"ملف ١١/ ٤٤ الشخصيات الرائدة في العراق وإيران والمملكة العربية السعودية" [و‎‎٣‎٢] (٩٦/٦٣)

23
Court of Appeal, March 1923. Amin-al-Asimah,
Bagdad, 1925-30. Appointed Director-General in
the Ministry of the Interior in April 1930, and
became Principal of the Law School, February 1931.
Reappointed Director-General in the Ministry of the
Interior, November 1931. Appointed Administrative
Inspector, November 1933. Became Director-
General of Municipalities in June 1935.
Appointed Chief Finance Inspector, May 1936.
Placed on pension about end of 1938.
96. Nureddin Mahmoud
Born 1889. A Kurd. Commissioned in the
Turkish army in 1917. Intelligent, resourceful and
ambitious. Director of Military Operations. Graduate
of Camberley and Quetta. Good man both in
administration and in the field. One of the few
Iraq army officers with modern military knowledge.
Has done several courses in England. Command
over men is good, and influence on the army high—
as witness his behaviour on the flight of Rashid Ali
when he took over command of the army and
initiated the Anglo-Iraqi armistice. Does not dabble
unduly in politics but sympathises with the Allied
cause and was heartily against—and worked
against—Rashid Ali. His only strong feeling is
apparently for the Kurds, and as long as there is
friendship between the Kurds and the British his
support can be taken for granted.
►^Kttractive personality. Has been military attach^
in London. Was Officer Commanding 2nd Division
at Kirkuk and was transferred to Bagdad as
Assistant C.G.S. He visited the battle-fields of the
Western Desert on the invitation of the Commander-
in-chief, Middle East, in May 1943.
Was promoted Amir Liwa in November 1944 and
later became Officer Commanding, 2nd Division, in
the reorganised Iraq army.
He is said to enjoy the confidence of the army to
an eminent degree.
97. Nuri cd Qadhi
Born 1889, joined Iraq Government service in 1921
and has held the following appointments: Vice-
President Bagdad Courts 1925, Vice-President
Mosul Courts 1937, Director-General of Waqfa 1931,
Head of Legal Drafting Department, Ministry of
Justice, 1936, Secretary-General to the Council of
Ministers 1941. Of the old school, he has excellent
u^mners and considerable charm, but he has hitherto
^►yed no part in politics and little is known of his
character and abilities.
Minister of Education in the al Umari Cabinet of
June 1946. Dean of the Law College November
1946.
98. Nuri-al-Said, G.C.V.O., C.M.G.,
D.S.O.
Sunni of Bagdad, born 1888, son of an accountant
of Mosul descent. Educated in Constantinople,
speaks Turkish, German, French and English.
Served in Balkan War. He was one of the founders
of the Ahd in 1913 and came from Constantinople to
Iraq in order to start branches there. He was in
Basra at the time of the occupation as a patier t in
the American hospital; joined the Arab army in tht
Hejaz in June 1916, and commanded the troops till
the arrival of Jafar Pasha (his brother-in-law);
served as C.G.S. till the fall of Damascus. A good
strategist very receptive of ideas, clever, hard
working, rash and hot-headed under fire. A
modernist with an exceptionally alert intelligence.
Was awarded the D.S.O. 1917 and the C.M.G. 1919,
and accompanied Feisal in London. Paris and Syria
in 1919 and 1920. He always wished for a reasonable
rapprochement between the French and the Arabs,
and dissuaded King Feisal from offering resistance
to the French on the ground that he could not hope
for support from the British. When the break came
in July 1920 he went with Feisal to England.
Returned to Bagdad in February 1921 and took
charge of the Ministry of Defence during the absence
of Jafar Pasha at the Cairo Conference. On his
return he became C.G.S. and Director-General of
Police, and held these appointments till October
1922. Acting Minister of Defence from November
1922 to November 1923. Held the same portfolio
in Jafar Pasha’s Cabinet. Minister of Defence again
in November 1926, and retained that portfolio with
only short intervals out of office until he became
Prime Minister in March 1930. Negotiated and
signed the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of June 1930. Visited
Jedda in 1931 to negotiate a “ Bon-Voisinage ’*
Treaty with Nejd and the Hejaz. Resigned with the
whole Cabinet the 19th October, 1931, but reaccepted
office on the same day in a reformed Cabinet.
Visited Angora with King Feisal July 1931, and
again in December-January 1931-32. During latter
visit he signed with Turkish Government an Extradi
tion Treaty, a Treaty of Commerce and a Residence
Convention. Resigned premiership in October 1932.
Appointed Minister at Rome, February 1933, but did
not proceed. Became Minister for Foreign Affairs
in Cabinet of Rashid Ali Gilani in March 1933.
Resigned with Rashid Ali in October 1933 and
accepted portfolio of Foreign Affairs and Defence
under Jamil-al-Madfai in November 1933. Resigned
in February 1934, but returned to the Ministry for
Foreign Affairs in August 1934 under Ali Jaudat’s
premiership. Resigned with Ali Jaudat in February
1935, but retained the portfolio of Foreign Affairs in
the succeeding Cabinet formed by Jamil-al-Madfai,
and returned again to the Ministry in the Cabinet
formed by Yasin Pasha in March 1935.
In October, after Bakr Sidqi’s successful military
revolt, Nuri Pasha, fearing for his life, fled to Egypt
with his family, where he carried on a restless
agitation from Cairo to secure his return to Iraq.
He came back in October 1937 after the murder of
Bakr Sidqi and the fall of Hikmat Sulaiman’s
Government. He was offered the post of Iraqi
Minister in London, but did not accept it. In early
December he went to Syria with the intention of
working privately for a solution of the problem of the
future of the Jews and Arabs in Palestine.
But for two short visits to Bagdad, Nuri-al-Said
spent the whole of the year 1938 outside Iraq,
occupied principally in desultory conversations about
Palestine with politicians in Syria, Egypt and
London. On each of his short visits to Bagdad his
presence gave rise to rumours concerning his
political intentions, but these died away as soon as
he left.
In December 1938 he came back to stay, and a
few days later a military demonstration in his favour
organised by Taha-al-Hashimi and Husain Fauzi
overthrew Jamil-al-Madfai’s Cabinet and brought
Nuri-al-Said into office as Prime Minister. He
represented Iraq at the opening of the London
conversations about Palestine in January 1939.
Resigned the premiership in February 1940, but
at the Regent’s request reformed his Cabinet and
continued in office until the end of March when,
with his own collaboration, a new Cabinet was
formed by Rashid Ali.
Remained in office as Minister for Foreign Affairs
until the end of January 1941, when he and several
of his colleagues resigned because of Rashid Ali’s
increasing inclination towards the Axis. In April,
shortly before Taha-al-Hashimi’s Cabinet was over
thrown by Rashid Ali and the army, Nuri Said wisely
withdrew to Transjordan, where he remained until
he was able to come back with the Regent at the
beginning of June. Before the end of the month
he was appointed Iraqi Minister in Cairo, but was
recalled to form a Cabinet on the resignation of
Jamil Madfai at the beginning of October 1941.
From that time onwards he collaborated closely with