Word: baath
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Dates: during 1980-1980
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Iraq is ruled by the revolutionary Baath Party. So is Syria. Yet they are on opposite sides. The overwhelming majority of Syrian and Libyan Arabs are Sunni Muslims. Yet they are allied with the Shi'ite Persians of Iran, whom devout Sunnis consider schismatics. Revolutionary Iraq is fighting its war against Iran with Soviet rifles, tanks, planes and missiles. Its new ally, the ultraconservative monarchy of Saudi Arabia, defends itself against Iran's U.S.-made Phantom jets with the latest American equipment. As Iran chants its hatred of "the Great Satan America," its armed forces are surprising the world, thanks...
...nation is united against the Persian aggressors. They took our land, and now we will take their lives." The merchant looked up at one of the omnipresent portraits of Saddam Hussein on the wall and handed his visitor a stack of propaganda from the ruling Baath Party. Said he with a smile: "If you want to know what the Iraqi people think of the war, just read this...
...Iraq's pro-Western monarchy. In 1959, under sentence of death in absentia for his involvement in an assassination attempt against President Abdul Karim Kassem, a general who had seized power the year before, Saddam fled to Syria and Egypt. In Cairo he studied law and joined the Baath Party, a revolutionary group of Arab nationalists. He returned to Iraq in 1963, and by the time the Baathists staged their 1968 coup under General Bakr, Saddam had become second in command. He set up his own secret police organization, suppressed all challengers, and soon became the real power...
...pressure. In the first place, its political and military leadership is largely Sunni Muslim, while over half of Iraq's 12.8 million people are Shi'ite Muslims who share a sense of community with their religious brethren in Iran. Moreover, the Baghdad regime is Baathist, and the Baath Party, both in Iraq and Syria, favors secularism, social reconstruction and economic development. To make matters worse, Iran has reportedly been inciting the Kurds in northern Iraq to rebel against Baghdad. For their part, the Iranians suspect that the current border troubles are being aggravated by Iranian exile groups, including...