Evening star., 1952-11-30
lruq-
Gen. Nur Is Playing
A Dangerous Game
BY John G. Henry

is playing politics today with great
prosperity, and perhaps with its very
security.
The greatest hope that disaster
will not embrace the country. whose
TigriS-Euphrates Valley is the leg
endary cradle of the human race.
lies in stocky professional soldier.
Gen. Mahmoud Nur el-Din, army
chief Of staff 10 days ago but Prime
Minister, Minister of Defense and
Minister Of Interior today.
Gen. Nur, never before openly
active in politics, assumed these
multiple responsibilities in the wake
of last week-end's violent political
developments. Having its immediate
beginning in the enforced resigna-
ton Of the caretaker government Of
Prime Minister Umari on Saturday.
the weekend turmoil reached a
climax in rioting and attacks upon
British and American Offices on Sum
day. Iraq's Regent, ruling for the
17-year-old Faisal who is due to
take the throne next May. called
upon the army to restore order.
Gen. Nur's response was to declare
martial law, order dissolution of all
political parties. arrest many po-
litical leaders and form new cab
met in which he took the key posts.
Election Controversy
One step further back in the Iraq
trouble was violent controversy
over the form of general elections
which are due by statute before the
end of February. BY custom since
its parliamentary system of govern
ment was set up in the early 1920s.
Iraq has used the indirect election
system-a primary which chooses
electors, with these in turn selecting
the actual parliamentary delegates.
The clamor this year, coming
mostly from the minority parties,
had been for direct election of the
delegates.
Since taking Office. Gen. Nur has
promised that the elections will be
held-although no date has been set
and already has ordered the elec-
ton laws rewritten.
The Iraqi Parliament was dis
solved last month and will remain
so until the new elections are held.
Meanwhile. the military administra-
ton is in much the same situation
as those in Syria and Egypt, where
comparable breakdoWns in the civil
ian political structure brought Army
strong men to the top. In those
countries the temporary results. at
least, have been good. Internal stabil-
ity has been established in each case.
domestic reforms have been initiated
and foreign policy has been removed
from a climate of emotional keno.
phobia. There is reason to believe
that Gen. Nur will accomplish as
much, and the interests of his own
country. of the Near East as whole
and of the entire Western world
should benefit in the case.
Iraq's basic infections are much
the same as those of so many other
Near Eastern countries, an unbal-
anceda social and economic structure
which "a has been perpetuated by
feudalistic government resentment
against Western domination in both
economic and political spheres, fear
of Russian designs but vulnerability
to Communist propaganda and agita-
tion. In the face of these ills tho
mass tendency toward neutraliSm in
the EaSt-WeSt cold war has been
strong, while the seeming attractions
of extreme nationalism have been
correspondingly bright.
From the standpoint of Iraq's own
welfare, and of the strength of the
free world, the future course of that
country is highly important.
Iraq is squarely in the center of the
great oil-bearing region of the Near
East. The Iraq Petroleum Co. Is
held in equal shares by American,
British, French and Dutch interests
plus S per cent controlled by c. S.
Gulbenkian. With the Iranian fields
and refineries out of production, the
Iraqi property has greater than nor
NAL value. On November 18, young
King Faisal opened a new 560-mile
pipeline from Kirkuk to a Mediter-
ranean terminal at Banias, Syria. OPP
Grafton of this line and another that
already was flowing to Tripoli, Leb-
anon, will permit production of 20
million tons of oil yearly from the
petroleum center of Iraq. A third line.
terminating at Haifa, Israel, has been
closed off since creation of the Zion
ist state.
New Contract
Within the past year a new con-
tract. including not only the magic
$3.50 profit split but numerous other
clauses favorable to Iraqi interests.
has been signed by the government
and the petroleum company None
tary returns alone to the Baghdad
government have been estimated at
5000 million during the next five years
and there were other substantial
benefits involved. AS with Iran, Irao
has no organization or technical per-
sonnet qualified to operate the con-
cesSion itself.
ironically. If the current political
upheaval results in interrupting this
operation, 1raq already has in its
hands the finest blue print for social
and economic progress on national
scale that Is available to any Near
Eastern government. 1t is five-year
Improvement program drafted by the
International Bank for Reconstruc-
t1on and Development, and is based
upon proposed utilization both IF the
monetary returns from the oil de-
velopment and of the collateral nat
ural resources.
With oil money, the bank recon.
mended, first, the modernization of
agricultural methods to increase pro-
duction and, second, the bringing of
additional land under cultivation by
means of scientific drainage and
irrigation. In the historic site of
the Garden of Eden there are no
great obstacles to either objective.
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