An End to Isolation

In the Middle East, no nation has been more isolated and more hostile in recent years--even to some of its Arab neighbors--than Iraq. But along with other hopeful signs in the area, the Iraqis have begun to show some indication of mellowing. A small but significant sign of this is the stepped-up travel of the country's stern, determined political leader, Saddam Hussein Takriti, 38, who in Baghdad is known simply as "the Deputy." That is an understated reference to his position as strongman of the far-leftist Baath (Renaissance) Party, which has ruled Iraq since its successful 1968 coup against the former governing military clique. A handsome, dark-haired onetime lawyer, Saddam Hussein is officially deputy chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, under Field Marshal Ahmed Hassan Bakr, chairman of the council and Iraq's President.

The moves of Iraq's strongman are widely regarded as a kind of bellwether of his government's intentions. Lately, Saddam Hussein has begun to travel more and more outside his country. Two months ago during a dramatic summit of oil producers in Algiers, he and Iran's Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi embraced and agreed to end a long-running feud between their neighboring nations. Two weeks ago, Saddam Hussein was given a warm welcome by the Shah in Tehran, where until recently Iranian commentators had often referred to him as "the Baathist butcher." Last week he flew on to Bulgaria and Hungary for political and economic talks.

That is quite a change for a Baathist leader. Since taking power in Baghdad, the secretive, bellicose rulers of Iraq had turned the country into something of a frightening enigma, even to other Arab nations. In the early years of Baath rule, spies and "enemies of the regime," including members of Iraq's persecuted and dwindling Jewish population, were executed and their bodies hung in Baghdad's Tahrir Square. Revolts within the party were put down in the same uncompromising style.

Magic Power. In their foreign policy, the Iraqi Baathists spearheaded the Arab "rejection front" against Israel, refusing to accept even United Nations' peace resolutions on the Middle East, much less the Jewish state's right to exist. Iraq consistently championed extremists within the Palestine Liberation Organization and also threatened Kuwait, claiming at one point that the tiny nearby sheikdom was historically part of Iraq. Armed by the Soviets, Baghdad's rulers quarreled with Iran not only over borders, but also over the minority of 2 million non-Arab Iraqi Kurds. When Tehran backed the Kurds' demands for autonomy by giving them supplies and artillery support, the two nations almost went to war.

But then Iraq discovered the magic power of petroleum. Beginning three years ago, Iraq nationalized most of the oilfields that had previously been operated by European and American companies. The government thus took control of huge oil reserves (an estimated 100 billion barrels) that may be second in size only to those of Saudi Arabia.

Even though production was at one point last year cut to maintain prices, Iraq currently has oil revenues of $6 billion per year. Says Planning Ministry Director General Sabah Kachachi: "We have no intention of putting our money in banks or buying stocks and bonds or investing in real estate in South Carolina or on the Champs Elysees." Virtually all the money is being spent on rapid industrial development of what has been up to now a relatively backward agricultural nation of 11 million people.

To help accomplish that development, the Iraqi government has pragmatically softened some of its old intransigent attitudes. As part of Baghdad's improved relations with Iran, Saddam Hussein and the Shah have begun discussions on security in the Persian Gulf, a subject important to both nations. "We stand for declaring the Gulf and the Indian Ocean as a peace zone, cleared of all military bases of foreign countries, whatever their color and their size," Saddam Hussein told TIME Beirut Bureau Chief Karsten Prager. Iraq now wants to negotiate border issues with Kuwait as well, and has made friendly overtures toward Jordan's King Hussein and Saudi Arabia's new King Khalid. Most dramatically, the Soviet Union, Baghdad's principal trading partner, as well as its military supplier, suddenly faces rapidly growing competition from abroad.

The U.S. is still regarded by Baghdad as an "unfriendly" nation (diplomatic relations were severed in 1967 because of Washington's support for Israel). Nevertheless, a three-man U.S. mission is operating in Baghdad, and in little more than one year, trade between the two countries has quintupled to $300 million per year. Chase Manhattan Bank Chairman David Rockefeller, the epitome of the Western capitalism that the Baathists oppose, recently visited Baghdad and was hospitably received. Britain, France, Japan and other Western nations are also challenging the Soviet trade lead.

"The subtle political easing off and the impressive economic push are readily reflected in everyday life in Baghdad," reports Prager, who often visits the Iraqi capital. "Shoppers bustle along colonnaded Rashid Street passing stores that though still short of many items, carry more goods than they have in some time as the result of the cancellation of an earlier austerity program. In the evenings, Sa'adoun Street is packed with strollers and coffeehouses are filled with the click of dominoes. Open-air restaurants by the placid Tigris do a booming business with delectable masgouf, a Baghdad specialty of river fish cooked slowly on stakes set up around blazing wood fires."

Implacable Enemies. Iraq's economic and political moves, however, must not be overestimated. At home, Baath Party discipline is still deadly tight, and most Iraqis are convinced that they are being watched by the Party Militia, which calls itself "the eyes of the revolution." Despite Saddam's travels abroad, the regime's leaders are still rarely seen in public. Even the total membership of their party is unknown, although it is estimated to include 20,000 hard-core members and about 70,000 active supporters.

Abroad too there has been only partial relaxation. If Baghdad and Washington manage to improve relations, Iraq would still be left with two implacable enemies, Israel and neighboring Syria. Syria also has a strong Baath Party, which espouses the same principles of Arab socialism and nationalism that Baghdad does. But the two regimes have conflicting visions of Arab unity, compounded by some practical problems. Currently, Iraq's relations with Syria are at the breaking point over disposition of water from the Euphrates River. Baghdad charges that Damascus has deliberately stored up so much water behind its new Tabqa Dam that Iraqi crops have been ruined and that 3 million Iraqis who depend on the river are short of drinking water. Saudi Petroleum Minister Sheik Zaki Yamani, whose negotiating skills have been honed at endless meetings of Middle East oil moguls, has been mediating between them. The split is so deep that even Yamani has had no success so far in bringing the revolutionary Arab neighbors together.

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