مجموعة ١٠/١٧(٣) "شؤون داخلية: الوضع السياسي؛ العلاقات مع الحكومة البريطانية" [و‎‎٢‎١‎٤] (٥١٣/٤٢٧)

Repeated to Cairo Mo.188
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Decypher. Sir B. Newton (Bagdad)
25rd November, 1940.
D.
R.
10.20 p.m. 24th November, 1940.
12.55 p.m. 24th November, 1940.
No. 702.
[][][]
IMPORTANT.
\C
Your telegrams No.595 and No.591.
Secret.
I am taking the earliest opnortunity to act on your
instructions.
2. Nuri Pasha has himself told me that he had asked
the Italian Minister if he would give him the official text of
the German broadcast declaration (which was also sent from
Bari) and it would seem natural that he should at the same
time ask what practical apolication it had to Syria and
Palestine. His underlying suggestion to me was that the
declaration so far appeared to be literally only in the air.
and that, in any case, the result cf his enquiry would help to
expose its worthlessness. I am not, however, satisfied that
this reveals the whole truth and think it probable that
the Iraqi hope has been to use it to extract more precise
advances firstly from the Axis and then perhaps from ourselves.
5. Nuri Pasha* s quite recent mention of his failure to
obtain any v/ritten text implies that Naji Shaukat had kept
secret from him the text given by von Papen. It might
therefore be of value (provided there is no strong objection
and the information is thoroughly reliable) if I could tell
the Regent and Nuri Pasha what we know [ group undecypherable ? of ]
I.aji’s [? group omitted ? conversation] witn von rapen at
Angora. Such information might be useful to them in [? group
omitted? procuring a change of Government.
4. The story in my telegram No.fiSS- reached me from
more than one source. To meet the possibllit * that the whole
matter has been kept secret from both the Regent and Nuri Pasha,
I propose in any case to suggest to the Regent that he
should satisfy himself by direct enquiry of the Prime Minister
and perhaps Taha or other important Tiembers of the Cabinet
that" no such information has in fact been withheld from his
knowledge and that of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and
that there is no danger of serious action being taken of
which they would disapprove.