>But revolutionary Iraq didn't have a moment's peace. The country went
>through years of upheaval and several coups as U.S. and British covert
>operations, sabotage, intrigue and constant military efforts attempted to
>restore the status quo ante. By 1972, however, the oil had been nationalized
>and the biggest landowners expropriated. With Iraq's vast oil resources in
>the hands of the state, a spectacular social transformation happened within
>two decades. Many problems rooted in age-old bias and backwardness were
>resolved. Iraqi women made the greatest social gains of women anywhere in
>the Arab world.
Lou, doesn't this rather overlook SH's long partnership with the CIA, and the fact that his regime liquidated thousands of Iraqi communists?
Doug