The Playground

In 1958 there was a revolution in Iraq. The new Prime Minister, Abdel Qasim, began to nationalise the oil fields. ‘We are fighting...’ he declared, ‘…for the industrialisation of our republic and an end to our dependence on the sale of crude oil.’

Washington had other plans. Deciding that the opposition Ba’ath party was….

"…the political force of the future."

…the CIA met with activists, including Saddam Hussein. In the coup that followed, thousands were arrested, tortured and killed. Qasim himself…

"…suffered a terminal illness before a firing squad."

But in 1972, the Ba’ath government nationalised Iraq’s oil.

OPEC was wresting control from the West. As prices rose, America threatened to invade the Gulf, prompting Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to mine their oil fields. But since a clash with the Soviets was inadvisable, more discreet methods of management were found.

Working with the Shah of Iran, the CIA funnelled weapons to Kurdish rebels in Iraq. Neither government wished the Kurds to win the war that followed:

"They merely hoped to ensure a level of hostilities high enough to sap the resources of […] Iraq"

Baghdad conceded to Iranian border demands, the Shah closed the frontier to the rebels, American ‘aid’ was withdrawn and the Kurds forced to surrender.

"Covert actions…’’

Kissinger explained,

"….should not be confused with missionary work."

Repression intensified as Iraq moved towards dictatorship, but Western companies vied for business as the Ba’ath Party began to spend.

Oil revenues were invested in the country and a modern infrastructure built: roads, hospitals, clean water, power. Food was subsidised, health care and education free. Qasim’s vision of an independent nation was within reach.

In 1977 Senator Henry Jackson’s report to the Natural Resources Committee advised that:

"… the defence of the oil resources of the Gulf […] constitutes one of the most vital and enduring interests of the United States."

Iran had provided a cover for American influence - but that was about to change.

In 1979 the Shah was overthrown and the Ayatollah Khomeni swept to power in an Islamic revolution. Tensions flared as he denounced America, and the new President of Iraq: Saddam Hussein. After months of border skirmishes, Iraq invaded.

Years of bloody trench warfare followed. Iran attacked with ‘human waves’ of soldiers, some as young as fourteen and Iraq used chemical weapons. But despite an international arms ban, Britain, France and both Superpowers supplied military equipment to the Iraqi regime.

[US senator Alfonse D’amato]

'Since Saddam Hussein was aligned against Ayatollah Khomeni and the Iranians, we gave him everything.’

A nervous Kuwait and Saudi Arabia bankrolled Iraq throughout the war and the U.S. bombed Iranian ships and oil platforms. But America was also sending arms to Iran.

In 1988, the Iranians captured the Kurdish town of Halabja. Iraq counter-attacked with nerve gas and five thousand people were killed. Exiled Kurds staged a hunger strike at the UN to draw attention to this atrocity - but no vital or enduring interest was shown. The following year, America sold Iraq raw materials for chemical weapons, and Britain sponsored an Arms Fair in Baghdad.

The West, as Britain’s Defence Minister acknowledged, had been…

"..well served by Iran and Iraq fighting each other."

By the time the war ended, eight hundred thousand young men were dead, and Iraq, which started the war with reserves of thirty billion dollars, was now eighty billion dollars in debt.