ABSTRACT
Ba'thist ideas began to penetrate the ideological orientations of Iraqi society after World War II, and by 1958, when the monarchy was overthrown, the Ba'th Party had established itself as a major political force in the country. The Iraq-Iran war seemed to confirm Saddam Hussein's control of the armed forces. Even when, in a war perceived to be "Hussein's war," the Iraqi armed forces were suffering the reverses that were eventually to drive them out of Iran in 1982, there was little indication that Hussein's position was threatened. The majority of the Arab population in Iraq belongs to the Shi'ite sect of Islam, whereas political power has traditionally rested in the hands of the Sunni minority. And Hussein, a Sunni from Takrit is naturally suspicious of "some opposition forces who seek under the cover of religion to entice the regime into interfering in religious matters which would plunge the party into the various sectarian interpretations of Islam.".
