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Iraq
The West
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
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