ملف ٧٠٥/١٩١٦ الجزء ٢ "انتفاضة عربية: التقارير العربية؛ تقارير السير م. سايكس" [و‎‎١‎٠‎٧] (٤٥٠/٢١١)

another m Mesopotamia, the A_rab situation m Syria and. Hejaz is most promising',
with policy and organisation the movement may well be developed into a force which
will count strongly m frustrating the enemy s war aims ; weakening Turkey, diverting
troops from Europe, curtailing the enemy’s corn area, stripping him of much of his
treasured railway, bringing about the independence of Yemen, shunting the Caliphate,
and fostering a political situation which in spring will give the Caucasus army
excellent opportunities.
These are all possibilities which can be worked for if there is some sort of order in
our affairs, but so long as we are in our present state of chaos we must continue to pass
from crisis to inertia, and from coma to panic, watching assets frittered away and
opportuities missed. There is one way out of this difficulty, and it is once more
suggested that, to set these affairs in order, a special department should be established
in London, and two C.P.O.’s should act under it, one in the Gulf and one in the Red
Sea, including Aden. That the C.P.O.’s should be subordinate to the G.O.C.’s in
fields of operations, and elsewhere subordinate to the department in London. Such a
simplification would at once co-ordinate the Arab movement, and put it in its proper
relation to military operations as a whole, without disturbing a single official. A Turk
once said, if I do my best and fail, it is the will of Allah ; but if I take no heed and fail,
I shall have to answer at the Day of Judgment.
M. S.