Iraqi Ba‘thists In America’s Cold War (covert Action, Paramilitarism And Violence)
By (author) Matthews, Weldon C.
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By (author) Matthews, Weldon C.
Short description/annotation:
Explores the US government''s covert relations with the Iraqi Ba‘th Party as it brutalised Iraqi communists.
Description:
This book reveals the covert relationship of the United States with the Iraqi Ba‘th Party in the 1960s. The book traces this relationship from the party’s underground activities, through its first seizure of power, to the party’s return to clandestine organising after its overthrow by a military coup. The administration of President John F. Kennedy armed the Ba‘thist regime, provided content for its media, and trained its personnel. A state-private network sponsored by the Central Intelligence Agency supported Ba‘th Party labour and student organizations. Simultaneously, the regime detained, tortured, and murdered thousands of Iraqi communists. It also waged a genocidal war against Iraqi Kurds. Bringing Iraqi women into the story, the book explores how both Americans and Ba‘thists imagined a democratic future for Iraq and rationalized their resort to insurgent and counterinsurgent violence.
Table of contents:
Acknowledgements Note on Transliteration and Translation List of Abbreviations Introduction: Violence and Decolonization 1. The Emergence of the Iraqi Ba‘th Party 2. Rebuilding the Iraqi Ba‘th Party 3. A Coup and Counterinsurgency Doctrine 4. Extirpating the Iraqi Communist Party 5. Ba‘thists and the American State-Private Network 6. Paramilitarism and Mass Politics Epilogue: A New Ba‘th Party Bibliography
Review quote:
‘Decades after the US toppled Saddam Hussein, Matthews illuminates the 1960s origins of Ba‘thist rule. Using new Arabic and Central Intelligence Agency sources, he shows how para-state militias intensified a Ba‘thist–Communist struggle to mobilise Iraqis and define postcolonial liberation. This long-awaited study confronts Iraq’s experience with American imperialism, anticolonialism and political violence.’
Review quote:
Iraqi Ba‘thists in America’s Cold War is a major achievement. Its strengths are manifold: exhaustive archival work, command of both American and Iraqi sources, careful disentangling of rumor from reality, and a willingness to grapple with the ideological underpinnings of violence and modernization. Matthews gives us a nuanced understanding of US-Iraqi relations in the 1960s, one that avoids conspiracy theories while refusing to absolve American officials of responsibility.
Review quote:
Offers an analytically sophisticated account that challenges simplistic narratives. The important historical insights offered by Matthews’ work make it an essential resource for scholars of security, intelligence and modern Middle Eastern history.
Biographical note:
Weldon C. Matthews is Associate Professor in the Department of History at Oakland University
Feature:
Reveals new details of the Central Intelligence Agency’s relationship with the Ba‘th Party
Feature:
Provides a full account of the early Iraqi Ba‘th Party
Feature:
Brings Iraqi women into the history of covert action and Cold War violence
Feature:
Draws on previously unexploited Iraqi memoirs and Ba‘th Party documents
Short description/annotation:
Explores the US government''s covert relations with the Iraqi Ba‘th Party as it brutalised Iraqi communists.
Description:
This book reveals the covert relationship of the United States with the Iraqi Ba‘th Party in the 1960s. The book traces this relationship from the party’s underground activities, through its first seizure of power, to the party’s return to clandestine organising after its overthrow by a military coup. The administration of President John F. Kennedy armed the Ba‘thist regime, provided content for its media, and trained its personnel. A state-private network sponsored by the Central Intelligence Agency supported Ba‘th Party labour and student organizations. Simultaneously, the regime detained, tortured, and murdered thousands of Iraqi communists. It also waged a genocidal war against Iraqi Kurds. Bringing Iraqi women into the story, the book explores how both Americans and Ba‘thists imagined a democratic future for Iraq and rationalized their resort to insurgent and counterinsurgent violence.
Table of contents:
Acknowledgements Note on Transliteration and Translation List of Abbreviations Introduction: Violence and Decolonization 1. The Emergence of the Iraqi Ba‘th Party 2. Rebuilding the Iraqi Ba‘th Party 3. A Coup and Counterinsurgency Doctrine 4. Extirpating the Iraqi Communist Party 5. Ba‘thists and the American State-Private Network 6. Paramilitarism and Mass Politics Epilogue: A New Ba‘th Party Bibliography
Review quote:
‘Decades after the US toppled Saddam Hussein, Matthews illuminates the 1960s origins of Ba‘thist rule. Using new Arabic and Central Intelligence Agency sources, he shows how para-state militias intensified a Ba‘thist–Communist struggle to mobilise Iraqis and define postcolonial liberation. This long-awaited study confronts Iraq’s experience with American imperialism, anticolonialism and political violence.’
Review quote:
Iraqi Ba‘thists in America’s Cold War is a major achievement. Its strengths are manifold: exhaustive archival work, command of both American and Iraqi sources, careful disentangling of rumor from reality, and a willingness to grapple with the ideological underpinnings of violence and modernization. Matthews gives us a nuanced understanding of US-Iraqi relations in the 1960s, one that avoids conspiracy theories while refusing to absolve American officials of responsibility.
Review quote:
Offers an analytically sophisticated account that challenges simplistic narratives. The important historical insights offered by Matthews’ work make it an essential resource for scholars of security, intelligence and modern Middle Eastern history.
Biographical note:
Weldon C. Matthews is Associate Professor in the Department of History at Oakland University
Feature:
Reveals new details of the Central Intelligence Agency’s relationship with the Ba‘th Party
Feature:
Provides a full account of the early Iraqi Ba‘th Party
Feature:
Brings Iraqi women into the history of covert action and Cold War violence
Feature:
Draws on previously unexploited Iraqi memoirs and Ba‘th Party documents
