Coll 17/10(4) 'Internal: political situation; relations with HMG' [‎39r] (77/1031)

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■T^t^bOCUMENT IS THE PROPER TY OI^^IB Bl^TAWW
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[E 627/195/93]
Sir K. Cornwallis to Mr. Eden.—{Received 27th January.) ^
January SMBteomecr -r^.
no.
Copy No. lo3
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gj r / Bagdad, Voth January. 1945.
I HAVE the honour to submit, with reference to mv despatch No. 510 of
OfZ'lX, the 31st October last, the following report on the main events that have since
l occurred in this country. . ^
2. Throughout the period under review the Cabinet of Hamdi al racnacji
has remained in office in spite of repeated rumours that it was about to fal . x.
The belief that it could not last much longer was shared by several of its members
and the criticism to which it has been subjected in the Chamber of Deputies and
in the local press certainly lent colour to the rumours. Nevertheless, it nov\ seems ^ ^ 17 ,
more stable than it did two months ago. It is generally understood that the
present Cabinet will repiain in being at least until Nuri Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. and Arshad al
Umari return from Egypt. On the 20th December ministerial changes were
announced, consequent upon the election of Mohammed Hassan Kubba as Presi
dent of the Chamber. His place at the Ministry of Social Affairs was taken ay
Abdul Majid Allawi, a Shia civil servant who was for long a member of the^O^
Iraqi Foreign Service, and has recently been head of the Political Department v*' \).0
of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, shortly
before his departure to Egypt, gave up his position as Acting Minister of Defence
to General Ismail Namiq, who since October 1941 had been Acting Caief of the
General Staff. The latter appointment, which was suggested by the Regent and
warmly approved by General Renton, had the fortunate effect of not making
it necessary for the Minister of Finance to act as Minister of Defence in Arshad
al Umari’s absence, while at the same time providing General Namiq with a
a
dignified exit from his previous post.
3. Parliament was opened by the Regent on the 2nd December. The Speech
from the Throne followed in the main the lines of former speeches and after
referring to the great efforts of the Iraqi Government to further Arab Unity
and to the continued good relations with His Majesty’s Government and with
other Powers, went on to catalogue the achievements of the Government and list
its aims for the future. The programme was not notably impressive, and was
widely criticised in the vernacular newspapers. In particular the absence of
anv mention of the formation of political parties, or of the freedom of the press,
two subjects which have been well to the fore in public comment recently, has
caused widespread dissatisfaction. In fact, as I have already reported, the press
is now being allowed far greater latitude than formerly; though it is still subject
to stricter control than the newspapers of neighbouring countries.
4. In opening the debate on the reply to the Address from the Throne on
the 31st December, Hamdi al Pachachi considered it necessary to make a long
speech to the Chamber defending his administration, and amplifying its foreign
policy. He said that Iraq had"played a leading part in the Alexandria Con
ference, had done everything possible to hasten its meeting, and had besides
insisted that something^concrete must result from it. He claimed that Iraq was
largely responsible for the Alexandria Protocol and the idea of the Arab League
In the second place, he said that Iraq had exerted every effort to persuade the
Governments of the United States, Turkey, Persia and Afghanistan to recognise
the independence of Syria and the Lebanon, and he gave the impression that their
eventual recognition of that independence was partially, at least, the result of
Iraqi efforts. The third plan in Iraq’s foreign policy, said the Prime Minister,
was support for the Arabs of Palestine. Concrete proposals had been put forward
for this purpose. The opening of Propaganda Bureaux in London and
Washington had been urged and the Iraqi Council of Ministers had just approved
the spending of a sum of 10,000 dinars as Iraq’s contribution to these bureaux
during the current financial year, to be followed by another ID. 20,000 during the
coming one. Propaganda, he declared, was most necessary for the Arab cause,
"[62— 11] b
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