File 4722/1918 Pt 8 'Mesopotamia: Situation' [‎51r] (110/995)

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There has since been a tendency to giv£this.reprobate the honours of a martyr.
But towards the end of the period all thoughts turned to the arrival of the High
Commissioner, and the inauguration of a new regime.
Of Baghdad it may be said that it had the satisfaction of having borne a ]
leading part in urging its simpler neighbours to take up arms and of being
active in the dissemination of news and propaganda, while the insurrection
prospered. As soon as the tide turned, as it did during the latter half of
August, Baghdad became quiescent and has since remained so.
8am arrah Division .
This Division had remained fairly quiet until its tribes were stirred up by
the agitators Yusuf al Suwaidi and Saiyid Muhammad Sadr al Din, who toured
it during the latter part of August and then moved over to Daltawah. At their
instigation the Mujama‘, Khasraj, Bani Tamim, Al Bu Algah and Al Bu
Haiyaza', with a few ‘ Azzah, rose and did their best to wreck the line, besides
making the attack on Samarra town referred to in the earlier report, Instabulat
station was captured and the staff murdered. Balad station was twice attack
ed. Fortunately the solid construction of this line made wrecking difficult and
though it was frequently cut it was never put out of action for long. Similarly
the stations, built by the Germans like forts and easily defensible, gave the rail
way staff some prospect of being able to stick to their posts and do their duty
without having their throats cut. They rose nobly to the occasion and by so
doing rendered invaluable service. Nevertheless the unrest became so acute
that the D.A.P.O. had to leave Balad and the country between Samarra and
Baghdad was thoroughly unsafe for about three weeks. When the agitators
left, the tribes soon saw"that they had been deceived and repented of their
madness. Major Berry, the P.O., handled them with tact and firmness and in
flicted upon them fines"of rifles which they are now paying in. It is^ pleasant to
record the stout-hearted loyalty and courage shown by Shaikh All
al Husain al Kuraiyim of the Al Bu Isa, and Shaikh Hasan of Balad,
who refused to join the movement, even when the two miscreants above
mentioned- were in the town and his house was besieged. It should be placed on |
record here that the outbreak in Samarra was entirely the worn of \ usui al | j
Suwaidi and Muhammad Sadr al Din. It cost the lives of several railway em
ployees and other innocent people and did much damage to property.
Dulaim Division.
The earlier report makes but brief mention of affairs in the Dulaim Division
and takes the tale down only to the time of Colonel Leachman’s murder (12th
August). For about a fortnight after this, affairs were very critical. On the
15th August, 4 steamers proceeding from Itamadi to 1 allujah were attached and
looted by one section of the Dulaim and some of the crews killed. Tire ^etach-
ments of troops at Fallujah and Kamadi were surrounded and for a while to
some extent beleaguered. But under a combined system of military action and
the enlistment of large tribal forces to patrol and protect the roads, the situation
began to ease off. However Dhari, the murderous Shaikh of AI Zoba remained
in"his tents until, after being repeatedly bombed, he was convinced by events
in the Hillah region that the game was up and.moved oft early m September.
Meanwhile Ali al Sulaiman, chief Shaikh of the Dulaim who, with Capt. Carver
A.P.O. had taken up his position in Anah, was compelled under the pressure ot
a hostile combination to leave Ramacli on the 19th August. Bo sooner had the
Dulaim left, than the people of Hawaii—a village across the river from Anah
poured into the town, and with the assistance of the Aqaurnt, Jughaifah, Shaikh
Nijris ibn Qa‘ud and his followers, killed all who had been m the service of
Government, and plundered right and left.
No punitive measures against the people of Rawah have yet been possible,
but some persons suspected of complicity in the outrage have been arrested m
Mosul.
After the return of Ali al Sulaiman to Ramadi the Division gradually re-
turned to its normal condition, and towards the end of October it was possible
to send a small detachment of troops upstream to Hit. It m not easy to over
estimate our obligation towards Ali al Sulaiman who was ably seconded through-
out by Mushin al Hair dan.
Hillah and Adjoining Divisions. ,
This region, the richest and most populous in ‘ Iraq is also most exposed by
contiguity to propaganda engineered from Baghdad or from
but applied through and by the obscurantist ulema of Karbala and Najat. bor
these reasons it has been the main theatre of action throughout the period of
unrest which preceded the actual outbreak and thereafter. In this legion, and
therefore in the country as a whole, the turning point came when on the 19th
August, the railway between Baghdad and Hillah having been repaired and
block-housed from end to end, the first train steamed through from Baghdad to
Hillah. Two days later the insurgents made an attack on Huiah town m v men