MONGABAY.COM
Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development (more)
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
|
|
Iraq
Index
Iraq's disappointment in its relations with the Soviet Union
gradually led to a tilt toward the West. This process began as
early as 1974 when prominent Baathists such as Bakr, Saddam
Husayn, and Aziz expressed the need for a more pragmatic, less
ideological approach to relations with "the Western capitalist
world." For example, the government stated in January 1974 that
the West was not composed "totally of enemies and imperialists,"
that some countries were relatively moderate, and that there were
contradictions among the principal Western nations. These views
became the basis on which the regime established generally
cordial relations with Britain, Italy, France, the Federal
Republic of Germany (West Germany), and Japan.
Iraq's closest ties were with France, which came to rank
second to the Soviet Union as a source of foreign weapons. Iraq
imported billions of dollars worth of French capital and consumer
goods during the 1970s and signed several agreements with French
companies for technical assistance on development projects. A
major project was the Osiraq (Osiris-Iraq) nuclear reactor, which
French engineers were helping to construct at Tuwaitha near
Baghdad before it was bombed by Israel in June 1981. Because Iraq
was a signatory to the nuclear weapons Nonproliferation Treaty
and had previously agreed to permit on-site inspections of its
nuclear energy facilities by the International Atomic Energy
Agency and because France expected to reap considerable economic
benefits from Iraqi goodwill, France agreed to assist in the
reconstruction of the nuclear power station; however, as of early
1988 no major reconstruction work had been undertaken.
Economic links with France became especially important after
the war with Iran had begun. Arms purchases from France, for
example, continued in the 1980 to 1982 period when the Soviet
Union was withholding weapons supplies. France also provided Iraq
generous credits, estimated at US$7 billion, during 1980 to 1983
when oil revenues were severely reduced on account of the warrelated decline in exports. To demonstrate its support further,
in 1983 France provided Iraq with advanced weapons, including
Exocet missiles and Super Etendard jets, which Iraq subsequently
used for attacks on Iranian oil loading facilities and on tankers
carrying Iranian oil.
Iraq's ties with the United States developed more slowly,
primarily because the Baathists were antagonistic to the close
United States-Israeli relationship. Relations had been severed
following the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War, before the Baath came
to power, but after 1968 the government became interested in
acquiring American technology for its development programs. State
organizations were therefore permitted to negotiate economic
contracts, primarily with private American firms. In discussing
the United States during the 1970s, the government emphasized,
however, that its ties were economic, not political, and that
these economic relations involving the United States were with
"companies," not between the two countries.
Even though Iraqi interest in American technical expertise
was strong, prior to 1980 the government did not seem to be
seriously interested in reestablishing diplomatic relations with
the United States. The Baath Party viewed the efforts by the
United States to achieve "step-by-step" interim agreements
between Israel and the Arab countries and the diplomatic process
that led to the Camp David Accords as calculated attempts to
perpetuate Arab disunity. Consequently, Iraq took a leading role
in organizing Arab opposition to the diplomatic initiatives of
the United States. After Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel
in 1979, Iraq succeeded in getting members of the League of Arab
States (Arab League) to vote unanimously for Egypt's expulsion
from the organization.
Concern about the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran and about
the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan prompted Iraq to reexamine
seriously the nature of its relationship with the United States.
This process led to a gradual warming of relations between the
two countries. In 1981 Iraq and the United States engaged in lowlevel , official talks on matters of mutual interest such as trade
and regional security. The following year the United States
extended credits to Iraq for the purchase of American
agricultural commodities, the first time this had been done since
1967. More significant, in 1983 the Baathist government hosted a
United States special Middle East envoy, the highest-ranking
American official to visit Baghdad in more than sixteen years. In
1984, when the United States inaugurated "Operation Staunch" to
halt shipment of arms to Iran by third countries, no similar
embargo was attempted against Iraq because Saddam Husayn's
government had expressed its desire to negotiate an end to the
war. All of these initiatives prepared the ground for Iraq and
the United States to reestablish diplomatic relations in November
1984.
In early 1988, Iraq's relations with the United States were
generally cordial. The relationship had been strained at the end
of 1986 when it was revealed that the United States had secretly
sold arms to Iran during 1985 and 1986, and a crisis occurred in
May 1987 when an Iraqi pilot bombed an American naval ship in the
Persian Gulf, a ship he mistakenly thought to be involved in
Iran-related commerce. Nevertheless, the two countries had
weathered these problems by mid-1987. Although lingering
suspicions about the United States remained, Iraq welcomed
greater, even if indirect, American diplomatic and military
pressure in trying to end the war with Iran. For the most part,
the government of Saddam Husayn believed the United States
supported its position that the war was being prolonged only
because of Iranian intransigence.
Data as of May 1988
|
|