Word: hourani
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...Hourani, a deft opportunist who combines considerable organizational ability with an intuitive sense of knowing just when to switch his ideologies. "Hourani," a Damascene political expert once remarked, "has changed camels so many times that his backside has as many calluses as his conscience...
...Hourani got his start in Syrian politics ten years ago as a member of a vehemently anti-Communist right-wing political party. In Syria's brief and lackluster 1948 campaign against the Palestine Jews, he served as a volunteer-and improved the hour by smuggling arms intended for the front to his personal, home-town political organization in Hama...
Thereafter Hourani allied himself with whoever was in power, astutely broke with them just in time. On the side, he worked at building up his own new Socialist-Baath Party. Three years ago Hourani helped put the skids under then President-Dictator Adid Shishekly, saw his Baathists win 16 seats in Parliament and became fast friends with Moscow-trained Khaled Bakdash, self-styled secretary-general of the Communist Party and the first admitted Communist ever elected to an Arab Parliament (in most Arab countries the Communist Party is outlawed). Hourani and Bakdash speedily recruited Syrian Intelligence Chief Colonel Abdel Hamid...
...Efficient Colonel. Since then Hourani and Bakdash have operated in the background, encouraging Serraj in the development of his intelligence system, while fervent Pan-Arab and Nasser enthusiasts as well as Communists flocked to their cause...
Most observers regard Bizri and Bakdash as certified Reds but doubt that Hourani himself is a convinced or dedicated Communist; he is more probably for Hourani and the main chance. They also think that Serraj (who used to talk daily on the phone with Nasser) believes that he is using rather than being used by the Communists. Hourani burns with the ambition of building a "Greater Syria," which, if achieved, would topple Iraq's able, pro-Western leader Nuri asSaid, take oil-rich Iraq out of the Baghdad Pact and eventually unify Iraq, Syria and perhaps Lebanon...