'File 11/44 Leading Personalities in Iraq, Iran & Saudi Arabia' [‎30v] (60/96)

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Appointed Minister of Education in the Cabinet
formed by Jamil-al-Madfai in June 1941. Resigned
with the rest of the Cabinet in October 1941.
Appointed to the Board of Education created in
April 1943.
Elected President of the Chamber of Deputies in
December 1943 and again in December 1944, but
resigned almost immediately.
A genial old bigot determined to have nothing to
do with anything modern. Speaks no English.
Took a leading part in debates of Parliament
during spring session 1947, criticising the Govern
ment and getting in some shrewd blows at the
British.
82. Muhammad Salih-al-Qazzaz
Bagdad mechanic. Born about 1898. At one
time came into prominence as a labour leader and
agitator. A professional demagogue, he used to
thrust himself in the van of any bazaar troubles,
and was especially conspicuous in encouraging
discontent among the labour employed by the foreign
companies operating in Iraq. Played a leading part
in organising the boycott of the Bagdad Electric
Light Company in the autumn and wdnter of 1933.
During the premiership of Yasin-al-Hashimi he was
not allowed to agitate, but when Hikmat Sulaiman
came into office in October 1936 Muhammad Salih
became the treasurer of the Popular Reform League
w r hich was organised by Kamil Chadirji with a left-
wing programme. His activities became so tiresome
that in February 1937 he was sent to live in Ramadi,
where he remained until December 1937, when he
was released. Little has since been heard of him.
83. Muhammad-al-Sadr, Saiyid
Born about 1885. An influential Shiah divine of
Kadhimain. Was a violent Nationalist in the early
days of the British occupation, and played a
prominent part in the insurrection of 1920. He fled
to Syria when the insurrection was put down, but
returned with the Amir Feisal in June 1921. Took
an active part in the anti-mandate controversy of
1922, but after the proclamation of the Constitution
in 1924 greatly modified his views. Appointed a
Senator in 1925, and elected President of the Senate
in 1929. He has subsequently been re-elected to this
position at each new session, until February 1937,
when Ridha-al-Shabibi was elected instead. He was
re-elected President of the Senate in December 1937
and again in December 1938, June 1939 and
November 1939.
Re-elected President of the Senate in November
1941 and November 1942. A dignified and
picturesque personality with an acute and sometimes
embarrassing idea of his own importance. Ceased to
be President of the Senate in December 1943 on the
election of Jamil-al-Madfai.
An overpowering figure familiarly known as
“ God ” from his resemblance to Byzantine repre
sentations of a bearded deity.
Appointed a member of the Council of Regency
during the Regent’s absence in the summer of 1947.
84. Muhammad Salim el Radhi
Born Bagdad 1899. Muslim. Public servant and
landowner.
Educated in Bagdad primary and secondary
schools, he graduated from the American University,
Beirut, and later went to the United States, where
he studied at Texas and California Universities, from
which he took doctorates in Agriculture and Science.
He returned to Iraq in 1926 and joined the Depart
ment of Agriculture, in which he has continued until
he became the Director-General, which post he has
held for several years.
A quiet, capable man, with many friends in all
communities. He has shown no pronounced political
tendencies or attachments and this, perhaps, explains
his undisturbed service as Director-General of a
Department. However, owing to the fact that he is
connected to the wealthy Shabandar family—
Ibraham al Shabandar being his cousin—and that he
himself is a considerable landowner, it is unlikely
that he holds any “ advanced ” views, in spite of his '
associations in the United States.
He was made Director-General of Labour in the
Ministry of Social Affairs in November 1946 and v
appointed minister at Tehran in June 1947.
He and his attractive wife speak excellent
English.
85. Midla Mustafa
Born about 1898. Brother of Ahmad of Barzan
(q.v.). Was the fighting leader of the Barzanis in
the troubles of 1931-32. He surrendered with
Shaikh Ahmad and was banished to Sulaimani.
There he lived for ten years in poverty on a small
allowance from the Government. In the autumn
of 1943 he bolted back to Barzan and a few months
later became involved in skirmishes with the police.
The fighting gradually developed, and Mulla Mustafa
successfully resisted the considerable forces of police
and Iraqi troops sent against him.
In the beginning he was concerned only with his
own position, but later on he began to put forward
political demands and to pose as a champion of
Kurdish nationalism. He won a good dealj^ .
Kurdish sympathy and support. In January 101^^
a settlement was arranged whereby he was promised
a pardon after paying a formal visit to Bagdad to
make submission to the Regent. Thereafter he
returned to Barzan, but he remains restless and
untamed, and the Government have not yet been
able to re-establish control over the Barzani tribal
area. Was formally pardoned in April 1945 by
the Barzan Amnesty Law, and the Government
embarked on a programme of improving security and
of developing agriculture in his area. However, he
became impatient in the summer and took up arms
against the Government again in August 1945.
He was eventually defeated, more by the agility of
the Minister of the Interior in distributing gold than
that of the army in occupying his country. He fled
with his brother to Persia, whence photographs of
him have since found their way back to Iraq showing
him as General Mulla Mustafa in a uniform strangely
reminiscent of that worn by Generalissimo Stalin.
Recently his fortunes seem to have declined an^
many of his followers have returned to Iraq. W
After the collapse of the Kurdish independence
movement led. by Qazi Muhammad, he was forced ^
to return to Iraq retiring before the Persian forces.
His brother Shaikh Ahmad surrendered with his
forces to the Iraqi authorities. Mulla Mustafa with
about 500 men attempted to come to terms with
Iraqi Government, who demanded unconditional
surrender. The Mulla thereupon returned to Persia
via Turkey and made his way through Azerbaijan to
Soviet territory where he and his men surrendered
to the Russian authorities.
86. Musa Shabandar
Bagdadi Sunni, born 1899. Elder son of Mahmud
Shabandar, a wealthy land and property owner of
Bagdad.
Went to Berlin soon after the armistice, and lived
in Europe, mostly in Zurich and Berlin, until the
autumn of 1932, when he returned to Bagdad.
In January 1933 he was appointed secretary of the
permanent Iraqi delegation at the League of Nations.
Speaks English, French and German. Appointed
first secretary to the Iraqi Legation in Berlin in
October 1935.
Early in 1937 he was accused of giving certificates
of export to Iraq for munitions destined for Spain
and recalled to Bagdad, where he was placed under
arrest. In December proceedings against him were
dropped and it seems doubtful whether there was