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from Iraqi petroleum production would no longer be split with for-
eign companies managing the oil fields. The foreign companies had
received half of the profits. As a result, a torrent of money flowed to
al-Bakr’s government. By 1975 Iraq was earning some $8 billion a
year from the sale of oil.
This wealth enabled the Baathist government not only to build
up the military, but also to pour money into health care and edu-
cation. Baghdad went through a building boom and turned from a
dusty town of mud-brick houses into a modern city of high-rises.
But al-Bakr faced several problems as he and his associates
tried to reinforce their hold on the government. Iran had often
fought with Iraq over their common border on the Shatt al Arab,
and in the early 1970s Iran was once again insisting that the
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Abd al-Rahman Arif, who assumed the presidency in 1966, relaxed government restrictions
on personal freedom and arranged a cease-fire with the Kurds. But within two years his
regime was overthrown by the socialist Baath Party.