The Man in the ZIM

It was Premier Karim Kassem's major public appearance since an assassin's bullets sent him to the hospital last October, and a special reviewing platform of steel and brick had been erected for just such occasions. For eight hours he intermittently appeared and disappeared, while the crowd below shrieked "yaish al zaim" (Long live the leader).

"Everyone knows," said Kassem next day, "that I am not mindful of death. I have always run with patience, courage and daring after death." Then he denounced Egypt and Jordan for stealing parts of Palestine, blandly called upon Syria to rebel against Cairo. "We are brothers to all Arab states," he cried. "We are brothers . . ."

Stay Back. It was just the sort of thing the headstrong Iraqi like, and Kassem himself could use a boost to his sagging popularity. Since the attempt on his life, he no longer cruises about in his old Chevrolet station wagon; he now rides in a bulletproof ZIM. His public appearances are limited to ten minutes each, and no stranger is allowed within 20 yards of him. In Baghdad, for the first time, there is even an occasional wisecrack about him.

But after exactly 18 months in power, Kassem is still quite literally Iraq's "sole leader," and he apparently feels he can afford some changes. The Iraqi press, 'though a year ago Communist-dominated, now is permitted a degree of opposition unknown in Cairo, Jordan or Iran. Last week political parties were applying for licenses to operate legally for the first time since 1954. And though the Communists have for 18 months enjoyed Kassem's favor, he has succeeded so far in keeping them pretty well at arm's length.

For more than a year, a steady stream of Soviet aid and military equipment poured into Iraq. But even in aid, Iraq has proved stubborn. It has stayed clear of nationalizing the profitable oil industry, whose exports last year rose to a record 39 million tons. The vaunted land-reform program has not touched the huge plantations that each year give Iraq the world's largest date crop. And last week, as a result of old-fashioned consumer resistance, Iraq ended a year-long attempt to direct trade toward the Communist bloc by once again allowing Western automobiles to come in.

House Divided. Though still the strongest political organization in the land, the Communists no longer enjoy the unquestioning popularity that immediately followed the abortive military revolt in Mosul last March. They pressed so hard for admission to Kassem's Cabinet that the Premier's right-wing supporters rose, and fighting broke out in Baghdad. In July the first anniversary of the revolution was marred by a savage Communist-inspired massacre of rightists in Kirkuk. Shocked, Kassem ordered a roundup of Communist leaders--while characteristically taking two party-liners into his Cabinet.

Today the Ministry of Guidance is totally under the Communist thumb, and each morning the military censor duly sends to the Iraqi Times the latest Red China news bulletins with passages marked for reprinting. But for the first time, the Communists themselves are divided. Last week not one but two Communist parties asked for licenses--the orthodox outfit and another run by a maverick Marxist editor named Daoud Sayegh, who has done nothing to scotch rumors that much of his money comes out of the pocket of Premier Kassem's government.

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