'Despatch from Civil Commissioner, Mesopotamia, to Secretary of State for India' [‎95v] (15/22)

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Yasin and Ja'far. His father was an accountant of Baghdad. He was in Basrah
at the time of the occupation of that town, volunteered for service with the Sharif,
and was one of the earliest of his adherents. He is said to be the best of them, a
moderate man of considerable ability. He was in Europe with raisal. _
Mahmud Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. Mukhlus, divisional general, has the reputation of being an
excellent soldier, but is without other attainments. He comes of a small Mosul
familv, but his mother was of the 'Ubaid tribe. He was an otficer in the Turkish
army and gave himself up after the battle of bhu. aibah. He arrived m the Mijaz
immediately after the rebellion began and boasts that he and Mr. Lawrence were
the first officers of the Sharif s army. He is about 30. I found him friendly and
pleasant, but he is said to be fanatical, and he belongs to the extreme group of the
Ahd al 'Iraqi. He would be difficult to use here, but I had the impression that
it would be worth while to make the attempt, if he would come to us. For he is a
man, and the sex is less numerous than is commonly supposed.
'Abdullah Dulaimi, another Mosuli of about the same age and social standing
as Maulud, is a colonel in the Arab army. He also belongs to the extreme party.
He is a great friend of Zaid, but Faisal does not like him and thinks that he has
a bad moral influence over his brother. He has been given permission to visit his
family in Mosul and at Zaid's request I offered to take him with me from Aleppo,
but though he expressed great gratitude, he did not join me there.
I had several visits from Ibrahim Hilmi, a Baghdadi of 25 or rather younger,
editor in Damascus of a paper called " Lisan al 'Arab." His knowledge of Arabic
is so scholarly that Pere Anastase, one of the best judges, tried to induce him to
return to Baghdad to assist him when he was editing our vernacular paper. He is
pro-British, and has published in the Lisan a number of articles favourable to our
administration. He discussed the possibility of his paper's obtaining a circulation
with us and urged that such advocacy as his, coming from Syria and not from the
Government press in Baghdad, would make an impression. He is probably not
without hope that we would ultimately subsidize the Lisan. He hinted that he
would be willing to undertake editorial work in Baghdad if we would offer him
high enough terms, but his requirements would not be modest. He is however a
capable young man.
I sent for a former Baghdad acquaintance, Rashid al Hashimi, who left us
abruptly last autumn. The reason for his departure, he explained, was
that one of his brothers was arrested by G.H.Q. on a suspicion, which proved
groundless, of connection with the Turks. Rashid took alarm and made off. He
and another brother, Muhammad, belong to the violently anti-European section of
the Ahd al 'Iraqi. Rashid is a secretary of Yasin's, and is said to be in the confi
dence of the latter. Some weeks ago, in a public speech, he prophesied that the
Tigris would run with blood; whose blood was not specified, but since it could only
be Arab or British, 'Ali Ridha Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. Rikabi judged the phrase to be inexpedient
and condemned Rashid to a short term of imprisonment. His connection with us
began in 1916, when he came to us in Basrah as a Nationalist fugitive from the
Turks. We made him an allowance till after the fall of Baghdad, in spite of the
fact that he had, under pressure from the Turks, written a violently anti-British
article in a Baghdad paper before he fled to Basrah. He subsequently failed to
obtain an appointment under the British Administration. Never of stable mind,
he appeared to me to have become scarcely responsible.
I met other Damascenes who had been fugitives with us in Basrah. Faiz al
Ghusain, for whom Sir Percy Cox had a great liking, is now practising as an
advocate. He is a reasonable and a moderate man. 'Izz-ud-Din al Sarujiyah,
who for some months edited the vernacular paper in Basrah, holds a post in the
Department of Public Instruction in Damascus. He is engaged to the Sitt Naziq
al 'Abid. The British I.O., Captain Brunton, considers him to be untrustworthy.
He was used for intelligence purposes and was found to be intriguing with all
parties and furnishing intelligence impartially to all, including the French. I
cannot set this information aside, though I should have thought, from what I know
of him, that 'Izz ud Din could not hope to find sufficient scope under a French
regime. His interests are, however, mainly literary and scholastic.
Another Damascene, Muhammad Kurd 'Ali, whom I have known for a great'
number of years as a prominent member of the Young Arab Party and Editor of the
" Muqtabas," a paper which was constantly being suspended, has an unpalatable
war record. ^ He carried on a violent anti-Arab and anti-British campaign in the
" Muqtabas " until the fall of Damascus, when he became as violently anti-Turkish.