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Iraq and its hitherto rival Ba‘thist Syria had decided a year earlier to forego their differences and work toward unity. The date for this momentous decision was fast approaching, and in the case of its actualiza-tion, Husayn was bound to continue his “deputy” status, this time to the Syrian president, Hafiz al-Asad, who was older and more experienced, and whose stature in the Arab world could not be matched by Husayn. It is thus hardly coincidental that one week after Bakr’s retirement, the new President would “discover” a plot against him that would implicate the Syrians, thus allowing him to terminate the process prior to its feared consummation. Bakr, it seems had anticipated Husayn’s move, and shortly before his resignation had pleaded with Asad to speed up the process for the union, as he warned of a political current in the Iraqi leadership which was “anxious to kill the union in the bud before it [bore] fruit.”11In fact,the “discovered” conspiracy allowed Husayn not just to neutralize the Asad threat, but in a macabre rendering of “killing two birds with one stone”he would also eliminate remaining potential rivals at the dawn
of his absolutist and totalitarian rule.


Dawisha, Adeed (2009). Iraq: A Political History from Independence to Occupation. p. 214.

What if Hussain agrees to this plan with the understanding his succession to the presidency upon Hafez Al-Assad's death or resignation is unchallenged? What would be the regional and global consequences?
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