Adnan Pachachi

Adnan Muzahim Ameen al-Pachachi
Adnan Muzahim Ameen al-Pachachi
Foreign Minister of Iraq
	In office; 1965–1967
President	Abdul Salam Arif; Abdul Rahman Arif; Abd ar-Rahman al-Bazzaz;
Iraqi Ambassaor to the United Nations
	In office; 1959–1969
President	Abd al-Karim Qasim; Muhammad Najib ar-Ruba'i; Abdul Salam Arif; Abdul Rahman Arif; Abd ar-Rahman al-Bazzaz;
Personal details
Born	May 14, 1923 (age 88); Baghdad, British Mandate of Mesopotamia
Nationality	Iraqi
Political party	Arab Socialist Union; Iraqi National List;
Relations	Muzahim al-Pachachi; Hamdi al-Pachachi; Nadim al-Pachachi
Profession	Diplomat; Politician;
Religion	Sunni Islam

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Adnan al-Pachachi or Adnan Muzahim Ameen al-Pachachi (Arabic: عدنان الباجه جي‎) (born May 14, 1923) is a veteran Iraqi politician and diplomat. Pachachi was Iraq's Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1959 to 1965 and Foreign Minister of Iraq from 1965 to 1967 during the Six-Day War with Israel; he again served as Permanent Representative to the UN from 1967 to 1969. After 1971, he spent a long period in exile. Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Pachachi has been an important figure in Iraqi politics, often described as Iraq's elder statesman.

[edit] Diplomatic and political career

Adnan Pachachi with Arab nationalist leader Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1966

Pachachi was born in Baghdad. As the son of Muzahim al-Pachachi, nephew of Hamdi al-Pachachi and the cousin of Nadim al-Pachachi (former secretary-general of OPEC), he is the scion of a Sunni Arab nationalist family with a long tradition in Iraqi politics and a graduate from Victoria College, Alexandria in Egypt. He supported the 1941 Iraqi coup d'état led by Rashid Ali Al-Gaylani as a member of the Kata'ib al-Shabab (Youth Brigade). Pachachi completed his undergraduate studies in 1943 at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, majoring in Political Science, attending the university during this period he was inspired by the early emergence of the Arab Nationalist Movement on the campus. After his return to Iraq, his application for a job in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was refused by the Iraqi Criminal Investigation Department due to his participation in the Kata'ib al-Shabab and support for the 1941 coup. Eventually in 1950, he was appointed assistant director of the Political Department in the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs and continued to work in the Foreign Service over the next 8 years. In 1958 the union of Egypt and Syria was led by Gamal Abdel Nasser and the United Arab Republic was founded. Pachachi had been a vocal supporter of Nasser, particularly during the Suez War in 1956 despite the fact that official Iraqi government policy at the time was aligned with the British against Nasser. It was for this reason he was not trusted by the Prime Minister Nuri as-Said and deemed to be a Nasserist. On 13 July 1958 he was dismissed and removed from the Iraqi Foreign Service due to his pro-Nasserite positions. The very next day was the 14 July Revolution led by Abdul Karim Qassim, and the Hashemite monarchy along with Prime Minister of Iraq Nuri as-Said were overthrown. Pachachi was promptly appointed Iraq's Permanent Representative to the UN in 1959 by the revolutionary regime of Abdul Karim Qassim, during this time Iraq formed a close relationship with the Soviet Union led by Nikita Khrushchev. Under Qassim, Iraq became a member of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1961 and Pachachi met with founding leaders Josep Broz Tito, Kwame Nkrumah, Jawaharlal Nehru, Fidel Castro and Sukarno as a representative of his country. Throughout his time at the United Nations Pachachi worked closely with the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, often meeting with African American activists such as Jesse Jackson. He also met with Malcolm X and later travelled to Mosque Maryam in Chicago to be hosted by Elijah Muhammad. Despite the brutal 1963 coup which removed Abdul Karim Qassim from power in Iraq, Pachachi remained the representative at the United Nations.

In the December of 1965, Pachachi was presented with a plaque by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) "in recognition and appreciation of his dedication to and distinguished services for Palestine in the United Nations." The PLO was considered by the United States and Israel to be a terrorist organization until the Madrid Conference in 1991 but has enjoyed observer status at the United Nations since 1974. Pachachi was then appointed Foreign Minister of Iraq in 1965 by president Abdul Salam Arif, he has stated the belief that his appointment to this position was at the behest of the Nasser regime in Egypt. It was the Pachachi government that orchestrated the largest arrest of Iraqi Jews larger than the one by the Ba'ath Party in 1968. Pachachi served as the Foreign Minister of Iraq during the Six-Day War with Israel and on the eve of conflict at the 1345th meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the 31 May 1967, he announced the following:

Pachachi with the first leader of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Ahmad Shukeiri.

Pachachi meeting with Nikita Khrushchev leader of the Soviet Union

"We shall defend ourselves whatever the cost and however long and difficult the struggle may be. We are prepared to use every tool at our disposal. The conflict will be total and uncompromising. The day before I left Baghdad, my government decided to deny our oil resources to any state which takes part in or supports the Israeli aggression against the Arab states. We have invited all other Arab oil-producing and exporting countries to meet with us and co-ordinate our positions. This must prove that our people are prepared to bear any hardship and accept any sacrifice. But there will be no retreat. Make no mistake about that; make no miscalculations. For fifty years we witnessed the Zionist peril steadily advancing. From a mere promise given by a colonial power in time of war, Israel was able to carve for itself a precious part of our homeland, continually threatening and trying to intimidate our people with murderous attacks across the armistice lines which the Arab countries have not crossed once since 1949 but which the Israelis have crossed with their armies twelve times. And now they are not hesitating to threaten to unleash war on us, and maybe on the world, in order to keep their ill gotten gains."

Following the outbreak of war with Israel on June 5, Iraq severed diplomatic relations with the United States, suspended oil shipments, refused to permit U.S. aircraft to overfly Iraq, and announced a boycott of U.S. goods. Pachachi later denounced the ceasefire which ended the Six-Day War, dismissing it as a "complete surrender to Israel."^[1] Pachachi then served as Permanent Representative to the UN for a second time from 1967 to 1969. The Ba'th Party came to power in July 1968, in a coup which Pachachi has claimed was supported by the CIA, in an effort to distance Iraq from Gemal Abdel Nasser.^[2] Pachachi resigned from his post in January 1969 because as he put it "I felt it was morally wrong to represent a regime whose values I don't share." At the United Nations he was remembered for his criticisms of Zionism and his refusal to recognise Kuwait. He then left Iraq in 1971.^[3]

He spent most of the years of Ba'athist rule in exile in Abu Dhabi after leaving Iraq. While in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), he acted as advisor to the Emir, however he lost this position in 1991 when he opposed the UAE's involvement in the Gulf War. He describes himself as a fervent Arab nationalist, in his memoirs he wrote that he is unable to accept Israel's existence and that Iraq and Syria should unite into one Arab state. Pachachi publicly opposed the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 and only renounced his nearly 40-year-old view that Kuwait was part of Iraq in 1999.^[4]

[edit] Events of 2003–2004

In February 2003 he reportedly blasted the George W. Bush Administration's foreign policy hawks as a Zionist lobby. Pachachi dismissed US plans to redraw the map of the Middle East to benefit Washington and set up an American military administration in Baghdad. "These statements come from the Zionist lobby in the United States which thinks that overthrowing Saddam Hussein will bring Arab reconciliation with Israel. That is stupid because if a democratic regime is created in Iraq, it will display greater hatred for Israel. This lobby is opposed to me playing any role in Iraq, through the instigation of Ahmad Chalabi” Pachachi said.^[5] Unlike Ahmad Chalabi who had sought the support of AIPAC, Pachachi said there would not be good relations between Iraq and Israel, as this would be antithetical to Iraqi interests.^[6]

He had very strongly opposed the invasion and occupation of Iraq and was involved in creating an exile deal that the UAE offered Saddam Hussein in a last minute effort to avoid the impending war and suffering of the Iraqi people. Hussein allegedly accepted the offer to try to halt the invasion and bring elections to Iraq within six months, according to Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan; however, the invasion still went ahead.^[7] In February 2003, Pachachi refused a seat on the US-appointed six-member leadership council set up at a meeting of major opposition groups in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq.^[8]

Pachachi vocally opposed the process of awarding out contracts to US firms after the ousting of the Ba'ath regime and criticised Washington over the plans for a US-led civilian authority to hand out reconstruction contracts without the approval of an elected Iraqi government. In April 2003, the US government awarded the Bechtel Corporation a $680-million-contract to help rebuild Iraq's power, water and sewage systems as well as repair air and sea ports, Pachachi slammed this decision saying "No one has the right to commit Iraq to obligations and costs, only an Iraqi government can do that. A parliament should also endorse the agreements."

After much deliberation Pachachi agreed to be part of the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) in July 2003. The CounterPunch journalist Andrew Cockburn commented on the IGC: "I think one person who deserves credit is Adnan Pachachi. From the beginning when they moved into Baghdad and seized nice houses, he was the only one that insisted on paying rent. He has always exhibited integrity." When Pachachi did return to Iraq, he was denounced by Middle East specialist at the Central Intelligence Agency, Reuel Marc Gerecht, as "a surreal specimen of sclerotic Pan-Arabism from 30 years ago."^[9]

Pachachi accused the US military of war crimes during the First Battle of Fallujah which was codenamed Operation Vigilant Resolve. In April 2004, during the US military operations in the city, he spoke out angrily claiming the actions taken by US forces were "illegal and totally unacceptable" he also accused them of "inflicting collective punishment on the residents of Fallujah" which is a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention.^[10] On May 29, 2004, he said of the US invasion of Iraq "The Americans thought they were marching into an underdeveloped country, expecting to face little resistance and be welcomed with flowers. The Americans quickly realized that the Iraqi is a patriot, one who defends his country, just as his ancestors have done for thousands of years. We are an educated people with a long history, and we are a cultured people. The Americans also did not expect the infrastructure they found in Iraq. They were surprised. They couldn't understand that a dictator like Saddam Hussein had invested a large share of oil revenues in infrastructure projects, such as highways, modern irrigation canals and industrial plants, which one doesn't find in just any country. The marines were confused by this new realization, as well as by their failure to achieve a swift victory and by the ongoing resistance. It also confounded the American concept, that is, if a sound and credible concept ever existed. No people in the world wishes to live with occupiers, and we Iraqis are no different." Pachachi also commented on the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse "What kind of reaction do you expect from the Iraqis? Regardless of age, profession and political affiliation, we are all horrified and furious about these atrocities. I had already heard about the brusque approach taken by the Americans during house searches early on. However, I was completely taken aback by the gruesome scope of the torture and human rights violations that have now come to light. Not just I, but all Iraqis demand a tough investigation and punishment of the perpetrators and the people behind them. We also need guarantees that such atrocities will cease once and for all. What has happened cannot be undone, and the long-term psychological consequences are unforeseeable."^[11]

On 1 June 2004, he was reportedly nominated to be the President of the Iraqi Interim Government by United Nations Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi. He chose to publicly decline the post, stating that he did not want to be seen as a puppet of the United States. Pachachi said he turned down the position "because I was accused of being the choice of the Americans. I had to refuse this offer, in order to preserve my reputation and my honor.^[12] Trying to portray me as a little soft on the Americans when I have been struggling for Arab rights all my life is not only false, it is unfair. I find it really insulting."^[13] Pachachi later claimed he was forced to turn down the job because of a "shabby conspiracy" led by Ahmad Chalabi.^[14] He said "There is a great deal of disinformation that I was the preferred candidate of the US. Nothing could be further from the truth."

[edit] Political activity since 2005

A secularist, Dr. Pachachi put together a list of candidates called the Assembly of Independent Democrats (his party Democratic Centrist Tendency was included) to contest Iraq's January 2005 legislative election. Prior to the elections Pachachi accused the United States of interfering in Iraq's affairs by insisting that the January 30th election go ahead on that date. Sunni Arab political and religious leaders, including Pachachi, called for a six month delay arguing that the violence sweeping the country meant a free poll could not go ahead. "The strange thing is that America and Iran, who differ on everything, agree on one issue of holding elections on January 30th," Pachachi told reporters. "It is not the business of the United States or Iran or any other country to talk about delaying or sticking to the date. We are very upset by such attempts as foreign states sharing their opinion in this issue. Let us try to agree among ourselves because external attempts might deter any agreement."

In May 2005 he commented "The current situation in this country is very serious, the security is terrible, the services are almost non-existent the provision of the essentials is extremely inadequate. There is rampant corruption and selfishness the Iraqi political class is only a bit better than that of the Congo."^[15]

For the December 2005 elections, he was elected as a member of the list headed by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. Following Arab political tradition, Pachachi opened the first session of the Iraqi National Assembly in April 2005, as the oldest member elected.

In January 2007 Pachachi blamed occupying forces for the sectarian violence in Iraq “The vast majority of Iraqis are not involved in sectarian violence, they want to live in peace. Militias act in the name of a sect. I blame this on the occupying power, which established a system based on division.” He is reported to have close links with Dr. Muhamad Ayash al-Kubaisi and the Association of Muslim Scholars.^[16]

Pachachi in 2010

At the time of the March 2010 parliamentary election, Pachachi again stood as a candidate on Allawi's Iraqi List.^[17]^[18] He expressed serious concerns about the credibility of the election: "There have been wide reports of intimidation of voters; there are certain to be attempts at voter fraud". Pachachi suggested that the government could be planning fraud due to its alleged printing of seven million unnecessary ballots.^[17] Nevertheless, he was hopeful, arguing that voters were more interested in the candidates' ability than in sectarian concerns and that "if they are allowed to [vote] without intimidation or fear, this could be a watershed moment and an example to the rest of the Middle East."^[18] However after the elections in August 2010, he said "The idea that Iraq is being left in a good position is utter nonsense," and American officials should not "delude themselves." In August 2011 he said "The biggest beneficiaries of the deteriorating conditions of the Iraqi army and the elimination of Iraq's military power are Iran and Israel, as it stands there is no opposition to Iranian influence nor a deterrent to Israel's policy in the region."^[19]

[edit] Quotes

"We are certain that sooner or later, the people of Asia and Africa will themselves help to expose the fraud that Israel is. They will understand that in the Arab world today, Zionism represents a force far more evil and dangerous than apartheid, an expansionist and aggressive force, bent upon dominating our lands and arresting the progress of our people." (p. 207)

- Iraq's Voice at the United Nations, 1959–1969: A Personal Record (Quartet Books, 1991)

"With the exception of Eisenhower's noble stand against the Anglo-Franco-Israeli aggression in 1956, United States policies in the Arab Near East have been an unmitigated disaster for the Arabs." (p. 12)

- Iraq's Voice at the United Nations, 1959–1969: A Personal Record (Quartet Books, 1991)

"As a result of my consistently anti-colonialist stand at the United Nations, I have often been accused of being anti-Western. This is an unjust accusation. In their handling of colonial questions, the Western powers have often violated their own principles and values. The ideals of justice, freedom and equality, which they loudly proclaimed, were frequently ignored when it came to the colonies." (p. 9)

- Iraq's Voice at the United Nations, 1959–1969: A Personal Record (Quartet Books, 1991)

"I have always retained a soft spot for Khrushchev because of his wholehearted support for the Arab position." (p. 11)

- Iraq's Voice at the United Nations, 1959–1969: A Personal Record (Quartet Books, 1991)

"Shorn of its pseudo-political and spiritual claims and pretensions, Zionism can be seen for what it really is: nothing more than an agressive minority movement aiming at the subjugation of the majority and the usurpation of their country. In this, Zionism goes even further than similar movements of the European colons in Algeria and the white Boers in South Africa. In this connection, it is quite striking, perhaps revealing, that the Zionists in Palestine, the French colons in Algeria and the Afrikaners in South Africa use the same methods and profess the same false beliefs of racial superiority. Zionism did not lay claim to an empty wasteland; it laid claim to a country which for more than thirteen centuries, had been inhabited by an overwhelming Arab majority, by a people who shared a great common heritage with millions of others throughout Asia and Africa. Confronted with this claim, what was the Arab majority in Palestine expected to do? Were they - who constituted over 90 percent of the population - expected to surrender their homeland and accept meekly that the gates of their country be opened to unlimited immigration by aliens from all over the world until such time as those foreign immigrants became the majority of the population? What other peoples in the world have been asked to accept such a sacrifice? I beg you search your conscience and decide whether it is just for any people to be asked that they should in their country voluntarily become a minority and surrender their destiny to others. For thirty years the Arabs of Palestine waged a heroic but unequal fight against Britain. In 1936 they revolted, and their rebellion went on with undiminishing fury and intensity for three years and was only stopped by the outbreak of the Second World War. This revolt is one of the most stirring and heroic chapters in the history of Palestine. The Arab people of Palestine were unified as never before in their desperate struggle against the British colonialists and their Zionist allies. The Zionists, as always, have proved themselves in time of need as trusted and loyal friends of colonialism; they shall forever remain so because they would not be able to stand on their own feet for one minute without the constant help and support of the colonial powers." (p. 29-30)

- Iraq's Voice at the United Nations, 1959–1969: A Personal Record (Quartet Books, 1991)

"My country, like many other Arab countries, has long suffered from foreign interference in its internal affairs. Moreover, as is well known, there are few areas in the world which have been afflicted as much by foreign military bases. These bases have been, and are still being, used to prevent parts of our Arab homeland from attaining freedom and independence. These bases are primarily used to maintain unequal relationships and protect positions of influence." (p. 77)

- Iraq's Voice at the United Nations, 1959–1969: A Personal Record (Quartet Books, 1991)

On the establishment of Israel: "This conflict arose because Zionists planned to establish a state in a country overwhelmingly Arab in population, in land-ownership, in language and in culture. Such intent was bound to be opposed by the Arabs. What nation in the world gives up its homeland to accommodate another? But according to Zionist mythology, Arab resistance against the Zionist intent to take away their country is itself agression. The Zionists want to act against the Arabs and, at the same time, prevent the Arabs from reacting in the only way in which, given the divine dignity of the human soul, the Arabs can react in response to the Zionist action against them. War did not start in the Middle East when President Nasser recovered Arab sovereign rights at Sharm el Sheikh, thus wiping out the last vestiges of the tripartite agression of 1956. Nor did it start with the desperate and heroic attempts of the people of Palestine to resist the Zionist occupation of their ancestral homeland. War was first declared in Palestine by the Zionists in 1897 at the first Zionist Congress meeting in Basle, at which it was decided to establish a Jewish state in a country which was 99 per cent Arab in population and land-tenure. The Zionist declaration of war against the Arabs was repeated more blatantly in the great collusion with the British government in the Balfour Declaration of 1917. For thirty years, under Zionist direction and behind the might of the British Empire, the infrastructure of the Jewish state was established in Palestine in the teeth of Arab resistance. Every Jew who entered Palestine between 1918 and 1939 did so at the points of British bayonets. The Palestine Arab rebellion of that period was directed against British imperialism for its forcible sponsorship of Zionism." (p. 124)