"People of the People: Victory is with us ... and we are determined to crush colonialism and its agents ... Do not pay attention to traitors and treachers ... God is with you and the intruders will know ... they will know when lightning strikes are directed at them ... We have come to direct them to them ... God bless you children Good spare .. Officers: Crush the treacherous treachers .. Crush them .. I am Abdul Karim Qasim .. We are stronger and more determined for the sake of the poor and victory for the people of Iraq. ”(1 )

With these words, the Prime Minister Abdel Karim Qassem appealed to the Iraqi people, after the February 8, 1963 coup, but these words were not heard by anyone but Qassem, as he recorded them on the backup radio station of Al-Zuhour, but the coup prevented their broadcasting after they He controlled all the vital installations of the state, with the help of Qasim's close friend "Abd al-Salam Aref", who seized the opportunity to take his old revenge, Qasim preceded him and turned against him, and put the gallows around his neck, but the difference between them was that Qasim could not execute the death sentence, but Arif executed it. When the opportunity arose. What is the story of this friendship, which lasted for 20 years, ended in a coup and was executed by firing squad?

Friendship started on the military college grounds

In 1938 in the courtyard of the Military College in Baghdad, the first meeting that brought together "Abdul Karim Qasim", the college’s teacher, and "Abdul Salam Aref", the student in the first year, started from the beginning of the threads of friendship between the professor and his student, so he shared the professor, who preferred Aref over the rest of the students, He knew the obedient student who did not see a leader and a teacher who was not divided.

Abdul Karim Qasim and Abdel Salam Aref (networking sites)

The friendship between them would continue until Aref graduated from the Military College in 1941, and here the two friends parted, as Aref was appointed after his graduation as commander of one of the armored companies in Baghdad, (2) and participated in the Rashid Al-Kilani Revolution (Mayes Revolution) in 1941, which protested the subordination of Prince Abd God Bin Ali Al-Hashemi, regent to the throne of Britain and allowing it to increase its influence in Iraq, as the result was Abd al-Ilah escaping from Iraq, and then isolating him, and the installation of "Sharif Sharaf" in his place, and the formation of Al-Kilani for his third coalition government, but this time only lasted one month Because of Britain's rejection of it, as this government was opposed to its interests, it was lost Al-Kilani previously refused to cut diplomatic ties with Italy for its participation in the Second World War against Britain. (3)

This caused Britain's fear of the Al-Kilani government, as it saw that this government would act against its interests, so it decided to launch war on and occupation of Iraq and to overthrow the Al-Kilani government and sentence him and his companions to death in absentia, and then both "Abd Allah", the guardian of the throne, returned to rule again. And with him Nuri Al-Saeed, an Iraqi politician and military who held many positions during the monarchy, was Minister of Defense and Minister of Interior, and finally Prime Minister until the July 1958 coup in Iraq. (4) Because of the fall of the al-Kilani government, Nuri and Abd al-Ilah returned to power again, Aref was transferred to Basra in the same year, and he was appointed an officer in the Military Stkhbarat, and there he met his friend Qasim again, and numerous meetings between them, which has always revolved around the poor conditions experienced by the Iraqi people, and the subordination of Prince "Abdul Ilah" regent and "Nuri" Prime Minister of the policy of the British occupation. (5)

In order in the foreground is King "Faisal II", the King of Iraq, the Guardian of the Throne "Abdul Ilah", and Prime Minister "Nuri Al-Saeed" (networking sites)

After that, the two friends separated, as they both went to work in areas far from each other, but just as the military life dispersed them, they brought them together again to work together in the city of Kirkuk, and in 1948 they participated together in the Palestine war, so Qasim was sent to the city of "Kafr Qasim" , While Aref went to the city of "Jenin", and there continued meetings between them due to the small distance between the two cities, and after the war ended, they returned together to Iraq, and the friendship between them became more solid. (5)

However, they were separated again in 1951 after Aref traveled to participate in a training course in the German city of Dusseldorf, where he remained for five years, during which period Qasim established a secret organization called “Al-Mansour.” This organization later merged with the officers ’organization. Al-Ahrar (National Officers) to its leader, Major Rifat Al-Haj Sarri, who founded it at the end of 1952 in order to overthrow the monarchy in Iraq, and it is similar to the Egyptian Free Officers ’Organization. The Iraqi Officers Organization took the name and idea of ​​the Egyptian Officers Organization after its success in overthrowing the regime Royal in Egypt in 1952. (6)

A rare video that combines Abdul Karim Qasim and King Faisal II

In 1956, Aref returned to Iraq and he and Qasim met again, and because of the strong friendship between them, Qasim joined him to the Free Officers ’Organization, despite all members of the organization rejecting Aref (7) because of his“ nervous personality and his lack of control over his emotions and sectarianism, ”but with insistence Qassem said, “This is with us in the organization, and he knows everything.” Members of the organization agreed to include him (8). On the other side, the Palestinian historian Hanna Batato stated that Aref wrote in his memoirs published in the Egyptian magazine “Rose Al-Youssef” that he included Qasim for Organization, saying: "On one of the nights of December I met the martyr Rifaat al-Haj Sari in the officers' club, and he would have met We have a relationship with the conditions in our country, and we agreed from the very first moments that the decisive moment for revolutionary action was within reach, and there were among the high-ranking officers who took over the organization of forces pending the day of the revolution, Abdul Karim Qasim, who first approached him in the matter of participating with us in 1954 and 1955. When he served with his command as commander of one of the 19th Brigade. "(9)

But Batato questions Arif’s dictation of this story to the editor of “Rose Al-Youssef,” and believes that it was the editor who added it, especially as it contravened the statement “Rifaat al-Hajri Seri” during the “People's Court” in which he said: “At the beginning of our activities, the retired colonel Abdul Salam Arif was not He belongs to our organizations, and in the year 1956 - I think - we have been exposed by the Honorable Leader Abdul Karim Qasim for the first time to the topic ..., and this is what made us surprised, because of our lack of confidence - as we were - the retired colonel, to prepare him and his lack of caution ... I did not meet him until about before Two months into the revolution, and I found on that day that we shared our feelings, goals, and policy for the revolution, and I couldn't hide my surprise By this, I told him that our impression of him was very negative. '' (9)

Batato continues his speech by saying: “Regardless of whether or not the group under discussion is directly related to Aref and ultimately to Siri, there is an unacceptable point: in the year 1955, when the group began to establish its presence among the free officers, Qasim was the one who stood on her head and directed it independently of the main movement, and that Sari sent the first president, “Shakib al-Fadhli,” asking for Qasim’s support and participation with them, so he agreed, and began to cooperate closely with them, and in 1957 the Qasim group merged with the main movement. (9)

He explains that Arif’s annexation of Qasim does not have sufficient proofs, and he commented that the reason behind the emergence of this story was “just a hypothesis,” in the year 1959 when the dispute between Qasim and the nationalists was at its most intense, and the second thing is that the story reappeared in Abd al-Salam Aref’s memos as a fully developed fact And he mentioned that in the year 1957, Qassim Qarif came to the meeting of the committee, and everyone was surprised, especially since his membership was not under discussion, but Qassem reassured the members, and told them that he was confident of Arif, and as a result of that Qassim and Arif performed the oath of loyalty to the Qur’an He formally joined the commission. " In the same year Qassem was elected as the head of the organization, because he has the highest military rank in it, as he reached the rank of brigadier general in the army, (9) In addition to Qasim's strong relationship with Nuri Al-Saeed and his blind trust in him, all this will facilitate the coup process, and thus Qassem became head of the organization. (10 )

Abdul Karim Qassem and Nuri Al-Saeed (Communication sites)

The July 1958 coup that defeated friendship

Dear brothers: “The army is among you and for you, and it has done what you want and removed the oppressive class that has underestimated the rights of the people. Colonial conspiracies and its faults, and therefore we address our call to you to inform the authorities of every spoiler, offender and traitor to eradicate it, and we hope that you will be one hand from Sulaimaniyah to Rutba, and from Zakho to Faw, Iraq one hand to eliminate these and get rid of their evil. (10)

With these words written by Qasim and Aref, Aref released the first statement of the July 14, 1958 coup, which the first planned and executed the second, in light of the organization’s reluctance to carry out the postponement and postponed it to do it more than once, so Arif and Qasim decided with them, Colonel “Abd al-Latif al-Darraji” seeking To obstruct the meetings of the Supreme Committee, and to fabricate problems, for their eagerness to carry out the coup alone and not to tell anyone, so Aref tells in his memoirs, saying:

"Often the meetings of the High Commission were held and the results are theoretical and most of them are controversial, and indeed many of the officers have withdrawn from the Commission, and finally Qassim told us, let us compliment them as brothers so that we do not waste our brothers and implement our oath, but the decisive action between me and you, and indeed many of the officers of the revolution tried Knowing the time and day of the movement, so our father answered, and our goal was concealment and surprise, and on Thursday July 10, 1958 witnessed a wide activity, I had to order all the officers in charge of carrying out the operation to explain to them the details of the plan and its actions. I chose confidentiality, it was our goal Concealment and surprise and very few had enough to notify a number of officers, and they who will be the duties of implementation, and it was my duty to control my brigade twenty unarmed headquarters and received his leadership. "(10)

Thus, the coup knew a few members of the organization’s members, along with Aref and Qasim, while the rest of the members of the organization learned about it through radio, (10) The coup succeeded in seizing power and overthrowing the monarchy, and Qasim and Aref came to know the ruling and distributed positions between them and the officers who Together with them they staged the coup, Qassem assumed the posts of Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, and Aref assumed the positions of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior. (11)

As for “Naguib al-Ruba’i”, he became the president of the Sovereignty Council until the president of the republic was elected, and the rest of the ministries were distributed to members of the organization. (11) Qassem and Aref and with them al-Darraji formed the first ministry in the Republic’s era, and appointed friends close to them, so Qasim appointed his friend “Mustafa Ali” as minister. For justice, as for Aref, he appointed his friend, "Jaber Omar," as Minister of Education, and Daraji appointed his relative, "Mohamed Saleh Mahmoud", as Minister of Health. (11)

“Abd al-Karim Qasim” and “Abd al-Salam Aref” stand behind their uniforms, along with those who carried out the coup of July 1958 (communication sites)

On the other side, the coup achieved other goals for the benefit of the Iraqi people, including the release of detainees and political prisoners, the reduction of prison sentences for Kurds sentenced to prison for their participation in the Kurdish uprisings that took place in the period 1943-1945 against the monarchy, and the distribution of land to farmers under the law Agrarian reform (11)

As for the royal family, the new government confiscated their property and property, in addition to disposing of them by killing by firing squad, headed by King Faisal II, the crown prince, and Prince Abd al-Ilah, regent to the throne, and some of the Iraqis dug the bodies in the street, Then they ended up burying Faisal's corpse in a pit, and Abd al-Ilah's body was cremated and thrown into the Tigris River, thus ending the royal era and the bloody Republican era in Iraq began. (12)

Yesterday's friend is an enemy today

The relationship between Abd al-Karim Qasim and Abd al-Salam Aref was exceptional, as General Muhyiddin Abd al-Hamid tells about it: "Abd al-Karim depended on Abd al-Salam Aref and considered him more than a friend, and considered him a brother, and all secret matters and decisions - I imagine - were seen by Abd Peace, and they study because they were close to each other, and our meetings took place from week to week when Qasim was coming to Baghdad, and Abd al-Salam was also attending. (13)

This intimate friendship, which brought them together, and which raised the surprise of the organization's officers, lasted only months after the July coup, so differences between them quickly erupted due to Qasim and Arif's ambition to control power, (14) It was the beginning with Aref's attempt to show himself as a bomber. The real revolution through his visits and press and television meetings, as he was talking about himself and his broadcasting of the statement of the revolution, while he did not even mention the name Qasim, as well as his pivotal role. (15)

Abdul Karim Qasim after the success of the 1958 coup (communication sites)

On the other side, Qassem saw himself as the leader, the spiritual father and the architect of the revolution, so he gathered all the powers in his hand, so the Prime Minister, the Minister of Defense, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, disrupted the sovereignty council, and canceled the formation of the National Council to lead the revolution. (15)

The matter did not stop there, but other disputes arose because each of them insisted on placing his close friends in important positions. (16) Add to all that difference in intellectual attitudes, so Qasim was the owner of a leftist approach, and in return he was aware of an Islamic nationalist trend. All of these things made Qasim see his old friend as his "sworn enemy" that must be disposed of, and he issued a decision to relieve Aref from his ministerial posts and appoint him as ambassador to Iraq in the Federal Republic of Germany, (17) but Arif objected to this position at the beginning, saying: 

“On the morning of October 11, 1958 (Tahir Yahya) and (Fouad Aref) visited me in my residence, and I understood from them that Qasim wanted to meet me to settle the issue of my travel, and I left them to get dressed, and inside my room the idea had been sealed in my mind, I pulled my gun and put it In an honest place in my jacket and I went out with them and went to the Ministry of Defense, I entered Qasim’s room and found him with (Wasfi Taher), then he asked my description to get out of the room, and he stopped telling me, trying to convince me to refrain from my decision, and that he would provide me in Germany with everything I ask. ”

"And I have to go to Bonn until things calm down and then bring me back again, so I told him that just leaving Baghdad is something I do not accept, and I cannot give in to the will of a handful of populists who harbor evil for this country, but Qassem Aad urges me once with threats and again with promises, and when I He gave up trying to finish the interview and went to the room door to open it for me. At this moment, my hands moved toward my gun, which I took out from his reservoir cautiously while Qassem was trying to open the room door. At this moment he had entered the office of Qasim, a number of officers, so I put my gun back in his place, Another solution had to be found. '' (18)

Aref surrendered to the fait accompli and decided to travel to receive his work, and Qassem went to see him off at the airport, and it was only months until Aref returned again to Iraq, and he was referred to the military court on charges of attempting to assassinate Abdel Karim Qassem and participating in the coup against him. (19) In 1959, a verdict was issued against Know the final dismissal of the armed forces and hanging by hanging. His decision to execute him remained in Qasim’s office without ratification or exemption, (20) until Aref sent a letter to Qasim from prison saying: “My lord, my leader and my brother, the leader Abdel Karim .. I am from you as a harrow from Moses. My children are waiting for me ... "(21) This message was said to have caused Qasim to grant his pardon in 1962 and was placed under house arrest. (22)

Friendship ended with the execution of a friend of age

Qasim could not end Aref’s life, but he was just excluding, but Arif had another opinion. He decided to take revenge on Qasim and to turn against him through his house arrest, and he was helped in that the period of Qasim’s rule witnessed many things that caused the people to reject him For example, Qasim was unilaterally in power and “drove all the national forces out of power and abused by them,” then the failed coup attempt by officer Abdel Wahab al-Shawaf Ali Qasim, in which many suspects were arrested and brought to trial. (23)

A side of the People's Court or the Mahdawi Court

This trial was known as the “People's Court”, or the “Mahdawi Court” in relation to Colonel “Fadhel Abbas al-Mahdawi,” the cousin of Abd al-Karim Qassem, who issued a death sentence against 22 people accused of participating in the coup. This matter raised great controversy especially that who issued the ruling is A relative of Qasim, which some considered an unfair verdict. (23) Add to this Qasim's claim to annex Kuwait to Iraq, which caused great anger in the Arab world that resulted in Iraq withdrawing from the membership of the League of Arab States. (24)

  Qasim talks about Kuwait being part of Iraq

Kassem then suppressed the rebellions and uprisings that had taken place on the part of the Kurds, (25) and all these matters accumulated and were the cause of the collapse of Qasim’s popularity and the demonstrations against him in many parts of Iraq, and the result was that on February 8, 1963, Arif Seddik, the military college, succeeded in the coup. Ali Qassim and control the reins of government, with the help of the Baath Party, which was founded by Fouad al-Rikabi in 1952, and in cooperation with nationalist movements and some independent military personnel, and Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, who will then become prime minister and then president of Iraq. (26)

On the second day of the coup, Aref succeeded in controlling the Ministry of Defense building, and here two narratives were mentioned; the first narration was that “it was agreed between Qasim and Aref that the first stopped fighting in exchange for the trial of Qasim a fair trial.” The second narration is “Qasim’s surrender.” (27) It was said It was a dialogue between Qasim and Aref before his execution, where he asked the second first, saying: “Is this end is in exchange for the mercy and kindness that it included in you?” Aref answered him stuttering that the matter is outside his hand. (28)

Representation of the body of Abdul Karim Qasim after his execution by firing squad

Despite the different historical accounts, the end remains the same, which is an urgent mock trial on the second day of the coup, during which the death sentence was passed on Qassem and the officers accompanying him, who are “Fadel Al-Mahdawi”, “Taha Sheikh Ahmed” and “Kanaan Haddad”, who was shot in a headquarters Radio Tigris in Baghdad, and the representation of their corpses, along with them Qasim, on Iraqi TV, to confirm their disposal, and the inauguration of Aref as president of Iraq. (28)

The last speech of Abdul Karim Qasim in the coup of February 8, 1963

Months after Aref came to power, taking advantage of the internal differences that occurred within the Ba'ath Party, he turned on them on November 18, 1963 and put them in prison, in addition to getting rid of the soldiers who helped him reach power, and he alone in power as Qasim did, and he remained in it until He died on April 13, 1966, after the plane he was traveling in fell in the Qurna region after his return from a visit to Basra Governorate in southern Iraq, as it was said that the plane was subjected to a sandstorm that resulted in a technical failure that led to its explosion, and this was confirmed by Iraqi investigations, contrary to what was stated in The report of the Russian manufacturer of the aircraft not There is a technical fault where, (29) and that there is a criminal suspicion behind the explosion of the plane, and it was said that the Baathists role in the killing, and with the multiplicity of accounts remain the death of Abdul Salam Aref mysterious until today. (30)

In the end, the love of power and maintaining the position remains stronger than anything. The friendship of Qasim and Arif was not the only friendship that ended with this tragic end. There is also “Gamal Abdel Nasser” and “Abdel Hakim Amer” the friends of the Military Academy that ended their friendship the setback of 1967, And that led to the mysterious death of Omar still raises doubts about Abdel Nasser's relationship with the killing of a friend of his age.