54 / 128
with the Iraqi people because of his many reforms that helped the
lower classes. He improved education and health care and began a
land reform program that gave poor people farms of 20 to 40 acres.
However, Qasim allowed no representative government and
became more and more dictatorial. His harsh policies caused many
political groups to meet secretly. By the early 1960s, the Baathists
had infiltrated the Qasim government and were able to enlist many
civilians and army officers into their party.
But it was the continued dissatisfaction of Iraq’s Kurdish popu-
lation that ultimately undermined Qasim’s dictatorship. The Kurds
had supported the 1958 overthrow of the monarchy; in exchange
Qasim had promised the Kurds a measure of equality with the Arab
Iraqis. This never materialized, and by September 1961 the Kurds
rose up against the Qasim government. Qasim ordered the bomb-
ing of Kurdish villages.
The Kurds asked the Baath Party for help, promising to stop
fighting if Qasim were removed from power. On February 8, 1963,
military units loyal to the Baath Party assassinated an army officer
who supported Qasim. After a day of fighting between the Baathist
units and troops loyal to the government, Qasim was captured,
brought before a military tribunal, and sentenced to death. Abd
al-Salam Arif, who had been imprisoned by Qasim, was freed and
named president.
After the overthrow of Qasim, no plan had been developed to put
a new government into place. The first action of the Baath Party’s
leaders was to eliminate Qasim’s supporters and try to solidify their
own position. Almost 3,000 were killed in the fighting that followed.
The National Guard of the Baath Party, a military force that had
grown to 30,000 men, carried out attacks against those the party’s
leaders felt were not in complete agreement with Baathist beliefs.
The Guard arrested and tortured many innocent people. The Baath
Party seemed especially determined to take the Kurdish territory
I
RAQ
54