The Policies of Non-Interference U.S. Policies Toward Iraqi Kurds, 1963-1968

Abstract

When President Lyndon B. Johnson entered the Oval Office in November 1963 following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the U.S. backed Ba’th Party in Iraq had been overthrown a few days earlier. The Johnson administration had to assess the new Iraqi government, an Iraqi nationalist regime that was relying heavily on the power of the Iraqi military. When the Kurdish War resumed, and the Iraqi Kurds kept pleading Washington for assistance, Washington witnessed that its allies, Iran and Israel were engaging in covert actions in the Kurdish mountains to destabilize Iraq. At the same time, the Johnson administration was seeking to strengthen its friendship with Iraq in order to secure its interests and prevent the expansion of the Soviet Union in the Gulf. This thesis looks at U.S. policies toward the Iraqi Kurds during the Johnson administration. It argues that the Johnson administration’s policies towards the Kurds were ultimately determined by the U.S. Cold War objectives.