مجموعة ١٠/١٧(١) "شؤون داخلية: الوضع السياسي؛ العلاقات مع الحكومة البريطانية" [ظ‎‎٢‎٦] (٩٨٢/٥٧)

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to lose no time in getting mto touch with B^the" SKS
0 “^HidTot cafe to forecast P This suggestion seemed to commend itself
to him. , xt ■ a XTnri arrived Yasin showed no signs of
5. At this moment asir f ‘ ^ explosion. The whole situation was
emotion. N« rl wa ^ clea " 1 >^“ ^^ftfd at that he, too, had been taken bv
surpriL^YeTirawarlThat some sections of public opinion were -hostile to his
Gohrnmenkbhthe last thing he had
'I
government, out tno ict.t ---b - —r H id th t he had j ust had a conversa
X„t ’ hXi explained thal he .» re* lo >«■■*» J "
iTmrpr enioved King- Ghazi’s confidence, but His Majesty had giy 6 ^ 1 bim no
indfcation that his confidence had been lost. Bekr Sidqi had replied that the
movement, of which he was at the head, was being carried out with the knowledge
3 the approval of King Ghazi. Here His Majesty winced a little, and denied
Ah empE the truthVf this statement. Yasin ^
chances of resistance. There was clearly still a lot of battle left m him. He
glanced at and rejected an idea that King Ghazi, with the Government, should
abandon Bagdad and withdraw to the provinces, where they would have time to
gather together some forces with which to meet the army. King Ghazi then sug
gested that, if Yasin Pasha resigned, he might be able, as time went on to procure
the fall of his successor, and His Majesty hinted that such a fall would be agree
able to him Meanwhile, Yasin had been pulling his forelock, which is always a
sign that he finds himself in a difficulty. He then suggested that, before he was
called upon to take a decision, His Majesty should send for Hikmat and enquire
what his intentions were. If Hikmat could show that they were generally in the
interests of the country, Yasin w T ould willingly yield up his place. King Ghazi
then asked that Hikmat should be sent for, and, somewhat to my surprise, I
learned that he was already waiting in the palace. I thought the time had come
for me to withdraw, and I did so, arranging with Yasin and Nuri that, on their
way back from the palace, they should call at the Embassy and tell me the results
of Hikmat’s conversation with King Ghazi.
6 . When I reached the Embassy, I wms told that a flight of five aeroplanes
had dropped four bombs in the neighbourhood of the “ sarai.” The shooting
had been good. Three bombs had fallen near the Prime Minister's office and the
Ministry of the Interior, and one in the river. It was now about midday. Yasin
and Nuri did not come to the Embassy, and at about 1 o’clock I heard that the
Government had resigned and that the usual Iradah had been issued empowering
Hikmat to form a Cabinet. It seemed that the bombs had done their work.
Meanwhile, I had got into touch with the Air Officer Commanding and discussed
with him the defence scheme and how best to put it into effect in the event of
serious trouble breaking out in the capital. After that there was nothing to be
done but to wait upon events.
7. By about 5 in the evening the first advance units of Bekr Sidqi’s force
began to reach Bagdad unobtrusively and without incident, and by 7 o’clock
he was in the “ sarai ” with Hikmat Sulaiman. Shortly afterwards, I received
a message from the new Prime Minister to the effect that his Cabinet had been
formed, and that he wished to maintain the present friendly relations with His
Majesty’s Government and hoped to have the support of the Embassy. As
somewhat alarmist reports were reaching me about the state of the town, t drove
through the main streets, where everything appeared to me to be quiet and normal.
An organised demonstration of welcome to Bekir Sidqi’s troops round about the
North Gate had, it seems, passed off without incident.
8 . That evening I was giving one of my dull routine dinner-parties. In the
middle of it I was told that Nun and another were m the house and wanted
urgently to see me. I found that they had slipped across the river in a row-boat
and had come in by the water gate. Nuri, however, had been seen and recognised
by the sentry. He was in a state of acute nervous excitement. He told me that
after I had left King Ghazi that morning, His Majesty had sent Jafar-al-Askari
to the two generals with a letter and instructions to try to dissuade them from
coming into Bagdad. Mffien Jafar reached the advance guard, he had been met
b> Ismail-al-Tohallah (the man who carried out the massacre at Simel), who had
taken Jafar off the main road into the desert and had shot him. Nuri had had