'File 39/7 (10/9) Kuwait Oil Concession' [‎31r] (61/88)

2 .
Arabia, «j*£ tbm fmtmn tfta actual War^iarloa
have not iNson dot^ansinod and; it la hare t* at ^m^rlcan j^resauro
should bo nost axjwctod, Thoraforo I consider that it is
dsairabl# to ondoavour in the near futuro to roach an agroamnt
with the iieudi rabian Oovernaont on this portion of their
frontier.
I an not altogether in accord with air Ol&f Caroo* 3
3tatenant th^t the Kuwait # neutral iione 1 , Jebel Hakah v and
the hiaterlaM of the trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. and Muscat are political
vacua. Far frota it. Dor dirficulty has been in the past
and will be in the future not a of political interests
in these areas but a eup«r~abondance of olaiMBts desirous
of Including then within the territories over which thojr
exercise control, however nebulous that control «ajr be.
Having anroed that it is necessary to reopen this very
couple* and controversial subject an answer mat be found if
possible to the second question referred to In paragraph 2 of
this lettor.
4 . tsmkt ,*qm
ifhen dealing with this subject X must elaln indulgence
should 1 n*ktt ulstakes In fact for I aa writing without access
to records and relying solely on oeuory* In 1043 the dhaikh
of Kuiimit declined to negotiate with any oil ooupany In respect
of Ms rights in the •neutral gone* and gave as his reason that
it was undesirable to dl^while the war was in progress as any
agraenent which Bight be entered into could not possibly bo
in-,? tenanted until peace time conditionc once again prevailed.
In Opinion his real reason for refusing to negotiate was
that he still hoped to be able to assert at sows future date
his dale to exclusive rights In the area in question. In
common with aany other people he considers that on the decal&e
of Ibn ^aud Saudi vrablu will bccooe a scene of strife between
mimrema aspirants to the throne of the great king and that
by soap political mam such as assisting the ultlsately
/successful