'Military Report on Mesopotamia (Iraq)' [‎23r] (50/226)

of Tel Afar might provide 16,000 men capable of bearing
arms, but the majority of these are required for local
industry, such as it is. A modified scheme might furnish
1,000 recruits.
Arabs .—The characteristics of the settled Arab have
been narrated sufficiently in other works, and require no
description here, but as the Badawin, who preponderate
in Northern Jazirah, differ from their settled brethren in
several respects and constitute the chief military problem
in the area, it is considered advisable to touch upon their
main features here. Their outstanding characteristic is
the restlessness of mind caused by their eternal wandering
after pasturage. A search in reality for eternal spring.
The Arab mind has been described as mercurial and
imaginative, but the latter term is singularly inap
propriate to that of the Badawin, who is of all things
a creature of the day and hour. He has no constructive
ability or application. Partial to money and a time
server, he possesses a strict code of hospitality, the
obligations of which are always scrupulously fulfilled.
He tends to be excitable in the pursuit of loot, but has a
strongly developed sense of self-preservation derived from
his hard fight with nature—a sense which keeps him, if
not cowardly, at least wary in battle. It is unfair to
classify all Badawins as brigands. The Badawin levy
taxes on villages and caravans, and in return protect
their taxees. Brigandage is the work of professional
robbers, who often may be Badawin, but are just as often
not. The nomad loathes commerce, but is shrewd in
money deals. He is, however, still the son of Ishmael,
a coarse, unrefined member of a savage group, subordinate
to ends larger than himself, and with ideals purely
directed towards the satisfaction of the primary physical
instincts—hunger and carnal desire. The only authority
in a Badawin tribe is that of the- Shaikh, and the
existence of shaikhly powers, often those of life and death,
argues a strong disciplinary bond and the possibility of
cultivating this in more settled conditions. Centuries
of inter-tribal fighting have made the Badawin a good
scout, and watchful in protection, both at rest and on
the move. His aptitude for war is small, but for fighting
and looting of lesser enemies instinctive. His trust
worthiness is questionable, and his sense of loyalty
dependent on his material prospects. Badawin physique
is good, and renders him capable of enduring many
hardships, but, like his town brother, he is incurably lazy
and contemptuous of the labourer.
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