[3] Prior to the coup, Hardan came together with other major political figures in the Ba'th Party and Nationalist officers to carry out the plans made for the change in government.

Military officials felt that too many civilians and important leaders had been wrongfully killed under Abd al-Karim Qasim, the current President.

[7] Abd al-Karim Qasim was to be removed from his position in office and to do this the communist commander of the Air Force, Jalal al-Awqati, had to be killed.

Abd al-Salam Arif was the person placed into the Presidential seat by the National Command of the Revolutionary Council (NCRC) after the February 8th events.

He appointed Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr, a devoted Ba'thists, to be his vice president and Ali Salih al-Sa'di as his Minister of the Interior.

Opposing views began to surface as a result of unresolved opinions regarding the direction of the state of Iraq and an imbalance of power between Arif, Bakr, and Sa'di.

On 18 November 1963 Hardan would once again assist in a power transfer, this time it was in collusion with the current President of Iraq, Abd al-Salam Arif.

Arif wanted to regain control of the state that was handed to him by the NCRC so he brought Hardan and General Tahir Yahya together to launch an attack on the National Guard currently residing in Baghdad.

On November 11, after being asked to step down from his position in government as Minister of Interior, Sa'di refused and went on with his plans to attend the Extraordinary Regional Conference.

Instead Sa'di was met by the National Guard who arrested him and the rest of his supporters, forcing them onto a plane set to leave the state and land in Madrid.

During the 1968 coup, in the early hours of 17 July 1968, Hardan telephoned the sitting Prime Minister Abdul Rahman Arif to inform him that he had been removed from office.

[11] During his time as Defence Minister, Hardan was instrumental in securing large-scale military aid for Iraq from the Soviet Union.

Hasan al-Bakr had managed to gain the support of Saddam Hussein, who helped boost his own career and popularity, placing him a few steps above Ammash and Hardan.

Finally on 15 October 1970 Hardan was dismissed from all positions he carried because he was accused of disregarding efforts of the Ba'thist Party to help the Arabs.

This charge was based on his opposition to Saddam Hussein's plans to use an Iraqi brigade located in Jordan to support Palestinians against the Jordanian government in the Black September uprising.

However, Hardan disliked being away from the Iraqi political scene and he travelled to Kuwait from where he attempted to organize a coup against Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr and Saddam Hussein.