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Qasim Abd al-Karim Edit Profile

also known as Abd Al-Karim Qasim Muhammed Bakr Al-Fadhli Al-Zubaidi

military officer brigadier

Abd al-Karim Qasim was a premier of Iraq and leader of the military coup that in 1958 overthrew the monarchy of King Faisal.

Background

Abd al-Karim was born on November 21, 1914 in Baghdad, Ottoman Empire. His father, Qasim Muhammed Bakr Al-Fadhli Al-Zubaidi, was a farmer from southern Baghdad and an Iraqi Sunni Muslim of Arabic descent who died shortly after his son's birth during World War I. Qasim's mother, Kayfia Hassan Yakub Al-Sakini was a Shiite Muslim from Baghdad. When Qasim was six years of age his family moved to Suwayra, a small town near the Tigris, then to Baghdad in 1926.

Education

Abd al-Karim graduated from the Baghdad Military College at the age of 20, and began his soldier's career as a second lieutenant. In 1941 he graduated from the Iraq Staff College.

Career

After serving with infantry units, Abd al-Karim was assigned in 1939 as an instructor at the Military College. As a major and battalion commander he served against Kurdish tribesmen in northern Iraq and in the Arab-Israeli war. In 1955 he was appointed brigadier general and placed in command of the 19th Infantry Brigade. During these years Abd al-Karim was the leader of a revolutionary movement in the army that had laid careful plans for overthrow of the government along the lines of Egyptian President Gamal Abd al-Nasser's (Gamal Abdel Nasser) seizure of power. On the night of July 13-14, 1958, Abd al-Karim's brigade and other army units staged a coup d'etat resulting in the murder of Faisal. Abd al-Karim was made premier and minister of defense in a new revolutionary regime. He described the foreign policy of the new government as one of "positive neutrality, " but as events progressed he appeared to be forming bonds with the Communist bloc. By 1959, however, he was evidently attempting to restrain pro-Soviet elements in the government. A series of revolts within the country made Abd al-Karim's road a rocky one. Relations with the United Arab Republic, poor for many months, became seriously strained in September 1959 when it was reported that the UAR had financed a military revolt in the Mosul area. The resulting executions were believed to have inspired an attempt on Abd al-Karim's life, on October 7, when he was shot several times and narrowly escaped death. Closer cooperation with Communists, a Kurdish revolt begun in September 1961, and student strikes in 1962 further weakened Abd al-Karim's regime. On February 8, 1963, a coup led by Iraqi air force officers ousted Abd al-Karim's government and on February 9, Abd al-Karim and three aides were executed.

Achievements

  • Abd al-Karim was a nationalist Iraqi Army brigadier who seized power in a 1958 coup d'état, wherein the Iraqi monarchy was eliminated. He ruled the country as 24th Prime Minister. During his rule, Qasim was popularly known as al-za‘īm (الزعي�

    ) or, "The Leader".

Politics

Qasim lifted a ban on the Iraqi Communist Party, and demanded the annexation of Kuwait. He was also involved in the 1958 Agrarian Reform, modelled after the Egyptian experiment of 1952. Qasim is said by his admirers to have worked to improve the position of ordinary people in Iraq, after the long period of self-interested rule by a small elite under the monarchy which had resulted in widespread social unrest. Qasim tried to maintain the political balance by using the traditional opponents of pan-Arabs, the right wing and nationalists. Up until the war with the Kurdish factions in the north he was able to maintain the loyalty of the army.