Abd al-Karim Qasim Quotes

All of you now what the situation was before the Revolution. All of you know of the regime which we have exterminated. It was that regime which was mercilessly destroying all the sincere people who stood in its way in the course of the struggle for God, for the people and for the homeland.

We cooperate with our brotherly Arab states... on the basis of the individual interests of those Arab states.

The wealth of the country was robbed and wasted in the interest of imperialism and the foreigner. In fact, everything in this country was exploited for the foreigner. The son of the people was living in miserable conditions. He was humiliated and insulted. Had we been patient for a time, it would have only been for the greatest explosion, as our people exploded with the Army in one day and destroyed the idols who were following the foreigners.

No longer shall the intrigues and mischief-making of the imperialists deceive us. No longer shall our work be interrupted under flimsy pretexts. We are working to attain a bright and better future, ensuring freedom and prosperous living not only to ourselves but to posterity.

No doubt, I am proud of the people. I am from the people and I am the son of the people. I will work for the sake of the people. I will sacrifice my life for the liberty of this people and safeguarding, protecting and preserving it from all evils.

Brothers! The days have gone when the workers and the toilers used to suffer bitterly. We protect all of the them. And I am under the protection. All of us are under the protection of the people, we work for the people and derive strength from them.

Brothers! I have the honour and I am proud to be in your ranks, and I pledge the Almighty that I will always struggle for the sake of peace. As for the forces of the Army which we have prepared, we prepared them to face those who attacks [sic] peace. We are a peaceful and a neutral state. We attack no one, but anyone who attacks us and starts aggression, we will stop him.

The freedom of an individual merges in the freedom of all and serves the freedom of all.

I had previously announced that I am above trends and leanings, above party politics and political parties. This is because I strive for the people as a whole to serve them.

The work which is done here and the help which is extended to our brothers are our aims. Take our sister Algeria which is struggling against oppressive forces and making best efforts for liberation and independence. We extended our aid to Algeria with full sincerity and faith in justice. We have pledged to continue our help to Algeria until Algeria is liberated.

Brethren: I advise you to avoid attacking any of your brothers even if he harms you or surpasses the limits of ingratitude. The strength of any one amongst you is the strength of the other.

[The newspapers] are talking of nationalism as if it were the property of an individual or as if it were confined to one group only. Nationalism is the property of all. Nobody can take possession of it just as a glittering word which attracts the hearts of stupid people.

This country has become an independent Republic with complete sovereignty. This has been laid down in our Interim Constitution. This country is to be shared by the citizens, the Arabs and the Kurds. This entity is indivisible in any way. No one can divide nor disintegrate the Republic of Iraq from the North to the South and from the East to the West.

Brothers! The Army and the people have merged into a single entity. They have become a source of strength which is worrying the foreigners. The foreigner, along with imperialism, therefore began to resort to other means to split up our ranks so as to overcome us. But these attempts on the part of the imperialists to split up our ranks have gone long ago. Imperialism now tries to split up our ranks by calling for narrow parties and restricted groupings. The purpose of this is to play one against the other, while the foreigners and the imperialists will sit as spectators. But we shall thrust a stone in the mouth of imperialism. We shall overcome imperialism and we shall close this gap in its face. The parochial groupings and party affiliation at this time are of no benefit to the country... the purpose of this is to create disunity and weaken our strength and play one against the other. We are in a period of transition. We have resolved to protect the gains of our Revolution at any rate.

My Brethren: The enemy who failed to penetrate through this point resorted to creating intrigues and dissension among the brothers and causing doubt in the minds of the people. So, one says that this is a Nationalist, the other says that this is a Communist, while yet another says that this is a Baathist or a Democratic. I say that this (the individual) is a Patriot - the son of this country.