I was looking for an old college text in the attic and happened to notice some old National Geographics that I had forgotten about. The one on top October 1958 caught my eye and it has a great piece about Iraq just months after Faisal was killed, way before Saddam. Sorry I don't have any to link to it - unless maybe the NG website might have something, I'll check (didn't think to try until just now) but if you can locate this issue in a library or collection it makes for some interesting reading.
Edit: They do have some info on it, try this
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/publications/explore.html