| ID | 138313 |
| Title Proper | Embracing regime change in Iraq |
| Other Title Information | American foreign policy and the 1963 coup d'etat in Baghdad |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Wolfe-Hunnicutt, Brandon |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | This article analyzes the U.S. foreign policy response to the 1958 Free Officers’ Revolution in Iraq. I look specifically at the question of the U.S. involvement in the 1963 coup d'état that first brought the Ba‘th party to power. Given the limits of available documentation, I leave the question of CIA involvement to one side and focus on the underlying logic of the U.S. foreign policy toward Iraq between 1958 and 1963. I show that while the American policymakers were deeply divided between a hard-line interventionist faction and a more accommodating anti-interventionist faction, by the middle of 1962, the Kennedy administration embraced regime change as the U.S. policy objective in Iraq. I further argue that it was the perceived threat to Iraqi oil installations, and not the fear of a Communist takeover, that pushed the American policy to embrace a policy of regime change. |
| `In' analytical Note | Diplomatic History Vol. 39, No.1; Jan 2015: p.98-125 |
| Journal Source | Diplomatic History Vol: 39 No 1 |
| Key Words | Iraq ; American Foreign Policy ; Baghdad ; Embracing Regime ; 1963 ; Revolution in Iraq |