‘File 25/4 Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of Alliance, 1930’ [‎15r] (29/40)

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4. Interest in the future of the Treaty was by this
time fairly generally roused. n An-Nida n and ^s-Sa ^ 11 alluded
to it on 24th Junes and on 26th June the M Iraq Times ’ 1 sprang a
mine in the shape of a delphic paragraph provided by Reuters
with the following text ;~
"IR4Q MAY ASK FOR REVISION OF TREATY.
The Iraq Government is considering
asking the British Government for a revi
sion of the Anglo-Iraq Treaty of 1930%
which regulates relations between Britain
and Iraq for 25 years from the date of the
• Treaty.
No approach for revision will, how
ever ? be made by Iraq until the country is
in a position to make use of further material
and political assistance in its development . 11
^ 5 # A considerable upheaval in the *.rabic press duly
followed. In the view of f, an-Nida M the ’Iraq Times” is the
mouthpiece of the British Government and 28th June saw besides
casual references to the Treaty in n al-Hawadith” and ^as-Sa’a”
the first instalment of a long article in ,r an-Nida”, on the
urgent need for revising the Treaty before the conclusion of the
war with Japan. This was continued as a serial in four
successive issues and although n an-Nida” printed on 29th June
an official denial that the ’’Iraq Times” notice was inspired
by any government the excitement did not die down. On the
30th ”al~Akhbar” and 2al-Iraq” took up the theme, 30th June
being the anniversary date of the Treaty’s signature 5 and on
1st July it was handled not only in ”an-Nida’s” serial but by
”al-Akhbar” and ”ash-Sha»b” as well. On 2nd July ’’ad-Diyar”
and on 3rd July ”al-Iraq” printed further articles and finally
on 4th July ”al- 3 ilad” came out with the first instalment of
another serial feature on the Treaty.
The origins of this press campaign, apart from the
”Iraq Times” articlo, may perhaps be sought in the paragraph
in the gossip column of ”as-Sa’a” on 24th June stating that
the present Prime Minister HAMDI al-PfiCHACHI was expected to be
the ’hero’ of the revision of the Treaty. It is due to the
^ desire of the various factions to outbid one another in
nationalist enthusiasm. It will be noted that the really
energetic advocates of treaty revision have been, throughout,
n an-Nida” the most right-wing of BAGHDAD papers, and ”ash-Sha b
the most extreme representative of the left.
7 Amid the deluge of comment the chief thing that
emerges is that ”an-Nida”, ’’ar-Ra’i ul-’Amm” and "al-*Iraq” are
openly of the opinion that Great Britain will be more amenable
to pressure while she has the war with Japan on her hands tnan
she will be afterwards. As for the matters requiring rectifi
cation the only detailed discussion of the Treaty and related
agreements is that of NUR ud-DIN DAWUD of ’’an-Nida” anc. he
lists the points at issue a£ follows:-
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(a)/-