"العراق والخليج الفارسي" [ظ‎‎٢‎٠‎٩] (٨٦٢/٤٢٣)

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306 HISTORY
consisted in the dispatch of some fifty aircraft with a number of
officers and technicians to airfields in northern Iraq. The aircraft
made several raids on Habbaniya but were ultimately all destroyed,
either in the air or on the ground. Also Herr Grobba, who had been
German Minister in Baghdad up to 1939, returned to Iraq, where
he seems to have endeavoured to conclude a treaty under the terms
of which Iraq would have surrendered her oil-fields in exchange
for Axis help to annul the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty and to secure the
federation of Syria and Iraq into one independent State. But his
failure to obtain adequate air support from Germany alienated the
Golden Square.
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The constitutional regime was restored with the return to power
of men such as Jamil Madfai Pasha and Nuri as Said known as the
Common Denominator of Iraqi politics—who, though acceptable to
Britain, were still regarded as good Arabs in Iraq. The military
failure, however, has been a blow to the self-confidence of the most
lively members of the Iraqi State. The coup had been widely
supported not so much out of hatred of the British as out of a desire
to strike a blow for the Arab cause. Many who were well aware that
they were stabbing their best friend in the back still joined in with
enthusiasm, true to the tradition of Iraqi politics. The eventual de
claration of war by the Iraqi Government on Germany was regarded
with considerable cynicism after past events. But it is remarkable
that some of the army leaders were sentenced to death by the Iraqi
courts and the sentences were carried out. More importance
was attached to the continuous negotiations for some form of Arab
federation with the neighbouring Arab governments, amongst which
that of Saudi Arabia perhaps holds the most interesting place. The
excitement with which Iraqi politicians and journalists declaimed
against the high-handed intervention of the French in the consti
tutional rights of the Lebanese Government in November 1943
suggests that the disappointed nationalists are now. recovering their
nerve. The firm support given to the Lebanon on this occasion by
the British Government has probably gone far to soothe hitherto
irreconcilable nationalists and Pan-Arabs in Iraq. 1 he Palestinian
problem is still of moment in Iraq, and Nuri as Said is credited with
a special plan for its solution by the federation of Palestine with Syria.
Behind this political decor Iraq has filled a place of considerable
strategic importance in the war since the invasion of Russia by