978-1-4222-3442-6

54

I RAQ

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