'File 11/44 Leading Personalities in Iraq, Iran & Saudi Arabia' [‎34r] (67/96)

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Elected Deputy for Kut December 1937 and for
Bagdad in June 1939. Became Minister of
Economics in September 1939. Joined the Cabinet
formed by Rashid Ali in March 1940 as Minister of
Education.
Resigned with the whole Cabinet in January 1941.
Throughout the disturbances of 1941 he remained
inactive and was made Minister of Justice in Nuri
Said’s Cabinet in October 1941.
Resigned February 1942.
Appointed an unofficial member of the Board of
Education in April 1943.
Appointed Minister of Communications and Works
in December 1943. Resigned with the whole of Nuri
Said’s Cabinet in June 1944.
A Senator since February 1941, he has been one
of Salih Jabr’s principal critics in the Upper House
in the Extraordinary Session of 1947.
109. Said Haqqi
Born 1883. A Kurd from Sulaimaniyah and a
former Turkish army officer, commissioned from the
Constantinople Military School in 1903. He joined
the Iraq army on its formation and became at one
time Director of Administration in the Ministry of
Defence. He reached the rank of colonel, resigning
from the army as a result of a disagreement with
^Hia Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. al Hashimi, then Chief of General Staff.
has subsequently held posts as Director-General
Jails, Director of Civil Aviation and finally Keeper
of the Privy Purse at the Palace. He leads a quiet
life and politically and socially is almost unknown.
Appears friendly disposed to the British, but speaks
no English.
Became Minister of Defence in the al Umari
Cabinet of June 1946 while retaining his post as
Keeper of the Privy Purse.
110. Salih Saib, al Fariq
Has served as chief of the Iraq army General
Staff since 1944. He began his military career in
1916, when he was commissioned an infantry officer.
He became instructor in the army’s small arms
school in 1921 and later pursued staff college work
in both England and Iraq. Following a period of
inactive service during which he served as assistant
director-general of the Iraqi State Railways, he was
^called to active service, became a Zaim in 1940
^*'fd al Liwa three years later. In August 1944 he
was appointed commanding officer of the First
~ Division of the Iraq army. His promotion to the
rank of al Fariq took place in November 1945.
A stupid man and basically anti-British. He is
nevertheless popular in the army, but not with the
Regent, who would like to see him go, if only because
he was a member of Bekr Sidki’s staff. He attended
the Victory celebrations in London in 1946 and
came back slightly more reconciled to the British,
though full of complaints about his accommodation.
So long as he is Chief of Staff, he will be a potential
danger to Britain and to the ruling House. Speaks
good English.
111. Salman-al-Barrak
Shiah and a tribal notable of Hillah, Minister of
Irrigation and Agriculture 1928—29. Has been in the
Chamber of Deputies for many years and has
frequently held position of Vice-President.
Appointed Minister of Economics in November
1942.
Elected President of the Chamber of Deputies in
December 1943, but returned to the Cabinet as
Minister of Economics at the end of the same month.
Resigned with the whole of Nuri Pasha’s Cabinet in
June 1944.
112. Salman-al-Shaikh Daud
Sunni. Born Bagdad about 1900. Son of Sheikh
Ahmad-al-Sheikh Daud {q-v.).
A lawyer with a large practice and a forceful
personality. Given to women and drink, but a
staunch supporter of democracy. He was the first
person of note in Iraq who openly and independently
attacked the Axis in speeches and press articles.
Elected a Deputy in October 1943 and was
prominent in debates as a critic of Nuri Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. s
Government. Arab News Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. representative, for
which he is very well paid. Visited Britain as a
member of the Iraqi journalists’ delegation, autumn
1945.
Wealthy, generous and good company, but a light
weight politically. Speaks French, but almost no
English.
113. Salih Jabr, K.B.E.
Shiah lawyer of Najaf, born about 1890. Employed
for some time as a judge. Elected Deputy February
1930 and resigned from the bench. Acquired
notoriety in the Chamber as a persistent asker of
questions and ready speaker. Appointed Minister
for Education under Jamil Madfai November 1933.
Resigned February 1934. Elected Deputy for
Muntafiq December 1934. Appointed Mutessarif of
Karbala in April 1935, where he proved successful
In October 1936 he accepted the portfolio of Justice
in Hikmat Sulaiman’s Cabinet. Resigned in June
over the Euphrates disturbances and went away for
several months. He returned when Jamil-al-Madfai
formed a Cabinet and was appointed Director-
General of Customs and Excise.
Became Minister for Education in Cabinet formed
by Nuri-al-Said in December 1938. Elected for
Diwaniyah June 1939. Minister for Social Affairs in
February 1940. Resigned in March 1940.
Appointed Mutessarif of Basra in June 1940.
Supported the Regent when His Royal Highness fled
to Basra in April 1941 to escape from Rashid Ali and
the “ Golden Square.” For this he was arrested and
narrowly escaped a heavy sentence. He was in the
end released on condition that he left the country.
He withdrew to Tehran and returned in June 1941
after the fall of Rashid Ali. Appointed Minister of
Interior and Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs in
the Cabinet formed by Nuri Said in October 1941.
Appointed Minister of Finance in October 1942
with the special task of finding solutions for the
country’s economic difficulties.
Did not come up to expectations and in June 1943
he was returned to the Interior. Resigned from the
Cabinet in October 1943.
Joined the Cabinet of Hamdi-al-Pachachi as
Minister of Finance in June 1944. Took on portfolio
of Defence in August 1944 when Tahsin Ali refused
to dismiss senile officers as part of the scheme for
reorganising the army, but in the reshuffled C abinet
he took up Supplies, only to hand them over in
December 1944, and return to Finance. During the
absence of Hamdi Pachachi, the Premier, he acted
for him. When the Pachachi Cabinet fell it was
expected that Saleh Jabr, who was one of the
Ministers who accompanied the Regent to the
Amman Conference, might become the first Shia
Prime Minister. He was not chosen, however. He
spent much of the summer of 1946 in England,
where he had gone for treatment for an arm which
had been broken in a motor accident on his return
from Amman.
He is undoubtedly the leading Shia statesman
and has shown himself to be a good friend of Britain,
though a hard bargainer for the interests of his
country. Unfortunately, Shia opinion is by no
means all behind him. particularly the tribes from
the Middle Euphrates. This is largely due to his
wife, who is a strong-minded tribal woman of Hillah
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