Air Force and Baath Party
As an officer in the Iraqi Air Force, he was educated at the flight and staff academies in Baghdad. In 1961, Hardan joined the Baath Party and he played a key role in both the 1963 and 1968 revolutions in Iraq.
By the start of 1963, Hardan was the commander of the Iraqi Air Force base near Mosul. On 8 March 1963, with the Baath Party fighting to gain control of Syria, Hardan ordered an air attack on the part of the Syrian air base at Aleppo that was in the hands of supporters of the old government. However, whilst the strike aircraft were en route, the Syrian Baathists took the air base and the attack was cancelled.
During the period in 1963 when the Baathists were in power in Iraq, Hardan was appointed as commander of the entire Iraqi Air Force. However, when the President Abdul Salam Arif withdrew his support from the Baath Party in late 1963, Hardan followed suit. Hardan then relinquished his command and was appointed Defence Minister in which capacity he served from November 1963 until March 1964.
Read more about this topic: Hardan Al-Tikriti
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