ملف ٤٧٢٢\١٩١٨ الجزء ١ "بلاد الرافدين: إدارة السياسة والوضع" [و‎‎٢‎٢‎٤] (٦٨٧/٤٦٣)

Minute ( P558 °)
P rom Political, Baghdad, 11 th December 1018.
(Repeated to Foreign and Tehran'.)
(Received 12th, U.45 p.m.)
Aralfp/iiimho^ ^ en * ,el * telegram of 27th Novembev refers to series of articles on
Emnire ind 'iuv',"" ^l' p cal l01 p’y ^ nn, l refers to splendour of early Arabian
tint once hbi I s ( -, t0 , ma r e) the WgUy controversial assertion that '“a nation
Ifh.nW !;,v 1“ SUCh b !' llllance have root of future greatness within
Lnnunia rwbM Ce : t f- e - faTOm ' ab ! e ’’ [ am llot republishing "this or similar
on past Tries o d ? Ju . n . ct,,re do "0‘hins but harm ; political arguments based
serv^to exr phlist ri 6 't'' ma >' g ? do '™ wit h British public, but they only
heads of tbe un itf J ""^PPrehenston here among sober men, and swell the
neaas ol the political theorists of Baghdad.
informed'('n?ernf tl T.l T T? W refer to my telegram of 24th November in which I
aTw 0^00 ? r WaS wrongly opposed to nomination of a son of Sherif
Arabian politics'ancl'on'other grounds. connected "ith (? Persian Gulf) and Central
on which'l'base tldsTpinion^— nCe 40 P ' aCe 0 “ reCOrd in gl ' eater detoil the grounds
exclusively Sb'nh tf n< f T M -o p °tamia we .have to deal with a population almost
to idea ofir^ ^u^fe COmin * t0 W bit ^
Sherif' anrlTif f'mib ab - a to reckon with Ibn Sami, whose attitude towards
, 6 , . and llls lamil > 1S . k P own to Government. Ibn Sand’s independence is based
pon his geographical position, and upon deep-seated racial and religions prejudices
of the people of Najd by whose consent he rules. J
in a situatinnT? 0 , 1 '! t0 , Kmg P’ ns n i ? wil1 a ‘* e 1 ntu8te these prejudices and might result
(bn SaudT W h TC Ch pf 81 •" ld f aVe . to cboose between open estrangement with
, , I 8 with King Hussein; there is no question which wav the choice would
fall but we must be prepared for continuous friction on coast of Gulf.
me tbat Ba gbdad and Caucasus are the strategical centres of Middle
Cast, in both Mahometans greatly predominate. Encouragement of idea of Arab as
against European predominance in Arab-speaking territories which British blood and
British treasure have wrested from the Turks cannot fail to excite latent religious
hatreds between Sunnis and Shiahs in Iraq, and thus deprive us of some of the
strategic advantages which follow from possession of this ganglion.
•, n Gapicasus the natural effect of our Arab policy will be to encourage the nascent
“ b 7 f01 ® 8t8,> !' 8hme “ t of a Mahometan State in this region with, boundaries
cutting across all three limitrophe States, an ambition which if realised will make
impossible the resuscitation, as a phristian principality, of Armenia, which however I
personally do not regard as a business proposition.
4. The trend of our present Arab policy, if followed to [group omitted], may in
certain circumstances result in creation of a series of Mohammedan States, with
nothing m common but tbeir religion and their anti-European (i.e., racial) prejudice •
such a consummation would be the negation of progress and put an end to hope of
peace in .fiddle East within a reasonable period. 1 submit that we are in danger of
creating something closely resembling a new Balkan problem.
o. Occupation of Mesopotamia during the war drove a wedge into the Mahometan
world, and prevented a possible Mahometan combination against us in Middle East
1 1 submit that under peace conditions we should see to it that Mesopotamia remains as
ITm t° f < T, tr ? iled territor - v '’ not Polony assimilated to the rest of Arab
to the rest “ WOr ' ’ L * W0 gl '°" pS ,mdec yP h erable] ated, as far as may be, a model
i> ,/bove arguments, if they are accepted as sound, tend to emphasise the need for
intish Piofcctorate in Iraq m the interest(s) of peace of Europe and Middle East
Under this fegis we should pursue a policy as liberal (as) is consistent with reasonably
emcient administration and financial stability which is solely dependent thereon.
We shall encounter some opposition from politicians in Baghdad whose views
aie theoretical and who are far less in touch than we are with country as a whole and
never take its interests into consideration. This alternative is (? calculated) to create
a continued sense of instability and growing alienation of country districts which
is to be feared if authority is prematurely placed in hands of 'untrained town-
hred olhcials without administrative traditions or social or religious sympathy of ’
(12,975). Wb. P148—88. 3000. 12/17. S.J.A&Co.