IRAQ: Villains Unidentified

In the six months since he seized power in Baghdad, wiry Strongman Karim Kassem has been obsessed by one problem: how to escape domination by Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser. To fight off the Arab nationalists in his midst, Kassem all but handed control of the Baghdad mob to the Communists, did not even intervene when the Reds organized a stone-throwing reception for U.S. Assistant Secretary of State William Rountree (TIME, Dec. 29). Last week, for the first time, there were signs that Kassem might have come to realize that Moscow's embrace can be even more crushing than Cairo's.

Fortnight ago, as Baghdad celebrated Army Day with a parade featuring endless gibes at "Western imperialism," Kassem promoted himself to the highest rank" in the Iraqi army (major general) and announced the formation of a new Baghdad garrison unit—the "Fifth Division," officered by men hand-picked for loyalty to the regime. Having thus assured him self of physical control of the capital, Kassem last week moved against two of the Communist-front organizations that have been keeping Baghdad in turmoil.

In paternal tones Kassem urged members of the Iraqi Students Union to stop wasting time on political activities (riots, etc.) and get back to their textbooks. Less paternally, he issued tough new orders to the Popular Resistance Force, the Red-infiltrated militia whose members have been careering through Baghdad making political "arrests." Henceforth, said Kassem, the P.R.F. would function only as a reserve force "under direct military orders," and any of its members who tried to interfere with "the freedom of citizens" would be subject to "the severest punishment." Explaining why his new orders were necessary, Kassem was warily unspecific in naming the villains: "Certain elements who are fishing in troubled waters."