Word: baathist
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Moral Lepers. Egypt's President Gamal Abdel Nasser put his finger on two culprits: 1) Michel Aflak, the fraii; intellectual Christian Arab who founded the Baath Socialist Party; and 2) Salah Bitar, Aflak's disciple and the present Baathist Premier of Syria. Denouncing the two as fascists, secessionists, traitors, moral lepers and "seekers after power," Nasser blasted them as solely responsible for the collapse of the unity agreement concluded last April between Egypt, Syria and Iraq. The agreement called for a merger of the three nations into a greater United Arab Republic, but in the months since...
...Yemen. But the two Baath nations are having worse troubles. Iraq is deeply committed to wiping out the Kurdish rebellion in its northern provinces, and it is becoming clear that the Kurdish war is not going well. Syria is rolling downhill economically at an appalling speed, and though its Baathist regime has survived two Nasserite revolts, it may crumple before a third. Nasser certainly will not stop trying, for he has an almost mystical attachment to the embattled little country. A close friend of his once observed: "Nasser's not in love with any woman, but only with something...
...Strategy. Nasser last week tried a lover's trick to split his foes: he began wooing Syria's Baathist ally, Iraq. In a coaxingly worded invitation, Nasser urged Iraq's President Abdul Salam Aref to visit Cairo "to see personally how much the Egyptian people like you and their Iraqi brothers." Though known to have pro-Nasser sympathies, Aref played it safe by politely refusing the invitation, and pointedly phoned Syria's Bitar to assure him of Iraq's support...
Perhaps seeking the comfort of friends, Premier Bitar announced an impending conference of Baathist leaders from Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, and "certain other countries" that he refused to name. The announced purpose: to seek a "new political strategy basis for future activity in the Middle East." Not to be outdone, Nasser called for a giant rally of all Arab nationalist movements, to elect a supreme council...
...this new organization, said Nasser, Baathist members would be accepted but Baathist leadership excluded. Who, then, would lead? Gamal Abdel Nasser, of course...