Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr

AHMED HASSAN aL-BAKR d1982. The fourth president of Iraq from 17th July 1968 to 16th July 1979. He was a leading member of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party and later the Baghdad-based Ba'ath Party which espoused Ba'athism, a mix of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism. Under his rule, Iraq grew economically due to high international oil prices, which strengthened its position in the Arab world and increased Iraqis' standard of living. Land reforms were introduced and wealth was distributed more equally. A type of socialist economy was established in the late 1970s under Saddam's direction. Al-Bakr gradually lost power to Saddam in the 1970s, as the latter strengthened his position within the party and the state through security services. In 1979, he resigned from all public offices for "health reasons". He died aged 68 in 1982 of unreported causes