مجموعة ١٧ / ١٠ (٤) "شؤون داخلية: الوضع السياسي؛ العلاقات مع الحكومة البريطانية" [و‎‎٢‎٩‎٢] (١٠٣١/٥٨٣)

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THIS^lJglDUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF H
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BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
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INDIA DIRECT
July 29, 1941.
18 MIG 1941
Section 1.
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£z> Kinahan Cornwallis to Mr. Eden.—(Received July 29.)
(No. 185.) V-^ r
^ir 5 . Bagdad, July 11, 1941. ^
IN this despatch I continue the story of current political events from the %
point__ at which I conclu ^djji}Lde.spaliih N(L_-148 of. the 6 th June. ,s
”” 2^ The Regent’s return on the 1 st June was not welcomed by all classes. boJT
Rashid Ali’s forceful propaganda had made too deep an impression for so sudden , .
a change of public feeling to be possible. The army and police were largely sullen
and resentful, and the people .in the streets looked angrily at those who passed^ UA ^ 0 j 9 Xy
on their return from greeting His Highness at the Palace. Sensitive observers i
of public feeling forecast trouble and events soon justified them. Shooting,daXL
looting and rioting began in the streets of Bagdad about 3 o’clock in the after noon ^
and continued spasmodically throughout the night. The next morning (2nd June) *
the situation became steadily worse, and by about 10 o’clock the mob was out of
hand, looting shops at will. Malicious persons deliberately encouraged attacks on
Jews. A large number of Jewish shops and homes were looted and_sevexal
hundred Jews were brutally murdered. The police force was for a time useless.
Its discipline had been undermined by the political manipulations and fanatical
propaganda of Rashid Ali’s regime, and officers and men joined recklessly with
the mob in breaking into and looting shops and houses all over the town. The
Lord Mayor who, pending the formation of a new Government, was still nominally
in control, begged the Director-General of Police to use his reserves and to order
them to clear the streets and shoot to kill, but the Director-General pleaded that
he could not accept responsibility for such drastic action unless specific orders
were given by the Regent. After some delay the Regent sent the order in writing
and also arranged for the despatch of troops to take control. The soldiers did
their work well. There was no more aimless firing into the air; their machine-guns
swept the streets clear of people and quickly put a stop to looting and rioting. In
those few hours, however, hundreds of families were ruined and brutal outrages
committed which all right-minded persons will for long remember with
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shame and horror. The Jews suffered most, and there is no doubt that a large
number of them would emigrate rather than face the risk of another such pogrom
if they could only find a country to take them. Many have made pathetic attempts
to obtain visas for India for themselves or their families, only to find this way
of escape now closed.
3 . There is evidence to show that the riots were instigated by certain officers
in the army and police who took advantage of the temporary absence of
responsible authority. Had a Government been formed earlier it is improbable
that such a serious situation would have arisen. I had at my first interview with
the Regent the previous day urged the extreme importance of forming a Cabinet
at once, and I again impressed on him the necessity for immediate action when
I saw him later that afternoon. The Regent was in a difficult position.
Jamil Beg Madfai was the only apparent candidate. His name had been put
forward by Arshad Beg at Umari and his temporary committee, and my enquiries
failed to reveal anyone else who had the courage and influence to step into the
breach. Jamil Beg, however, seemed to have no zest for the part. The Regent
had been dissatisfied with his attitude during the later stages of their stay in
Palestine, and knew that though generally sound in his views he was an ageing
man lacking energy and purposefulness and too weak in character to be able to
deal firmly with the problems which would face him. His Highness sought
anxiously for alternatives, but found none, and was therefore obliged to call upon
Jamil Beg to form a Cabinet. The latter refused and persisted in his refusal all
that day. That night his friends brought pressure to bear on him and the
following morning he sent the Lord Mayor and the present Minister of Finance
to me with a message that he would accept if I would promise him my full
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RECd. POL. OEPt.
19AUG 941
INDIA OFFICE