'File 11/44 Leading Personalities in Iraq, Iran & Saudi Arabia' [‎28r] (55/96)

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Throughout 1938 he held his Cabinet together and
carried on the government of the country in difficult
circumstances with success. Forced to resign on the
25th December, 1938, by a military demonstration
organised by Husain Fauzi, the Chief of the General
Staff, and Taha-al-Hashimi in favour of Nuri-al-Said.
Continues to enjoy considerable political influence.
When Rashid Ali seized power by a coup d’Etat
at the beginning of April 1941, Jamil Madfai fled to
Basra, where he joined the Regent. Both narrowly
escaped capture by the Iraqi rebel troops and took
refuge on a British warship. Thence they were flown
to Palestine, where Jamil Madfai remained during
Rashid Ali’s rebellion of May. He returned to Iraq
with the Regent on the collapse of the rebellion, and
after considerable hesitation was persuaded to form
a Cabinet. Faced with the difficult task of restoring
public confidence and security, he showed that he
had lost his former resolution and energy. An ageing
man, susceptible to the intervention of others, he
inclined towards a policy of appeasement and
refrained from drastic action against the pro-Nazi
elements. Within these limits, however, he co
operated loyally with His Majesty’s Government,
and during the four months of his premiership
conditions in Iraq were largely restored to normal.
Feeling unable,' however, to carry out the policy of
strong action which was pressed on him from many
sj^es, Jamil Madfai, together with the whole Cabinet,
igned in October 1941.
Since then he has been active in the Senate. In
March-April 1943 he visited Syria, Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan and
Egypt at the request of Nuri Said to canvass support
for the idea of an Arab congress to plan the closer
union of all Arab States. He met with little success
but was pleased to have had an opportunity to
maintain his part as a veteran of the Pan-Arab
movement.
Elected President of the Senate in December 1943,
in which position he used his influence against Nuri
Pasha’s Government. Superseded as president in
December 1944 and resigned from Senate in
February 1945.
His name was widely canvassed in May and June
1947 as a possible leader of an anti-Government bloc
to be composed of the Left and Reformist Parties
together with a few old-time politicians; this bloc
appears to have come to nothing.
Is now very rich. Has much land in favourable
^Nations and is interested in many commercial ven-
lures whose success is at least partly due to his
influence.
59. Jamil-al- Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Sunni of Bagdad. Brother of Hamid-al- Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. ,
aide-de-camp to the Amir Abdullah, and Shakir-al-
Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. , formerly aide-de-camp to the late King Feisal
(g.u.).
Appointed a judge in 1923 and became director of
the Land Registry Department (Tapu) in 1931.
Appointed Minister for Justice November 1932.
Resigned with Cabinet in March 1933. Appointed
Director-General of State Domains Lands (in the
Ministry of Finance) October 1933. Returned to the
Ministry of Justice in June 1934 as member of the
Court of Cassation, and a month later was appointed
Chief Public Prosecutor. Appointed Director-General
of Posts and Telegraphs in April 1935.
Appointed principal private secretary in the Palace
in July 1937, but lost this post when Hikmat
Sulaiman’s Cabinet fell, and was passed into
obscurity as an inspector in the Ministry of Justice.
Appointed Director-General of Tapu in January
1938, and of Land Settlement in August 1939 when
the latter Department was amalgamated with Tapu.
Land Settlement was taken away from him in the
autumn of 1941. Dishonest and corrupt.
60. Jamil A bdul Wahhab
Born about 1900 of a comparatively unimportant
familv, he was able to contract an alliance with a
niece of Nuri Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. -al-Said and it is to this influence
that he probably owes any political distinction that
he has obtained. Educated at the Bagdad Law
College, he was for some time a judge. A keen
political intriguer, he was at one time arrested and
deported by Jamal Madfa’i. His attitude during the
Rashid Ali rebellion was ambiguous, nevertheless he
was elected Deputy for Dfyala in October 1943 and
became president of the Lawyers’ Association in
March 1946. His first ministerial appointment was
in Nuri Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. -al-Said’s coalition Government of
November 1946, in which he was Minister of Social
Affairs. He retained this portfolio in the succeeding
Cabinet of March 1947 under Saleh Jabr. He
appears to devote any talents that he may possess
to political intrigue and is said to take practically
no interest in his Ministry. He is personally spiteful,
ambitious and untrustworthy. He speaks a little
English.
61. Jebran Malkon
Was at one time associated with Rafael Butti in
the publishing of Al Bilad. In 1940 he refused Ger
man Legation offers made by Dr. Grobba to publish
anti-Jewish articles. Malkon is now proprietor of
Al Akhbar, although he does not write the articles
as he himself does not write good Arabic. Malkon
comes from a large and wealthy family in Mardin.
He and his sister were the only two who escaped a
family massacre in 1917 when the remainder of the
family was wiped out by the Turks and the Germans.
Malkon and his sister found refuge in Deir-ez-Zor.
After the British occupation he was appointed a
director of customs and excise.
He is a man of a mild and affable disposition but
he has more courage than his meek appearance
suggests and has always resisted pressure to publish
articles unfriendly to Britain. He has, in fact,
resolutely kept clear of all political controversy, a
very creditable achievement for any editor in Bag
dad. Al Akhbar is now generally accepted as the
leading vernacular newspaper and has the largest
circulation. Malkon is scoffed at by his fellow-
editors but has no real enemies. He visited Britain
in 1945 with a delegation of Iraqi journalists and
came back full of wonder and admiration for all he
had seen. He has a large happy family.
He speaks a little English.
62. Kamil al Chadirchi
A Moslem (Sunni) born in Bagdad in 1901. His
brother is Raul al Chadirchi who was Iraqi Charg6
d’Affaires in London. Kamil was educated locally
and graduated at the Bagdad Law College. He
obtained a minor post in the Ministry of Finance but
soon gave up this job for journalism and political
agitation. In 1930 he was editor of .4/ Ikha al
Watani (National Brotherhood) which paper was
suppressed for its attacks on the Government of Nuri
Said. In May 1934 he was convicted for publishing
false news in Saivt al Ahali, and in September of
the same year he was arrested for publishing pam
phlets against King Ghazi, but was released for lack
of evidence. He was at that time well known for
his Left-wing views. The coup d’Etat of Hikmat
Sulaiman in 1936 gave him his first Cabinet post as
Minister of Economics and Communications in
October of that year—a post which he resigned in
June 1937 because of a difference of opinion on the
Cabinet’s policy regarding the Euphrates. He left
the country for a few months, returning after the
Bekr Sidqi incident, and from that time he has been
an active leftish politician. He formed the Demo
cratic Party, described as “ left of centre,” which
includes among its members Mohammed Hadid,
Majid Mustafa and Hikmat Sulaiman (q.v.). Given