خارجي ٢٤٠١\٤٢ "الشرق الأوسط: تجنيد قوات في سلاح الجو الملكي" [و‎‎٢‎٥] (١٠٤/٤٩)

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[CYPHER ]
[THIS TELEGRM IS OF PARTICULAll SECRECY AND SHOULD BE , ‘
RETAINED BY THE AUTHORISED RECIPIENT AND NOT PASSED
On [?gp.omtd. ]I again sounded the Prme Minister in <
general terras on the subject of frontier guards, making it
clear that I had no definite instructions. His Excellency
saw no difficulty in raising such a force on the lines
explained in my telegram No. 533 to you.
( 2 ) I am inclined to agree with you'lhat the proposed
force would not be very reliable and on reflection I am rather
doubtful whether the expenditure of say £ 20,000 a month could
be justified though the economic benefits in the northern
[gp.undec ?boundaries] (where conditions are difficult due to
crop failures etc.) would be marked. But the essential point
is, I believe, the impossibility of guaranteeing that, if the
war situation deteriorated to such an extent as to involve a
direct attack against this country, the morale of any irregular
force would remain sufficiently high to result in any effective
resistance.. In that case all our expenditure and effort
would be wasted. For this and other reasons it might perhaps
be preferable - and cheaper - if and when an emergency
threatens to employ selected British officers to subsidize
reliable sheikhs and to lead their gangs to harass the enemy
v/herever and however possible. They would probably be as
reliable as any "Home Guard" if not more so, but if they failed
to play we could cut off payments and would be far less out of
pocket.
(3) The Army Commander has seen and agrees with this
telegram*
[1. Copies sent to Mr. Armstrong,
2. Repeated to Minister of State Cairo as Foreign Office
telegram No. 1141,
3. Copies sent to India Office for repetition to Government
WAR CABINET DISTRIBUTIO N.
FROM IRA Q.
FROM BAGDAD TO FOREIGN OFFICE .
Sir K. Cornwallis
No. 558 .
2 r 9th May, 1942.
D. 10.00 p.m. 29th May, 1942.
R. 4.50 a.m. 30th May, 1942*
Repeated to .QF.qF.p ncnTn T\Tn^ 19.R.
povernmenr oi
" (Fa
Beirut,
Tehran Saving
\ JuiM ^42
INDIA OFFICE
INDIV..