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Copyright by Juan Lennart Michel Romero 2008 The Dissertation Committee for Juan Lennart Michel Romero Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: THE IRAQI REVOLUTION OF 1958 AND THE SEARCH FOR SECURITY IN THE MIDDLE EAST Committee: _____________________________ Wm. Roger Louis, Supervisor _____________________________ Hafez Farmayan _____________________________ Clement Henry _____________________________ Mark Lawrence _____________________________ Gail Minault THE IRAQI REVOLUTION OF 1958 AND THE SEARCH FOR SECURITY IN THE MIDDLE EAST by Juan Lennart Michel Romero, B.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2008 PREFACE This project has drawn extensively upon Arabic-language primary sources such as Iraqi and Egyptian newspapers and memoirs, and American and British diplomatic, political, and military documents. Arabic-language secondary sources have also been consulted to a great extent. These secondary sources have provided access to Arabic- language primary sources and have been of great value in that they reflect how interpretations of the primary sources have changed over time. Similarly, British and American primary sources also reflect the differences in American and British interpretations of the same Iraqi primary sources and also provide valuable insights into the American Embassy’s readings of British assessments of developments in Iraq and vice versa. Occasionally these reports also reveal Anglo-American rivalry in certain areas and frustration with the policies of the other side. Furthermore, these reports also reveal to what extent London and Washington disagreed with or condoned the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Sa‘id’s policies and attempted to influence him in one direction or another. Arabic-language memoirs have been drawn upon extensively for this study. Memoirs by former members of the Free Officers movement which overthrew the Iraqi monarchy have provided particularly useful information about the structure, program, meeting procedures, and coup plans of the movement, and the massacre of the royal family on July 14, 1958. Memoirs by former Iraqi ministers in cabinets, both in the monarchic and the revolutionary eras, have also been an important source of information about how Iraqi politicians viewed the issues of the day and the development program. iv Finally, transcripts from court proceedings against leading officials of the old regime published in Iraqi and Egyptian newspapers, and special economic reports also constitute especially valuable primary sources for this project. The former have been an important source in particular with regard to Nuri’s policies towards Egypt and Syria. American and British economic reports written by Western experts hired by pre-revolutionary governments to assess the policies of the Development Board, and a report presented at the trial of a minister of the revolutionary era shed much light from different angles on the problems of Iraq’s pre-revolutionary and revolutionary development policies. Compared to the existing literature on the Iraqi Revolution this dissertation differs from many other works in several respects. It offers a more detailed account and analysis of the Free Officers movement, its program, its numerous coup plans, and the tension among the leading officers than most other works on the Iraqi Revolution. There are scholars who may offer a more thorough analysis of a particular aspect of the movement, but there are few works, English-language or Arabic-language, which analyze in detail so many aspects of the Free Officers movement. Another issue which this dissertation has exhaustively analyzed is the events of July 14, 1958, that is the overthrow of the monarchy, which has been examined from more angles than by many other works. A third area which other works have largely disregarded is Qasim’s foreign policy, to which this dissertation devotes a whole chapter. Finally, this research project also analyzes in detail the explicit and implicit significance of the first proclamations of the revolutionary government. This study of the Iraqi Revolution draws upon sources available to other scholars as well. What sets it apart from many other works is its interpretation of the research material and some of the arguments which it advances. v THE IRAQI REVOLUTION OF 1958 AND THE SEARCH FOR SECURITY IN THE MIDDLE EAST Publication No. _________ Juan Lennart Michel Romero, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2008 Supervisor: Wm. Roger Louis This dissertation contends that a revolutionary situation built up in Iraq during the last decade of the monarchic system. Opposition to constraints on civil rights, close ties with Britain, accession to the Baghdad Pact, the semi-feudal economic system in rural areas, and the plight of the unemployed in the slums of the big cities fanned revolutionary sentiments in Iraq during the monarchic era. The ambitious development program financed with Iraq’s considerable oil revenues did not address these problems, however, since the program focused on large-scale and long-term projects which did not rapidly improve the situation of the poorer strata of the population. Furthermore, external events such as the formation of the Baghdad Pact in 1955 and the Suez Crisis of 1956 directly fueled anti-regime sentiments in Iraq, since students and intellectuals contended that the vi monarchy’s foreign policy had contributed to these events and isolated Iraq from its Arabs neighbors. The regime managed to remain in power, however, through heavy- handed suppression of any public manifestation of political opposition. This left the army the only force in Iraqi society capable of effectuating change. The regime was convinced of the army’s complete loyalty and therefore made the mistake to dismiss intelligence on coup plans. This dissertation further argues that the Free Officers coup of July 14, 1958, was the initial phase of a social, economic, political, and psychological revolution. The fact that Baghdadis took to the streets in massive numbers on the morning of July 14 shows strong popular support for and participation in the Free Officers coup. The foreign and economic policies of the new regimes also constituted a revolutionary departure from those of the monarchy. Furthermore, the new government declared that Iraq’s foreign policy would be based on the principle of neutralism, and that its economic policy would eliminate the semi-feudal system in the rural areas to build an equitable society. Iraq’s decision not to withdraw from the Baghdad Pact and not to nationalize the Iraq Petroleum Company was made for security reasons, and did not signify a continuation of the policies of the previous regime. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface........................................................................................................ iv Abstract...................................................................................................... vi List of Tables and Figures.......................................................................... ix Note on transliteration................................................................................. x Introduction..................................................................................................1 1. Internal Developments Prior to the Revolution of 1958.......................17 2. Regional Security and the Baghdad Pact..............................................39 3. Independent Iraq and Nuri al-Sa‘id—Domestic Policy (1) ..................62 4. Independent Iraq and Nuri al-Sa‘id—Domestic Policy (2) ..................88 5. Independent Iraq and Nuri al-Sa‘id—Foreign Policy.........................110 6. The Free Officers Movement..............................................................136 7. The July 14 Coup and Popular Reactions...........................................166 8. The Revolutionary State: Structure and Reforms ...............................192 9. International Reactions to July 14, 1958.............................................219 10. The Qasim Regime’s Foreign Relations............................................244 11. Arab Unity and Disunity....................................................................268 Conclusion ...............................................................................................295 Table 1 .....................................................................................................308 Figure 1 ....................................................................................................309 Figure 2 ....................................................................................................310 Bibliography ............................................................................................311 Vita...........................................................................................................325 viii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1. Iraq’s oil revenues 1950 – 1960.................................................308 Figure 1. The Middle East February 1, 1958 – July 14, 1958 .................309 Figure 2. Iraq, July 14, 1958....................................................................310 ix NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION This dissertation uses two diacritical marks to transliterate Arabic names, titles, and terms—(‘) for ‘ain and (’) for hamza.