File 301/1921 'MESOPOTAMIA: INTELLIGENCE REPORTS' [‎276v] (565/586)

the Cabinet for one of their number; it is hoped that it will be possible to
arrange this, though competent Shi ahs are hard to find. Ja’far Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. al
‘Askari reports that Tie visited leaders of the community in Kadhimain
(Saiyid Hasan al Sadr, father of Saiyid Muhammad, Saiyid Muhammad
Mahdi al Sadr and others) and found it impossible to argue them into ap
proval of the idea of the Provisional Government, though they had no prac
tical alternative to offer.
13. Ja‘far Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. says he is finding his position far from easy, but he
is probably over sensitive in this respect. He states that the e^-Turkish
Officers, who did not take service in Faisal’s army, are disinclined to co
operate in the formation of an Arab army in Mesopotamia. They declare
that the Arab Government is doomed to failure and that they themselves will
wait till they can resume their Commissions under the Turks. They are
^pleased to have recourse to the teaching of history and to affirm that the ‘Iraq
has never been held by any power which was not in possession of the Ciician
Gates. This argument ignores several milleniums in the past history of the
‘Iraq. It is, however, certain that pro-Turkish prejudices will be one of the
difficulties with which the Arab Government will have to cope, together with
the jealousy which the e,r-Turkish officials, both civil and military, exhibit
towards their colleagues who have served in Syria. One of the younger
Shi‘ahs of Baghdad, who hopes to see an Arab Government established,
observed that the pro-Turkish elements here would never get their quietus
until a satisfactory settlement was readied within Turkey, and advocated a
rapprochement between Moderate Turkish Nationalists and the moderates in
the Government at Constantinople.
14. An agent reports that B olshevik talk is on the increase on the coffee
shops. The speakers know nothing about Bolshevism, except that it promises
an opportunity of overturning the existing order of things, and the chance
of appropriating* somebody else’s property. He does not think any Bol
shevik propaganda is coming into the country, and considers that anti-Bol
shevik propaganda should be undertaken with great caution or it will give
grounds for the belief that we are afraid of Bolshevism. In addition to the
lower classes who look on Bolshevism as a means to loot, there is a thinking sec
tion who see in the physical force of Bolshevism their one chance of upsetting
the power of the western nations and entirely freeing Islam from European
influence. He asserts that not for years has Islam been so anti-foreign and,
in a sense, fanatical. Its principal aim is directed against England. He
maintains that in Syria, Egypt, Turkey and this country 80 per cent, of
Moslems are at heart anti-British, and he says this is almost entirely a post
war growth. Any one of these countries, he maintains, would seize the oppor
tunity of our being embarrassed elsewhere to rise against us. Though he
considers a Pan-Islamic movement with any co-ordination in it a chimera,
yet be prophesies unco-ordinated movements against us everywhere. He has
enlarged on this theme before, and as he hasi intimate first-hand and recent
knowledge of all the countries mentioned, and is possessed of shrewed judg
ment, his opinion is perhaps worthy of notice.
15. Another informant, a Christian, called attention to a strong anti-
British campaign carried on by the Syrian newspapers. The worst
offenders are Al Barq of Beirut and Lisan al ‘Arab of Damascus, the editor
of which is Ibrahim Hilmi, a Baghdadi.
1(5. On the other hand the advanced Nationalist Baghdad paper, Al
Istiql al, is said to be fast losing’ popularity, chiefly owing to the fact thatmt
fiTIs its columns with rumours which are almost immediately proved untrue.
People say that the reason Government takes no action against it is that it is
regarded as mere vapouring, not worth noticing. The opinion has been ex
pressed that the authorities have been wise in letting it alone as it will fast
kill itself.
i •!' l.° sum up, public opinion in Baghdad has reached no point of
stability with regard to the new order, but there are signs that the extreme
^ ai ] tbe Nationalists are finding that the ground is being cut from
under their feet, ’
*
PBETENTIONS OE THE MUJTAHIDS IN CONNECTION WITH THE
PACIFICATION OF THE HILLAH AND SHAMIYAH DIVISION.
cn •!'?' ^fore the arrival of Sir Percy Cox in Baghdad, one of the friendly
Shaikhs of the Ainu Sultan expressed the belief that no settlement could be
ac ue’v ed with the insurgent tribes except through the medium of the premier
u.ita ud, the Shari at al Ispahan!. It was significant that ‘Umran al
Zanbur, who had not himself been moved by the efforts of the Shi‘ah priest
hood to rouse the tribes, should take it for granted that thev alone could
mng io an enu the rising which they had been mainlv responsible
• cr ® a L t d 31 "- Bu 1 t Pnirail’s forecast - has not been fulfilled. The preten
sions of the clergy haee been politely but firmly disregarded and the Shi‘ah