'Despatch from Civil Commissioner, Mesopotamia, to Secretary of State for India' [‎92r] (8/22)

7
ardent hostility to the Frenph h*
ssr "• ~
i I ■ • . 1 ext reinely uncertain
Ohief of t^Milftaxy Counoii anCl YasiT p' ^ difierent calibre, is Yasin Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders.
class. lli s family came originallv from i, 1 ' 1 '' 11 'I ? ^bdadi of the lower middle
therefore be of Turkish! though not of nn neigh 1 bourJlood 0 f Kirkuk, and to may
employ of Muhammad Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. Daghl^ Sn wh^^ , V 18 father was the
teei. absent from Baghdad in " Turkic v. ; i n ' 18 between 35 and 40 has
is a late adherent to the Irab cause H. y SerV1Ce for the last te n years He
the occupation of Damascus and was lefT^hlv^T 8 m tl i' e Turkl sb army until
retreated. He is now one of the eXnle exnon^^ when the ^
against a French mandate or any other form of fnr-B' 0 ■^ ra [ ) independence as
with the C.U.P. and with Mustafa K^l TF C011troL He is touch
probably Turkish. If the Arab StatP^X t , S , P ers onal sympathies are
and find his fortune with the Ottoimn ( ',,, J )SeS ' , S 0l l . sa y that he would seek
with Faisal and dominates^^^id whcT^cte for Faisal H . eail ''* 1 ' ae he has influence
Yasm is the moving snirit of tL Ahj i - t • U f mg the latter ' s absence.
--Posed of Mesopotamians, of whom theretre about SOO 1680 ^^^ LeagUe •
M ith the exception of Yusaf Be? SnwaiH; t'![ 0 111 Faisal s service.
■Shawl, ] know of none who belong to otip ,,'r 1 • ypa^Scr member of the Bait
Syria the counterpart of our local prrmn f 1I1 ^ uentla ^ families; they are in
consideration is not necessarilv thnf 5 of h it, ti? young men whose claim to
military employrZt and t ned fhp f ^ T ^. wer ? alm ost all in Turkish
us In the courL f the war pLrf k tf ¥ f haVlng been taken Prisoners by
army, and partly by reason of 6 ^ the positions they held in the Arab
are the leading personalities in the Arab State ^ ^Th" i, Iraqis, they
posts and therefore controfthe armt whle fn AllnZ thi f lmp0rtan i
Governor Ta 'far PqcViq oi i • i t V ^ ^ e PP 0 the Governor and Deputy-
Ahd al Askarl and Yusuf o Suwaidi, are members of the
Aral^ndpnpnJpnp! W0 .^ ing nominally against the French mandate, actually for
Aral independence without foreign control both in Syria and in Mesopotamia
tT Kf u fi, 01 ® " K)derate adherents may not be in full accord with its poUoy but
I doubt whether their views even if they were freely expressed, would carry much
forei'tTTi spntirn 'rft 11 " 7" a I hatredtlle Fl ' eno11 has given the inspiration to anti-
tn , ^hrJu T alld a Q wh . olI y independent Mesopotamia is the natural corollary
to a wholly independent Syria, It is the object of the League to unite the two
under a single Arab Government. The extremists are convinced that British
admunstration m the Iraq is and must remain the opponent of political liberty and
11 s a British mandate no attempt will be made to set up responsible Arab
government They say that they receive innumerable complaints about existing
conditions from correspondents in Mesopotamia and from Mesopotamians who,
according to them, are coming over in great numbers in order to escape from the
tyranny of British Rule. The more moderate members of the League are equally
certain that grave discontent exists among all the classes in the 'Iraq and they
assured me, in particular, that the Shi'ah tribes were bitterly hostile to us, but in
conversing with me they laid the blame on our native officials and police.
When I asked what kind of people were coming from Mesopotamia to Syria
in the numbers described I never elicited any definite answer. It is probable that
they are chiefly ex-Government employes who have not found a place under the
existing administration, and that their number is exaggerated. As regards the
allegation that the Shi'ah tribes are disaffected, it is universally denied in Baghdad
and by the local officers who are in touch with the tribes in question. I understood
that the charge made against our native officials was due to a desire on the part of
my interlocutors not to wound my susceptibilities by attributing blame to British
Officers. If it is true that the native officials are at fault, it is difficult to see how
any relaxation of direct British control can mend matters-
Chief among the grievances which were cited to me is the continuance of a
military form of administration, which is indeed at the root of all complaints. A
good deal of capital is made out of the retention of commandeered houses in
Baghdad, as well as out of the banishment last February of certain persons who
were sowing dissension in the interests of the Turks—if I remember rightly these
were 7 in number and all but one were Turks and ex-Turkish officials, but when