'Military Report on Mesopotamia (Iraq)' [‎56v] (117/226)

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Mutaiwid.
The Mutaiwid appear to have been originally a
section of the Juhaish, to which tribe they are closely
allied and with which they wander periodically in search
of grazing. Neither their numbers nor their reputation
make them worthy of more than passing interest. In
politics they are colourless, ready to join whatever force
or government is at the moment dominant in the Jazirah.
Under a strong government they should not relapse into
evil ways, but they are always eager to join in Shammar
raids. During the Tel Afar disturbances in June, 1920,
a paid of the Mutaiwid under Hamid al Haichal is
supposed to have marched on Tel Afar. It is question-
aide, however, if their participation in that disturbance
was not forced upon them by the raiding and wholesale
looting of their villages by the Yezidis. At any rate,
Hammu Shim practically demanded their threshing
floors and grazing grounds. Hamid al Haichal is soi-
disant paramount Chief and guides tribal destinies such
as they are. In 1921 he was decidedly pro-British in the
hope that we should force Hammu to give up his
ill-gotten gains.
The Mutaiwid are practically sedentary and partially
semi-nomadic, i.e., while one part of the tribe is engaged
in cultivation, the other part grazes the tribal flocks from
Ain Ghazal to the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Suwaidiyah. They inhabit four
villages, partly mud huts, partly tents—Ain Hisan,
Umm al Shababit, Khilo and Ain Ghazal—all between
Tel Afar and Balad Sin jar. They produce annually
about 300 tons of wheat and barley, while their livestock
amounts to 6,000 sheep, 100 cattle and 300 camels.
Internal cohesion in the tribe is good. In external
relations they are friendly with the Juhaish and the
people of Tel Afar, but are bitter enemies of the Sin jar
Yezidis and Jubur of the Khabur. They are bound to
keep on friendly terms with the Shammar with whom
they sometimes—or at least the more adventurous spirits
—raid across and towards the Euphrates. So long as
the Yezidis remain pro-British the Mutaiwid are not
likely to join any anti-British movement, unless its pre
liminary piirpose is to remove the Yezidi menace from
Mutaiwid villages.
The tribe has no peculiar ability for a method of
fighting. It professes the Sunni creed and talks its
native Arabic,