IRAQ: The Voices of Revolution

In the high-ceilinged map room of the Defense Ministry in -Baghdad, Premier Abdul Kareem el-Kassim continued to issue, in his own cautious way, the soothing statements he has been making since the day of his lightning coup. "We are pragmatic people trying to do the best for our country," said he. "We cannot be qualified as Socialists or anything else. Our tendencies should be judged by our actions."

So far, the actions have been carefully calculated to form a picture of a government bent solely on reform and wholly without opposition. Last week, after properly waiting until hundreds of notables, led by the Duke of Gloucester, had crowded into Queen's Chapel of the Savoy in London for a memorial service to Iraq's assassinated King Feisal II, Crown Prince Abdul Illah and Premier Nuri asSaid, Her Majesty's British Government officially recognized the new regime that had overthrown and murdered these friends of the West. Next day the U.S. did the same, and promptly sent Troubleshooter Robert Murphy off to Baghdad for talks.

The Oil Flows. From that fabled city, each day brought a new promise of reform. The government drew up a provisional constitution with an article specifically aimed at cutting up vast farmlands now owned by some 60 sheiks, who were the backbone of Nuri's regime. The rebels abolished the anachronistic tribal courts that would, for a fee, give tribesmen a far softer kind of justice than would a regular court. Dramatically, the rebels also announced that work would cease on Feisal's new $20 million "palace," which was actually to be an administration building with only comparatively moderate accommodations for the royal family. Meanwhile, the oil continued to flow to the West.

"You Must Be Patient." Though united on the surface, the new government is full of contradictions—a revolutionary junta of old-fashioned politicos and new young Nasserite soldiers whose direction no one can yet predict. The new Ministers of Finance and "Guidance" (propaganda), among others, once resigned from Parliament over the government's refusal to nationalize the oil industry. But the rebels seem content for the moment to keep old contracts and, in time, to negotiate (as Nuri wanted to do) for a higher share of the royalties.

While Premier el-Kassim insists that he does not want to repeat Nasser's mistake of driving away experienced people, his government has already dismissed or jailed most members of the old Development Board, including the director of oil affairs, who probably knows more about the business than anyone else in the country. The present Development Minister is a 29-year-old engineer with a reputation among rebels based largely on a tract he once wrote denouncing the old board, whose plans made Iraq the most promising land of the Middle East.