'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎257r] (516/862)

HISTORICAL ORIGINS 389
their protection. A little excavation was undertaken and some valu
able finds made, but they were soon suspended pending the creation
of a Department of Antiquities, which was not considered a matter of
urgency.
Public security was entrusted to the Levies and the Police. The
nucleus of the Levies was a small body of mounted Arabs used as
scouts during the war. Other elements were the forces raised locally
to guard the lines of communication. After the armistice these forces,
some 900 men, were placed under civilian control and were employed
as police and messengers, but remained a semi-military body. In 1919
an Inspecting Officer of Arab Militia was appointed and these forces
were officially recognized as militia. A few months later the name
‘Levies’ was adopted and the gendarmerie at Mosul were merged
with them. The Levies were placed at the immediate disposal of
Political Officers and served the purpose of both light mounted in
fantry and police. They were recruited largely from among the
Assyrian Christian refugees (p. 313), but also from both the Arabs
and the Kurds.
The regular police force goes back to the occupation of Basra. Its
first members were employed in instituting an arms blockade in the
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . As the British advanced, similar forces were set up in
other towns, but it was very difficult to find recruits. The Turkish
police had acquired a bad reputation (p. 266) and no respectable Arabs
were willing to be described as police. After several experiments with
Egyptians and with Arabs from Aden, a satisfactory force of Iraqis
was built up under an Inspector-General at Baghdad with Deputy
Commissioners at Baghdad and Basra and Assistant Commissioners
in other towns. The force included both town and district police
and was under the executive control of the Political Officers. Included
in the police establishment were the Railway Police Service and the
Criminal Investigation Department.
The history of the Ministry of Agriculture is narrated on page 407;
that of the Railways and Port of Basra in Chapter XIII.
Civil Administration
The military government came to an end at the beginning of
October 1920 with the arrival in Iraq of Sir Percy Cox as High Com
missioner. Part of the country was still in a disturbed state and had
to remain for the time being under martial law (p. 292). Civil
administration could therefore be introduced at once into only a few
of the districts. However, a provisional government was quickly