2. Pro-Soviet Iraqi socialists gained power in Iraq in 1958. They killed the pro-
British King of Iraq, and established a socialist dictatorship, moving Iraq in
the Soviet zone of influence. At the time the Soviets were not selling oil to
the West and they did not see Iraq as a competitor.
As soon as the Iraqi socialists came to power, they started claiming parts of
the Iranian province of Khuzestan. Khuzestan is located at the southern
Iranian-Iraqi borders, and it is one of the richest in oil regions of Iran. The
Iraqis based their claims on the fact that there are many Arabs living in
Khuzestan. As a result the Iraqi socialists opened straight away a rivalry
with the Iranians, a rivalry that would be culminated with the bloody
Iranian-Iraqi war of 1980-1988.
Map of Khuzestan
4. Another great problem between the Iraqis and the Iranians is the Shatt al-
Arab River, which is the confluence of Tiger and Euphrates, and constitutes
the border between Iran and Iraq at the south.
Map Shatt al-Arab River
5. http://www1.american.edu/ted/images3/iraq-150.gif
Saddam Hussein was a strong member of the socialist Baath Party, and
managed to rise to power in 1979. It was the period when the previous
President of Iraq, Hassan al-Bakr, was discussing with the socialist President
of Syria, Hafez al-Assad, the possibility of uniting Syria and Iraq, so that the
Iraqis could send their oil to the Europe through Syria, and the Syrians
would earn commissions.
Saddam Hussein was afraid that the powerful Hafez al-Assad would be in
charge of the new country, and threatened and forced Hassan al Bakr to
resign, and he became the President of Iraq in 1979. Saddam Hussein and
Hafez al-Assad continued the negotiations, but they did not reach a final
agreement, because the Iraqis wanted the Iraqi army in Syria, and the
Syrians did not want that.
6. I have to say that the Assad-Hussein plan of the 70s was a humble imitation
of Gamal Nasser’s plan in the 60s. Gamal Nasser, the socialist leader of
Egypt, wanted Egypt to conquer Israel and Syria to conquer Lebanon, in
order to unite the coasts of East Mediterranean Sea, which would allow
Egypt and Syria to earn big commissions from the Arabs of the Persian Gulf,
in order to allow them to export their oil to Europe. That’s why relations
between Egypt and Israel, and relations between Syria and Lebanon were so
bad. To this very day Syria and Lebanon have not managed to fully
normalize their relations, even though there is so much pressure on them by
Iran. Iran now wants to export its oil through Syria and Lebanon.
Now Iran is Israel’s greatest enemy, but before the rise of the Islamists in
power, the Israelis and the Iranians were the strongest allies. At the time
there were always two wars ready to break out. One war between the Arabs
on one side and the Iranians and the Israelis on the other, and one war
between the Arabs of the East Mediterranean See (Egypt, Syria) on one
hand, and the Arabs of the Persian Gulf on the other (Saudi Arabia, United
Arab Emirates etc).
The Israeli victory of 1967 in reality was a victory of the Iranians and the
Israelis against the Arabs. At the time the Israelis and the Iranians wanted to
construct the Eilat-Ashkelon Pipeline, which would send oil to Europe
through Israel, avoiding the Suez Canal and Egypt. Gamal Nasser moved his
army in the Sinai Peninsula, in order to block Israel from the Red Sea, but
Israel attacked Egypt and won the war. The next year, in 1968, the Israelis
and the Iranians established the Eilat-Ashkelon Company, with Israel
holding 50% of the shares, and Iran holding the other 50%. See Wikipedia.
7. “Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company”
1st
Paragraph
The Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company (EAPC) operates several petroleum and petroleum
productspipelines in Israel, most notably the Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline. It also operates
two oil terminal and depots in the country. The company was originally formed in 1968
as a 50/50% joint venture between Israel and Iran (during the Shah's rule) to transport
crude oil from Iran to Europe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eilat_Ashkelon_Pipeline_Company
Map Israel-Iran Eilat-Ashkelon
For more information about the intra-Arab war for oil see “The Intra-Arab
War for Oil 1950-1970”
https://iakal.wordpress.com/2015/06/09/the-intra-arab-oil-war-1950-1970/
8. Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Muslim, even though he was a socialist, he had to
face domestically a much larger Shiite majority, which could also be
influenced by Iran. Originally the Sunni Iraqi socialists were hoping that by
using socialism in order to crash religion they would manage to homogenize
the population. 60-65% of the Iraqi population are Shiite (Shia) Muslims,
20-25% are Sunni Muslims, and 10-15% are Kurds. Kurds are mainly Sunni
Muslims. See “Iraq Demographic Profile”.
http://www.indexmundi.com/iraq/demographics_profile.html
At the following map you can see with green the Shiite regions, with pink
the Sunni regions, and with brown the Kurdish ones.
Map Iraq : Shiite Arabs (green), Sunni Arabs (pink), Sunni Kurds (brown)
9. The Iraqi socialists found out that the socialist model was not working as
well as expected, and they started using Sunni Islamism too, in order to
counter weight the Shiite element of Iraq, and also to unite the Sunni
element of the country. For the use of Islamism by Saddam Hussein see the
Telegraph “Saddam has Koran written in his blood”, December 2002, and
the New York Times “How Saddam Hussein Gave Us ISIS”, January 2016.
Saddam Hussein used what the New York Times call “Baathi-Salafism” i.e.
a combination of socialism and Islamism. Saddam even introduced parts of
10. the Islamic Law (Sharia) i.e. hands were cut-off from thieves, homosexuals
were thrown from tall buildings etc. Moreover, due to the economic
sanctions that were imposed on Saddam Hussein by the West, Saddam
developed a sophisticated smuggling network, in order to send Iraqi oil to
neighboring countries. This network was based to many mosques that were
used as intermediaries. Today the ISIS of Iraq is using the same networks
that were built by Saddam Hussein. See New York Times How Saddam
Hussein Gave Us ISIS”, January 2016.
Therefore the Sunni Islamists of Iraq, who are today supported either by
Turkey or by the Arabs of the Persian Gulf, are mainly the Islamists who
were trained by Saddam Hussein. Especially after the Gulf War of 1991,
when Saddam was defeated by the West, and his army was greatly
weakened, and the Shiites and the Kurds revolted, Saddam Hussein used
even more radicalized forms of Islam. For the Shiite uprisings of Iraq see
BBC “Flashback: the 1991 Iraqi revolt”, August 2007.
Therefore the Sunni Islamist militants supported by Turkey and the Arabs in
Iraq today are ex allies of Saddam Hussein, and most of the time they use
the same smuggling networks that were used by Saddam Hussein, in order to
sell Iraqi oil to neighboring countries. I suggest you read the New York
Times article “How Saddam Hussein Gave Us ISIS”, January 2016.
Articles
“How Saddam Hussein Gave Us ISIS”, January 2016
11. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/23/opinion/how-saddam-hussein-gave-us-
isis.html
“Flashback: the 1991 Iraqi revolt”, August 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2888989.stm
“Saddam has Koran written in his blood”, December 2002
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/1416155/Sadd
am-has-Koran-written-in-his-blood.html
“Iraq–Syria relations”
5th
, 6th
, 7th
Paragraphs
By October 1978, Iraq President, Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr began working closely with
Assad to foil the Camp David Accords; signing in Baghdad a charter for Joint National
Action which provided for the "closest form of unity ties" including "complete military
unity" as well as "economic, political and cultural unification".[3]
In 1978 Iraqi President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr and Hafez al-Assad, had agreed to a
plan and started to make treaties that would lead to the unification of Iraq and Syria.
This plan was to come into effect in July 1979, however Saddam Hussein, the Deputy
Secretary of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party, fearful of losing his power to Assad (who was
supposed to become the deputy leader in the new union), forced al-Bakr into retirement
under threat of violence.[4][5]
Unity talks did continue between Assad and Hussein after July 1979, but Assad rejected
Iraqi demands for a full merger between the two states and for the immediate deployment
of Iraq troops into Syria. Instead Assad, perhaps fearful of Iraqi domination and a new
war with Israel, advocated a step-by-step approach. The unity talks were eventually
suspended indefinitely after an alleged discovery of a Syrian plot to overthrow Saddam
Hussein in November 1979.[
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq%E2%80%93Syria_relations
12. “Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company”
1st
Paragraph
The Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company (EAPC) operates several petroleum and petroleum
productspipelines in Israel, most notably the Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline. It also operates
two oil terminal and depots in the country. The company was originally formed in 1968
as a 50/50% joint venture between Israel and Iran (during the Shah's rule) to transport
crude oil from Iran to Europe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eilat_Ashkelon_Pipeline_Company
“The Truth About the US Invasion of Iraq in 2003”
https://iakal.wordpress.com/2015/12/02/the-truth-about-the-us-invasion-of-
iraq-in-2003/
