Saddam and Bangladesh

The Republic of Iraq was the first Arab and Muslim country to have accorded political recognition to Bangladesh as a sovereign independent nation. On almost all occasions thereafter, Iraq remained by the side of Bangladesh, both on the domestic front and on the international domain. On several occasions when natural calamities struck Bangladesh, Saddam's regime was among the first to provide help and succour for the needy and the victims. A sizeable amount was donated on the occasion of the famine in 1974, to cite an example. The much desired support extended by Iraq at the Non-aligned Summit in Algiers in 1974, one of the first international conferences Bangladesh attended, helped place the latter in its legitimate place in the Comity of Nations. It was there that a personal rapport started to grow between Saddam and Mujib.

An interesting episode took place in August 1972. The international oil price rose from $3.00 a barrel to a staggering high of $9.00. It was hard for the war ravaged Bangladesh to finance its oil needs. We were looking for purchase of oil on credit and easy terms. The offer came from Iraq. Foreign Minister Abdus Samad Azad led a delegation with me, a Director General in the Foreign Ministry, and Azim Hossain, head of Petrobangla, as members. We were received with due cordiality and accorded state guest status in Baghdad. The Iraqis had already drawn up a schedule of oil shipments on a monthly basis. We were about to sign. The last moment we discovered that the Iraqi oil with its high sulphur content was not suitable for processing in our refinery. Bangladesh had no de-sulphuring plant. Then we started to negotiate an oil deal with Kuwait from Baghdad, whose authorities extended all possible facilities. We could not go to Kuwait, as the latter had not yet recognised Bangladesh. Saddam was not in the picture as yet, but his Baath Party was, being the ruling party.

My first experience with Saddam Hussein was during the presentation of my credentials in Baghdad in August 1982. He was the one and only Head of State in full battle dress, even donning a pistol on his side, among the large number of Heads of State to whom I had the honour of presenting credentials. Then was the beginning of Iraq's war with neighbouring Iran. That perhaps explains his being attired in war regalia in an otherwise perfectly peaceful surrounding. The present Chief Justice of Bangladesh, Mr. Justice K.M. Hassan, my predecessor in Baghdad, told me that Saddam had worn civilian clothes during presentation of his credentials. Anyway, after the ceremony was over, Saddam invited me and my colleagues for a brief discourse. It lasted over an hour. He was more of a listener than talker. At least that was what he was in the beginning of his regime.

In one of his short interventions during the talks, he had some words of praise for the thousands of our skilled and semi-skilled workers engaged in the development work all over Iraq. I was not only elated, but fortunate also. Iraq was one of the few Arab countries where Bangladeshi workers were not called "Miskins" or vagrants. The war with Iran resulted in dire shortage of foreign exchange in Iraq. Consequently, the government started to send the expatriates back home with the suspension of development work. I took advantage of Saddam's remarks and requested him to send back Bangladeshi expatriates only among the last of the returnees. The President made no comments, but significantly looked at his aide taking notes. But he did keep my request and the bulk of the thousands of Bangladeshi's stayed back or became the last to be repatriated. However, I also did some canvassing. I called on all the 14 members of the Revolutionary Command Council, the highest policy making body, for this purpose. These included Deputy Prime Minister Taha Yassin Ramadhan ( a Sunni), Vice President Mohammad Marouf ( a Kurd), Deputy Chief of the Party Izzat Ibrahim Al- Doury ( a tribal), Foreign Minister Tareq Aziz ( a Christian), Commerce Minister Mohammad Hassan (a Shia) and others. Despite representation of major religious and tribal factions in the cabinet, the real power was wielded by the Sunnis, led by Saddam himself as President, Prime Minister and Commander- in-Chief.

Stringent measures taken by Saddam in matters of security were legendary. The only country comparable in this respect was perhaps North Korea to which also I had the privilege of having been accredited earlier. Cruel Saddam killed his trusted colleagues and close relatives with the slightest sign of disloyalty. He dealt with coup attempts with an iron hand, killing hundreds of people. Use of chemical weapons to suppress Kurdish rebellion in Halabja would be a major indictment against him. When I went to Iraq a second term, the political air was heavy with a rumour. Incidentally, my first tour of duty as a diplomat in Iraq had started 20 years earlier, in 1962. The next year, Head of State and Army Chief Abdul Karim Kassem was killed and his corpse dragged behind a truck in the streets of Baghdad. Even earlier in 1958, the same Karim Kassem had brutally killed King Hussain, abolished the Hashemite monarchy and usurped state power in a bloody revolution. Anyway, the rumour related to the missing Health Minister. After about 24 days, President Saddam came out on the television to say that the Health Minister under whose authority some drugs had been imported in the country which caused death to some people had no justification to live. In plain words, the Minister was eliminated. What had actually transpired was that the unfortunate Minister had whispered in the ears of one of his colleagues a suggestion that the Jaish (leader) could have stepped down from power in fulfilment of Khomeini's condition to end the war and later, with the restoration of peace, Saddam would be re-installed.

Another interesting event is worth narrating in support of his government's extra-ordinary vigilance and policy towards ensuring strict security. In 1983, President Ershad went to Iraq on a State visit. All the programmes had been meticulously chalked out in detail by both sides. As I set out of my residence for the Airport, some special escorts came from the Presidential security and guided me to another (military) airport situated on the outskirts of Baghdad. In no time, the plane landed. Saddam Hussain was at the airport and all the protocol paraphernalia of a state visit were observed. Foreign Secretary Faruq Ahmed Chowdhury, who had accompanied the President, later told me that the Bangladesh Biman's special flight had duly landed at the main Baghdad airport, as stipulated. Just before disembarking, he looked out through the window only to be shocked not to see any sign of a state visit -- no festoons, no guard of honour, no lining up of dignitaries and not even the trace of the Ambassador. He first wondered, had they muddled up with the date? It was not possible, as no Foreign Secretary muddles up. Then the Ambassador must have goofed. It was quite possible. Under many circumstances, Ambassadors are made scapegoat for follies committed by superiors. Faruq, being a friend, felt sad at my plight. I was sure to be recalled and perhaps would be thrown to the dungeon of the Establishment Ministry among other Officers on Special (no) Duty. Later, he was relieved with the explanation that the change of airport done at the last moment represented an extra-ordinary measure of security for President Saddam.

Another incident took place during the same visit that again substantiated the strict security measures normally taken for the Iraqi President. President Ershad, his family and personal staff were lodged in the guest palace located within the specially secured boundary of the main Presidential palace. The rest of his delegation and entourage, including Ministers, stayed in the 5-star Al Rashid Hotel, originally built for housing the Heads of State/Government of the aborted Non-aligned Summit to be held in 1982. In the evening, the motorcade with the Bangladeshi dignitaries proceeded from the hotel towards the nearby Presidential Palace to attend the State banquet. It was stopped by the Presidential guards cordoning the Palace. No amount of persuasion with all the explanations made by the accompanying protocol officers and my broken Arabic would allow us to pass. Finally, we called our President's Military Secretary in the Palace who, in turn, arranged to send a high level Iraqi officer to rescue us from the Presidential guards. Such strict was the security.

Some important bilateral agreements were concluded between Bangladesh and Iraq during that visit as in others. The highest level visit from the Iraqi side to Bangladesh was made by Izzat Ibrahim Al-Doury. It may be noted that the bilateral co-operation included, besides employment of a large number of Bangladeshi manpower in Iraq, training of Iraqi pilots by Bangladesh. A good number of Iraqi cadets were trained at our Air Force Academy in Jessore and some of our Air Force instructors were seconded to Iraq's Air Force Training Institute in Tikrit. Saddam received President Ziaur Rahman on several occasions and had friendly interactions with him during the latter's forays to Iraq on the OIC-sponsored shuttle diplomacy to end the fratricidal war between Iraq and Iran. Since the Gulf War of Kuwait, Saddam's power started to dwindle and so were Iraq's relations with Bangladesh and other Muslim countries.

M.M.Rezaul Karim, a former Ambassador, is a member of BNP's Advisory Council.