Word: kassem
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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From the balcony comes the screech of a man's voice proclaiming a poem. Its refrain: "Hail to thee, Kassem, our jewel, defender of democracy, destroyer of our enemies...
Anti-Communists charge that the Communist bargain was urged on Kassem by his chief aide, burly, Red-lining Colonel Wasfi Tahir (who, incredibly, held the same job under Nuri). Kassem himself may have failed to see the dangers in the bargain; his enemies charge that he himself flirted with Communism in his youth, and not long ago he was still capable of declaring: "I don't care about parties . . . They can call us Communists or anything else, if they like...
...arms of Communist power in Iraq, none is more effective than the People's Court, which the Reds have virtually converted into an independent arm of government through which they focus pressure on Kassem. Presided over by Kassem's cousin, Colonel Fadhil Abbas Mahdawi, a willing tool of the Communists, the court stages televised nightly trials of "enemies of the regime," i.e., enemies of the Communist Party. Mahdawi is a suety, quick-witted ruffian-"Egypt has always had bad rulers. Cleopatra was a whore"-who holds court to extract confessions rather than dispense justice. Making...
Prosecutor: Colonel Aref went to Damascus and plotted with Nasser to invite Kassem there so that Kassem might be assassinated when he landed at the airport. (Horrified gasps from the audience.) But our leader knew of this plot and rejected the invitation, and will reject it forever. (Stormy applause...
Audience (in a rising screech): Kassem is a true leader! Long live, long live, long live...