'Papers relating to transfer of Middle Eastern Affairs to the Colonial Office and creation of a new Department there, 1920-1921, with Cabinet notes of Milner, Montague, Churchill, self, and others' [‎63r] (125/136)

SECRET.
MESOPOTAMIA.
PRIVATE TELEGRAMS.
1 V rom Secretary of State to High Commissioner, Mesopotamia,
8th January 1921.
Clear the line.
1 ei sonal and Seciet. 1 ollowing from Secretary of State for War to you and
General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, to whom please communicate copy at once.
No. 1. I have been entrusted with the general direction of the Cabinet policy in
Mesopotamia. At the moment of taking up this task I wisli to define it precisely for
your guidance and in order that you may be able to assist me to the full.
. It is impossible for us to throw upon the British taxpayer the burdens for
military expenditure in Mesopotamia which are entailed by your present schemes for
holding the country. Unless some better method can be devised and brought into
operation within the financial year 1921-22, retirement and contraction to the coastal
zone is inevitable and must be accomplished as rapidly as possible. Seeing, however,
that General Ironside’s fighting troops cannot begin their retirement from North-
Vest Persia till 1st April, and that Mosul must be held until at least his rearguard
has reached Kanikin, it is certain that very considerable military forces must remain
in Mesopotamia during the greater part of the financial year 1921-22. The presence
of these forces lor many months to come, and the effects produced upon the Arabs by
the suppression of the rebellion and by the surrender of rifles, give me the hope that
by the effective use of the resources at our disposal we may be able to set up an Arab
Government, through whose agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. the peaceful development of the country may be
assuled without undue demands upon Great Britain. It is to this policy that we must
devote our efforts.
1 w ill address you at an early date upon tiie selection of an Arab ruler.
It is scarcely appropriate to consider the permanent garrison of Mesopotamia in
terms of brigades and divisions.
* 1 contemplate the formation of an Imperial Mesopotamian Police Force (British)
of exceptional individual quality, and the formation of Indian military units specially
recruited from India or by volunteers from the forces now serving in Mesopotamia,
together with an application of the system of air control which has already been
elaborated.
1 trust that by these methods, in regard to which action will be immediately
begun, it may be found possible for us to do justice to the mandate which we have
accepted.
Let me assure you of my earnest wish to collaborate with you in this task and
thus to avoid the melancholy consequences attendant upon its failure.
Ansicered by Nos. 4 and 5.
2 From Secretary of State to High Commissioner, Mesopotamia,
8th January 1921.
Clear the line.
hrom Secretary of State for \\ ar. No. 2. My immediately preceding telegram.
Your position will remain as defined in War Office telegram to General Officer
Commanding, Baghdad, 86089, dated 27th August.
3 From Secretary of State to High Commissioner, 10th January 1921.
(Duplicate to General Haldane.)
Personal and Secret.
87163. In pursuance of my No. 1. On your proposed rate of military reduction,
I have had to take on Army Estimates for financial year 1921-22 over 25 millions, in
addition to about one million on Air Estimates. Any saving which can be effected on
this total without a disaster will greatly improve our position and chances of eventual
success. You should therefore expedite the departure of every unit that can be
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