'Najd-Transjordan Boundary' [‎170r] (344/358)

ur:: h r--: ha exosiient ^ ° f «»• ^ n^u=
6 aiBal ’ whose attitude since his return has
«®n admirable, may thus be undone. Meanwhile In reply to
protests Ibn Sa'ud has stated that the Mutalr acted against t
and that ne means to punish them, but that the
BrUl " h ^ ' Iraq Gov «™ B ents ar « responsible for the JSutalr
hostility as they hawe fortified desert posts and patrolled
the desert with armoured cars and aeroplanes, an argument
which Is obviously absurd. Our policy should in my opinion
depend on whether within tie next few weeks Ibn Sa<ud shows
himself determined, and able to suppress these attacks by his-
tribes. If he falls in either respect I see no remedy but to
blockade Hasa ports and compel truclal chiefs on the Arab
ceast to do the same, on the grounds that we see no hope of
preventing Ikhwan tribes from attacking except by threaten-
ing them with starvation and forcing them to resist Ibn Baud
King Faisal argues with some reason that the Mutalr must
think Ibn Sa'ud either approves of their action or Is unable
to punish the® severely, otherwise they would never have ».«
been such Idiots as to leave their headquarters, property
*nd families unprotected behind them. I suggest that an
urgent message be now sent to Ibn Sa’ud recapitulating the
series of raids on 'Iraq and Kuwait, refuting his absur’
arguments about fortifying desert posts and telling him tha
H.M. Government expect him to satisfy them within six weeks
that, he means to, and can, punish the Mutair and extract
compensation from them, otherwise they will be compelled to
resort, to the blockade of Hasa ports and the stoppage of
supplies through other ports, and any other measur
■ay appear possible to force his tribes to behave t
Aeroplanes have very great difficulty In dealing witi.
situation because of the vast distances from air bases a
which the raiders operate, and the delay m receiving news
0f r ' lids * Kindl y 1 *t me have a very early reply as 'Iraq
tribes are In grave danger, and it Is believed here that the
... force the 'Iraq Government Into ill advised action if we
do not do something soon. Supplies to Ikhwan tribes have x
already been stopped from 'Iraq. Am consulting A. 0.0. who i s
away in e Aattan*