Editing Saddam Hussein (section)

=== 1968 coup ===
{{main|17 July Revolution}}

In July 1968, Saddam participated in a [[17 July Revolution|bloodless coup]] led by [[Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr]] that overthrew [[Abdul Rahman Arif]],<ref name="Bashkin2009">{{cite book |last=Bashkin |first=Orit |title=The other Iraq: pluralism and culture in Hashemite Iraq |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8047-7415-4 |location=Stanford, California, USA}}</ref>{{rp|174}} Salam Arif's brother and successor. While Saddam's role in the coup was not hugely significant (except in the official account), Saddam planned and carried out the subsequent purge of the non-Ba'athist faction led by [[List of Prime Ministers of Iraq|Prime Minister]] [[Abdul Razzaq an-Naif]], whose support had been essential to the coup's success.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Karsh |first1=Efraim |author-link1=Efraim Karsh |title=Saddam Hussein: A Political Biography |last2=Rautsi |first2=Inari |publisher=[[Grove Press]] |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-8021-3978-8 |pages=27–35}}</ref> According to a semi-official biography, Saddam personally led Naif at gunpoint to the plane that escorted him out of Iraq.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Karsh |first1=Efraim |author-link1=Efraim Karsh |title=Saddam Hussein: A Political Biography |last2=Rautsi |first2=Inari |publisher=[[Grove Press]] |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-8021-3978-8 |pages=33–34}}</ref> Arif was given refuge in London and then [[Istanbul]]. Al-Bakr was named president and Saddam was named his deputy, and deputy chairman of the Ba'athist [[Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council|Revolutionary Command Council]]. According to biographers, Saddam never forgot the tensions within the first Ba'athist government, which formed the basis for his measures to promote Ba'ath party unity as well as his resolve to maintain power and programs to ensure social stability. Although Saddam was al-Bakr's deputy, he was a strong behind-the-scenes party politician. Al-Bakr was the older and more prestigious of the two, but by 1969 Saddam had become the moving force behind the party.