Coll 17/10(3) 'Internal: political situation; relations with HMG' [‎243r] (485/513)

13]
^ THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
inde * 60 File oopy
2*0
2
i
> ti
IRAQ.
With the Compliments 3ltt
o f the xp#.
ider Secreiary of Sta
tor Foreign Affa
A
CONFIDENTIAL.
[E 1732/448/93]
11 m 1940
trwo •
1^0
CO
INDIA. DIRECT
ay 2!) ’ 1940 A ju&f<
tA
Section J . fT\ fc
Copy No. 1 i .
277 r '
B. Newton to Viscount Halifax.—{Received May 29.)
(No. 221 .)(v,-.F0(jUC.. A Pitj<U 'io
My Lord, ^ ^ ” Bagdad, May 20, 1940.
THE Cabinet formed by Rashid Ali at the beginning of April has now
been in office for a little over six weeks, and it may be useful to review briefly
its record and its present position.
2. In internal affairs the Prime Minister has sought to bring a measure
of appeasement into the political atmosphere. He quickly dissolved the military
court set up in the Rashid (Hinaidi) Cantonment close to Bagdad by his prede
cessor in May 1939, and obtained a Royal reprieve for Sabih Najib, who, in
peculiar circumstances, had been sentenced by this court for a minor misdemeanour
after having been acquitted of a charge of being an accessory to the murder
of the late Rustam Haidar, Minister of Finance. He is credited with a desire
to release also Hikmat Sulaiman, another prominent Iraqi politician, who was
convicted and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for conspiracy against the
State by the same court in March 1939. In this desire he is said to be supported
by Naji Shaukat and Naji Suwaidi, but opposed by Nuri Said and Taha-al-
Hashimi, and stories are frequently heard of an impending split in the Cabinet
over this dispute. Nevertheless, the Cabinet continues to present an apparently
solid front to the country, and much more is said by the gossips about the
internal differences in the Cabinet than by the Ministers themselves.
3. Another story which is freely told by those who pretend to inside know
ledge of the Cabinet is that from the beginning there has been an understanding
between Rashid Ali, the Suwaidis, and Jamil Madfai gradually to squeeze Nuri
Said out of the Government and to eliminate him from politics by sending him
as Minister to London. If any attempt has, in fact, been made to give effect
to such a plan. Nuri Said, with the support of Taha-al-Hashimi, has evently
so far been able to resist it.
4. On taking office the Prime Minister declared that the programme of
his Cabinet did not differ in any essentials from that of Nuri Said’s Cabinet,
and during the short period that remained of the current session of Parliament
he was content to put through the legislation already prepared by the late Govern
ment, and his own Cabinet did not themselves introduce any important measures.
Similarly, in his personal talks with me, and no doubt on account of what
he thought might be his reputation as an ardent nationalist, Rashid Ali has
been at pains to assure me that he aimed at no change of attitude towards
Great Britain or the Anglo-Iraqi Alliance, and intended to continue his
predecessor’s endeavours to maintain and strengthen the closest friendly relations
between Iraq and Great Britain. At the same time he has intimated that in
order to retain public confidence his Government would have to encourage and
lead the patriotism of the younger generation, and show a readiness to work
with them for the realisation of their national hopes and aspirations. His
intentions have been, I think, genuine, but he has little sense of reality and
may fail to see the danger to Iraq of the purely emotional patriotism, born
of chimerical dreams divorced from fact, which is cultivated among the youth
of Iraq to-day.
5 . Since Rashid Ali took office there has been a noticeable and somewhat
disturbing movement towards more extreme views in public opinion, as I felt
bound to warn him the other day (my te jegram No. 159 of 13th May). The
fanaticism and propaganda of the numerous raiestmian And Syrian political
refugees have been gaining influence, and anti-British sentiments are everywhere
being more and more openly and emphatically expressed. I do not believe that
Rashid Ali is himself responsible for this change, which is due more to external
than internal causes, but a man with greater practical experience of the world