مجموعة ١٠/١٧(١) "شؤون داخلية: الوضع السياسي؛ العلاقات مع الحكومة البريطانية" [و‎‎٦‎٢] (٩٨٢/١٢٨)

THIS DOCUMENT IS THE
EASTERN (Iraq).
CONFIDENTIAL.
D^DfPTV OP HIS BRITANNIC MAJBSTY S GOVfiRNMEIJT
1 j " j ;
iepteiiiE^r^^l, 193|.
Section 2.
Copy No.
[E 6085/1419/93]
Mr. Bateman to Mr. Eden.—{Received September 28.)
(No. 462.) Bagdad, September 17, 1936.
ir ’ WITH reference to paragraph 7 of my despatch Nojt41of the 27th August
'last I have the honour to inform you that on the 7th September die x ^ t
Minister returned from a second tour of inspection m the southern nwas of Iraq.
2 This Tourney was timed to coincide with the suspension on the
31st August of the punitive operations undertaken against the Eibal concent a
tions iTthe Khedr area. Though there was a certain amount of sniping up to
the last moment between Rumaitha and Wawiyah, necessitating the strengthening
oTthe dMensTe arrangements on the railway, air action had been successful m
Educing the majority of the headmen concerned to come m and discuss their
grievances^ M i n i ster ’ s fi na l objective tvas Basra, whither he travelled oy
car via Kut the Hai and the Muntafiq tribal country; returning by the Tigns
route via Qu’rna and Amara. At each important centre kwTthhhf'eSlfshedAs
nathering-s and seized every opportunity to renew contact with the leaning snei .
and notables The tour gave great satisfaction in the provinces visited, no on }
because it afforded proof that the Government had not forgotten their existence
but also because Yasin Pasha showed an active and sympathetic interest m thei
welfare by giving orders for urgent municipal improvements to ^ in hand
without d’elav As a direct result of his visit, new and much-needed hospitals will
now be constructed in Nasiriyah, Gharraf and Shatra. The press is loud in its
nraise of the Prime Minister’s energy, self-sacrifice and determination and does
not fail to pay its tribute to his capacity for rapid and decisive action, w ic
diffpppntmtcs him from most of his countrymen. , ,
d 4 Purine the course of a speech at Basra, where he opened the new Govern-
men/offices lAxpressed the hope that he would be spared for another ten years
To devote hhself to Se welfare of Iraq. This passage caused a mild sensation in
Raedad where the spectre of Yasin as dictator again reared its head and gave
his S opponents an excuse for contending that he was us yP m L t gg ^ that P from
u-uJot qnlaiman was heard to make a caustic comment to the ettect tnat, trom
now on, he presumed that the VteeTe moi M This'sortM’
Minister was concerned from Vive 1^^ . J ^ me Minister quite cold .
^n M^abten^ the Court were particularly careful to keep the King well before
?be , iblic eve His Maiesty’s iiame now appears at the head of a charitable
Nothing of the sort had ^k/t ikehlnceThrEoyadptestig 6 by
showing tha/ The 8 King kas playing his part in supporting the action of his
Minister^or ^^eign^Afiaite^at^Jerusalem.^^ ^ p& in t h e edebration of
5. Ine x qpntember The press devoted its entire space
the King s accession day the 8 pte ^ ^ military parade this year,
to eulogistic articles on His Maje y, r ip r ^ ar t lir p from custom but I imagine
Various reasons have been given for th I p>nvni stock wiselv decided not to
ft,, the Goveriiment while the RoyaUtocfc^wisely ^
arising out of the disturbances m the Smjar area , - .
[806 ee— 2 ]