Coll 17/10(3) 'Internal: political situation; relations with HMG' [‎243r] (485/513)
This file is a continuation of IOR/L/PS/12/2861. It contains correspondence and memoranda regarding relations between HMG and the Government of Iraq, and documents the reaction of the India Office and
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Qatar Digital Library
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B. Newton to Viscount Halifax.—{Received May 29.)

(No. 221 .)(v,-.F0(jUC.. A Pitj<U 'io

My Lord, ^ ^ ” Bagdad, May 20, 1940.

THE Cabinet formed by Rashid Ali at the beginning of April has now

been in office for a little over six weeks, and it may be useful to review briefly

its record and its present position.

2. In internal affairs the Prime Minister has sought to bring a measure

of appeasement into the political atmosphere. He quickly dissolved the military

court set up in the Rashid (Hinaidi) Cantonment close to Bagdad by his prede

cessor in May 1939, and obtained a Royal reprieve for Sabih Najib, who, in

peculiar circumstances, had been sentenced by this court for a minor misdemeanour

after having been acquitted of a charge of being an accessory to the murder

of the late Rustam Haidar, Minister of Finance. He is credited with a desire

to release also Hikmat Sulaiman, another prominent Iraqi politician, who was

convicted and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for conspiracy against the

State by the same court in March 1939. In this desire he is said to be supported

by Naji Shaukat and Naji Suwaidi, but opposed by Nuri Said and Taha-al-

Hashimi, and stories are frequently heard of an impending split in the Cabinet

over this dispute. Nevertheless, the Cabinet continues to present an apparently

solid front to the country, and much more is said by the gossips about the

internal differences in the Cabinet than by the Ministers themselves.

3. Another story which is freely told by those who pretend to inside know

ledge of the Cabinet is that from the beginning there has been an understanding

between Rashid Ali, the Suwaidis, and Jamil Madfai gradually to squeeze Nuri

Said out of the Government and to eliminate him from politics by sending him

as Minister to London. If any attempt has, in fact, been made to give effect

to such a plan. Nuri Said, with the support of Taha-al-Hashimi, has evently

so far been able to resist it.

4. On taking office the Prime Minister declared that the programme of

his Cabinet did not differ in any essentials from that of Nuri Said’s Cabinet,

and during the short period that remained of the current session of Parliament

he was content to put through the legislation already prepared by the late Govern

ment, and his own Cabinet did not themselves introduce any important measures.

Similarly, in his personal talks with me, and no doubt on account of what

he thought might be his reputation as an ardent nationalist, Rashid Ali has

been at pains to assure me that he aimed at no change of attitude towards

Great Britain or the Anglo-Iraqi Alliance, and intended to continue his

predecessor’s endeavours to maintain and strengthen the closest friendly relations

between Iraq and Great Britain. At the same time he has intimated that in

order to retain public confidence his Government would have to encourage and

lead the patriotism of the younger generation, and show a readiness to work

with them for the realisation of their national hopes and aspirations. His

intentions have been, I think, genuine, but he has little sense of reality and

may fail to see the danger to Iraq of the purely emotional patriotism, born

of chimerical dreams divorced from fact, which is cultivated among the youth

of Iraq to-day.

5 . Since Rashid Ali took office there has been a noticeable and somewhat

disturbing movement towards more extreme views in public opinion, as I felt

bound to warn him the other day (my te jegram No. 159 of 13th May). The

fanaticism and propaganda of the numerous raiestmian And Syrian political

refugees have been gaining influence, and anti-British sentiments are everywhere

being more and more openly and emphatically expressed. I do not believe that

Rashid Ali is himself responsible for this change, which is due more to external

than internal causes, but a man with greater practical experience of the world