“In November 1969, Saddam [Hussein] was appointed as the deputy head of the Revolutionary Command Council, Iraq’s supreme governing body. He gathered all the intelligence agencies, the real bulwarks of Ba’athist power, into his hands. The first to go were the non-Ba’athist officers who had executed the coup of 1968. Military and civilian Ba’ath Party rivals were quickly disposed of, through assassinations, mysterious ‘accidents,’ demotions, exile and imprisonment.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]
– Ali A. Allawi, The Occupation of Iraq, Page 29