Maine Owl

The 1958 Revolution

This is an episode of Twentieth Century history that escapes attention here in America but is essential background if you want to understand what is happening in Iraq. If you can even find reporting these days (total network coverage is minimal), you almost never see a decent story about how Iraqis feel about being occupied.

That observation fits well with the fact there is no significant story in a major U.S. paper marking the events of that summer one-half century ago. The BBC has an "On this day" item HERE. I'll watch the network news for a story, but I'm not holding my breath.

The prolific author and long-time activist Tariq Ali fills in some of the missing context for the Bush attack, conquest, and occupation in his important 2003 book, "Bush in Babylon", while giving proper respect for the culture and consciousness of the Iraqi people. Ali describes the removal from power of the British-installed imperial monarchist government:

On 14 July 1958 the Free Officers seized power and declared Iraq a Republic. At 6.30 am, the first proclamation was read on Radio Baghdad by Colonel Aref, who informed the country that

"... with the loyal aid of the loyal sons of the people and the national armed forces, we have undertaken to liberate the beloved homeland from the corrupt crew that imperialism installed. Brethren, the army is of you and for you and has carried out what you desired ... your duty is to support it in the wrath that it is pouring on the Rihab Palace and the house of Nuri al-Said. Only by preserving it from the plots of imperialism and its stooges can victory be brought to completion ..."

The military leaders had planned to exile the young king Feisal II, but to arrest and try his uncle, the Crown Prince Abdul-Ilah, and Nuri al-Said for crimes against the people. Plans had been made to carry out the verdicts without delay. Obviously they would have been found guilty and executed, but all this was preempted by a young officer ...

Ali goes on to describe the grisly scenes of the ensuing assassinations of the royal family.

These events precipitated a flurry of tense reaction from Washington. On July 15, 1958, 1,700 Marines of the US Sixth Fleet arrived in Lebanon and two days later 2,000 British paratroopers landed in Amman. Noam Chomsky provided further context with respect to the U.S. national security establishment in a talk on nuclear weapons and U.S. global domination in March 2002 (broadcast on Democracy Now!, archived HERE). Chomsky called 1958 a "critical year" for U.S. imperialism and gave these very illuminating comments about the Iraqi revolution,

CHOMSKY: It was the first year that some country, namely Iraq, had been able to break out of the Anglo-American condominium over the world's energy resources. Iran had tried [in 1953]... but there was a U.S.-British military coup that overthrew it. Iraq actually broke out and it was a huge issue. A big flurry of activity, military forces all over the place, almost came to nuclear weapons ...

[If you look at those records you find that] President Eisenhower, in internal discussion, observed to his staff, his words, "There's a campaign of hatred against us in the Middle East, not by governments, but by the people."

And there was discussion about this [in the National Security Council]. They said [the reason is] there's a perception in the region that the United States is supporting harsh and brutal and corrupt regimes and is blocking democratization and development, and is doing so because of our interest in controlling the oil reserves of the region. And they said it's difficult to counter this perception because it's accurate.

Perhaps the Bush regime attack on and destruction of Iraq could be seen as an attempt to reverse once and for all the 1958 Iraqi "break out of the Anglo-American condominium over the world's energy resources." The "status of forces" and oil contracting plans all reflect such a neo-colonial approach. Certainly, Iraqis are responding by demanding a timetable for U.S. withdrawal and so far resisting the permanent codification of U.S. immunity in their country.