had been appointed Prime Minister and Minister of Defence respectively, while al-Bakr was appointed President and Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, which had been established the morning after the coup and had become the highest executive and legislative branch of government.[27] While an-Naif and Daud, according to Con Coughlin, should have had the upper hand because of their support within the military, they lost the power struggle to al-Bakr due to his political skills and the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party's organisational structure.[28] An-Naif was removed from office on 30 July 1968, and Daud lost his position shortly after. They were both exiled. Their removal was later referred to by the government as the "correctional coup".[29] Al-Bakr consolidated his position in government by appointing himself Prime Minister and by appointing his close associate, Hardan al-Tikriti, as Minister of Defence in the aftermath of the "corrective coup".[30]
Presidency: 1968–1979
Economics
Economic system
Despite al-Bakr's and the Iraqi-led Ba'ath Party's radical rhetoric, their economic policies were neither radical nor very
Agricultural policy
From the very beginning, al-Bakr's handling of Iraqi agriculture was handled with a populist touch. For instance, in 1969 the government cancelled all compensation for sequestered lands. This decree relieved the beneficiaries of the reform by removing the financial burden. Investments in agriculture increased, and by May 1970 the government had introduced a new land reform. This land reform tried to revitalise Iraqi agriculture by resolving some of the issues of the previous land reforms, such as by paying more attention to the relationship to the type of land and irrigation system, and limits on how much land could be owned.
The introduction of subsidies and the removal of financial burdens from the peasantry were populist, but were also part of al-Bakr's plan of creating a patrimonial system with himself at the top. This system gave the economic levers of powers to the political elite, which it used to confiscate the properties of its political opponents. The continued sequestration of land increased the strength of the patrimonial system; members of the political elite could bestow lands to people to increase the support for the government. The government could do this because the government was Iraq's biggest landowner. The co-operatives which had been established provided a means of social control through their regulation. Corruption also proved to be a problem, and the acquisition of land of people close to the political leadership was repeated on a scale not seen since the time of the monarchy.[35] This patrimonial system also favoured those who already owned land; roughly one-third of agricultural land was owned by the estimated 3 percent of landowners. Instead of confiscating their property, and evening out the distribution of land, the government kept the system in place.[36]
By the mid-to-late 1970s, the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party's land reform was beginning to have an effect. By 1976, 71 percent of state-owned land was given 222,000 new farmers. These farmers were also given up-to-date agricultural equipment. Co-operatives increased from a low 473 in 1968 to 1,852 in 1976.[37]
Oil industry
The government, which was still embroiled in a conflict with the
The nationalisation of the IPC proved to be the last important element of foreign control over Iraq's control, and Iraq as a whole. Austerity measures were introduced in anticipation of the loss of revenue. Even so, the nationalisation proved highly popular with the people. In addition, al-Bakr and Saddam had taken steps to make the anticipated loss less severe on the people and the economy; Saddam visited Moscow and negotiated a treaty whereby the Soviet Union would buy some of Iraq's oil, and second, the government did not nationalise the IPC subsidiaries and gave French members "special treatment". These French members bought nearly a quarter of Iraq's oil production. This policy proved highly successful, and there was a massive increase in the price of oil in the aftermath of the 1973 Arab–Israeli War. The oil revenues strengthened the political elite's patrimonial system; the means of patronage exceeded "anything available to" previous rulers.[39]
After the nationalisation of the IPC, Iraq's oil revenue increased from 219 million
Standard of living
On taking power, the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party promised wealth distribution and a more equal society; the government's effort to implement this was hampered by the government's lack of revenue. The government was able to fulfill this promise with the increase in oil revenues in the 1970s.
Domestic policy
The Kurds
Under Bakr conflicts intensified between the government and the Kurds. In early 1974 heavy fighting erupted in northern Iraq between government forces and
Repression
In July 1978 a decree was passed which made all non-Ba'thist
Foreign policy
His government initially supported closer ties with Nasser, and under his rule Iraq almost joined the United Arab Republic. The flag of Iraq was modified in preparation for this goal. However, the relationship with Nasser deteriorated and the Iraqi media led a campaign to counteract and reverse the wide Iraqi street support of Nasser with some regular comedy based radio shows famously known as "G'ood's program". The program was suddenly terminated when Nasser died.
Bakr's government also strengthened Iraq's ties with the Soviet Union. On 9 April 1972, Iraq and the Soviet Union signed a treaty of friendship. The two countries agreed to cooperate in political, economic, and military affairs. The Soviet Union also agreed to supply Iraq with arms.
According to historian Charles R. H. Tripp, the Ba'athist coup of 1968 upset "the US-sponsored security system established as part of the Cold War in the Middle East. It appeared that any enemy of the Baghdad government was a potential ally of the United States."[44] From 1973 to 1975, the Central Intelligence Agency colluded with Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran to finance and arm Kurdish rebels in the Second Iraqi–Kurdish War in an attempt to weaken al-Bakr. When Iran and Iraq signed the Algiers Agreement in 1975, the support ceased.[44]
Death
Al-Bakr died in October 1982 of unreported causes. He was given a state funeral, attended by Michel Aflaq (father of the Ba'athist ideology), who was reported to have led his funeral procession, and King Hussein of Jordan. He was buried in Baghdad's Al Karkh cemetery.[45]
See also
Notes
- Arabic: أحمد حسن البكر 'Aḥmad Ḥasan al-Bakr
References
- ^ Profile of Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr
- ^ Al-Rajibi, Ahmad (1980). النجوم الزواهر في شجرة الأمير ناصر (in Arabic). دار الحرية،.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-85109-947-4.
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- ISBN 0-06-050543-5.
- ISBN 978-0-521-87823-4.
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- ISBN 0-06-050543-5.
- ISBN 0-06-050543-5.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-87823-4.
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- ISBN 0-313-29186-1.
- ISBN 978-0-521-87823-4.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-87823-4.
- ISBN 978-0-521-87823-4.
- ISBN 0-06-050543-5.
- ISBN 978-0-521-87823-4.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-87823-4.
- ISBN 0-313-29186-1.
- ^ ISBN 0-06-050543-5.
- ISBN 0-06-050543-5.
- ISBN 0-06-050543-5.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-87823-4.
- ^ "Former Iraqi president Ahmed Hassan Al-Bakr, who died Monday".