Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr

Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr (1 July 1914 – 4 October 1982) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fourth president of Iraq, from 17 July 1968 to 16 July 1979.

He was a leading member of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party and later the Baghdad-based Ba'ath Party and its regional organisation Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region (the Ba'ath Party's Iraqi branch), which espoused Ba'athism, a mix of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism.

Al-Bakr first rose to prominence after the 14 July Revolution, which overthrew the monarchy.

In the newly established government, he was involved in improving Iraqi–Soviet relations.

Al-Bakr was born 1 July 1914 in Tikrit, Ottoman Iraq.

He belonged to the Abu Bakr clan of the al-Bejat branch of the Nasir tribe.

His father Hassan Bakr Omar passed away in 1938.

That same year he entered the Iraqi Military Academy after spending six years as a primary-school teacher.

During his early military career, he took part in the Rashid Ali al-Gaylani's failed revolt against the British in 1941, and was imprisoned and expelled from the army.

In the late 1950s, when Saddam became a member of the Ba'ath Party, the two established a bond.

Their future close relationship became possible because of Saddam's uncle, Khairallah Talfah.

At the very beginning, Saddam was only a Ba'ath Party member, not a party activist.

After 15 years of trying to rehabilitate himself al-Bakr was reinstated in the Iraqi Army in 1956, the same year he became a member of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party's Iraqi branch.

In 1957, he was promoted to brigadier.

Around this time al-Bakr got into contact with the Free Officers and Civilians Movement.

He helped bring down the Hashemite Monarchy and bring Abd al-Karim Qasim to power during the 14 July Revolution.

He had a short stint in the public limelight during Qasim's rule, and withdrew Iraq from the Baghdad Pact and was a key player in improving Iraq's bilateral relations with the Soviet Union.

In 1959 al-Bakr was forced to resign from the Iraqi military; the then Iraqi government accused him of anti-government activities.

Following his forced retirement, he became the chairman of the Ba'ath Party's Iraqi branch's Military Bureau.

Through this office he recruited members to the Ba'athist cause through patronage and cronyism.

Prime Minister Abd al-Karim Qasim was overthrown in the Ramadan (8 February) Revolution; al-Bakr was appointed Prime Minister, and later, Vice President of Iraq in a Ba'ath-Nasserist coalition government.

In 1959, a year following the coup, al-Bakr was again forced to retire from the military under allegations that he led an anti-government rebellion in Mosul by officers who favoured closer ties with the United Arab Republic.

During this period he became a member of the Ba'ath Party.

Even so, al-Bakr retained his prominence within the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party's Iraqi branch.

Because of Qasim's government's repressive policy towards the opposition, Ali Salih al-Sa'di, Secretary (leader) of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party's Iraqi branch, reorganised the party's rank and file, and on 24 December 1962 launched a nationwide protest against Qasim's government.

The government lasted for less than a year, and was ousted in November 1963.

Al-Bakr and the party then pursued underground activities and became vocal critics of the government.

During this period, al-Bakr was elected the Ba'ath Party's Iraqi branch's Secretary General (the head), and appointed his cousin, Saddam Hussein, the party cell's deputy leader.

The government's treatment of dissent did not soften and by 1963 several leading Iraqi Ba'athists had travelled to Beirut to plan a coup against Qasim.

The plan was simple: to build a support network in the military.

A Military Bureau was established to set these plans in motion.

Al-Bakr and the Ba'ath Party regained power in the coup of 1968, later called the 17 July Revolution.

In the coup's aftermath, he was elected the chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council and the president; he was later appointed the prime minister.

Saddam, the Ba'ath Party's deputy, became the deputy chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council and vice president, and was responsible for Iraq's security services.

Under al-Bakr's rule, Iraq grew economically due to high international oil prices, which strengthened its position in the Arab world and increased Iraqis' standard of living.

Land reforms were introduced, and wealth was distributed more equally.

A sort of socialist economy was established in the late 1970s under Saddam's direction.

Al-Bakr gradually lost power to Saddam in the 1970s, as the latter strengthened his position within the party and the state through security services.

In 1979, al-Bakr resigned from all public offices for "health reasons".

He died in 1982 of unreported causes.