'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎207r] (418/862)

MODERN IRAQ 3OI
opposed to all forms of governmental control, and hence were a dis
ruptive element in the State. The greatest weakness, however, was
not the Sunni-Shia division but the perhaps inevitable fact that
political offices, Parliament, and civil service were, as in Turkish
days, the preserve of the town Arabs, who tended to ignore the basic
agricultural needs and interests of a great part of the population.
These tendencies were shown by the serious tribal risings in
1935 of the middle Euphrates region from Diwaniya to Suq ash
Shuyukh, which had been generally quiet since 1920 because of
agricultural contentment. The policy of the newly independent
government was little better than that of the Ottoman Pashas. The
risings were repressed with the help of army and air forces, but the
radical grievance, the lack of land and water, was not immediately
redressed. Two local shaikhs of Diwaniya, Abdul Wahid and Shalan
Atiya, showed an equal lack of wisdom in deliberately provoking
tribal disturbances in concert with certain Baghdadi politicians for
a political object—the overturning of the existing government—
which they concealed from their tribesmen under the guise of
genuine grievances. They then demonstrated their attitude towards
the Ministry which they had helped to office by making a peaceful
visit to Baghdad with eighty-six lorries full of armed tribesmen.
They presented a characteristic petition which complained of the
unequal division of power and representation, asked for the teaching
of the Shia or Jafari rite in the law schools (p. 257) and the appoint
ment of a Shia representative in the Court of Cassation, a reduction
in the size of the civil service and a check on its corruption, the
speeding up of agricultural settlement, and the equal distribution
to all classes of the benefits of State institutions. Little was done to
benefit the tribesmen at this time, and the shaikhs continued to
exploit the method of tribal revolt during the political crises of 1936
and 1937.
Politics absorb the interests of educated Iraqis. Satirists say that
despite the numbers of lawyers there used to be a shortage of advo
cates because the successful men were all engaged in political
careers. The lack of a modern literature is explained similarly by the
absorption of most creative talent in political journalism. Even the
professors of Baghdad colleges are said only to know the classical
literature. In the absence of solid political parties and of interest in
local administration and social welfare, this political enthusiasm lacks
both roots and fruits. Its main product is the effendi, the town-bred
official who dislikes or despises the countrymen whose affairs he