If the report that Rashid Ah, the Iraq rebel leader, has fled from Baghdad proves to be correct, Mr. Churchill's speculation, in the course of his speech during ihe debate on the r in the House of Commons) that possibly the revolt had gone off half-cock, will have been justified. It is interesting to review what has been happening in Iraq in the light of recent developments. Mr. Churchill has made it quite plain that the representaes of the Foreign Office were all along an cóurant with what was going on. and attached due importance to the activities of German agents amongst those Iraqi opposed to the then Government. It was a year ago that the Foreign Office commenced asking for troops to be sent to Iraq to protect the lines of communication in accordance with the Anglo-Iraq treaty. It was not possible to send them then. Every available man was wanted in the Nile valley. Marshal Graziani, with his numerically much more superior force, constituted a definite threat to Egypt, and to have further weakened the British forces waiting to oppose him in order to mend the situation in Iraq, might at that time have proved fatal to the British position in the eastern Mediterranean.
Without the necessary forces it was difficult to make headway against the intrigues of Rashid Ah in favour of the Axis Powers.
His object, apparently. was io have everything ready for the Germans as soon as they could reach Iraq. Where he seems to have gone off half-cock lies in the fact that he launched his coup d'état before the Germans were within reach of his country, and the British very quickly moved into action. Strong British forces were prompt? landed at Basra assuming contvvl of or of the most highly important bridge heads in the east, reinforced the British gar-risen at Habbaniyah, which tke Iraqi started to besiege, and bombed Baghdad and other military objectives with effect. Mr. Churchill was able to announce in the House of Commons that the garrison at Habbaniyah had made a sortie, routed the besiegers, taking 434 prisoners, and inflicting about 1,000 casualties on the enemy. It is suggested that this particular siege has now been broken, and that the British are now in control of those positions from which the Iraqi maintained an artillery bombardment of the Habbaniyah aerodrome.
It would be premature to suggest that the revolt has as yet been broken, but if it is true that Rashid Ah has fled, and that the Regent, Abdul Mah, friendly to Great Britain, is on the point of returning to Baghdad, it should not be long before order is restored, and the old relations between the h and Iraq Government re-established.
isit of the rebel Iraq Minister of War to is in itself interesting. Arriving in the Turkish capital, obviously for the purpose of endeavouring to enlist Turkish sympathy, he received no welcome owing to the fact that Turkey has not recognized the new Government, It is more than likely that recognition will be withheld certainly as long as there is any doubt as to the permanence of the new Government. and the conclusion to be drawn is that Turkey will do nothing which may be calculated to establish the rebel Government firmly in power, but at the very most will wait and see what developes, What is perfectly clear from all that has happened is that those who criticized the British Government in the House of Commons were not well apprised of what had been happening, and drew conclusions unfavourable to the Government from the scant information which was at their disposal. The intelligence service of Great Britain proved itself to be completely well informed as to what was going on in Iraq, that military exigences prevented action upon that information sooner, but that when such action was necessary it was promptly carried out with sufficient forces for their immediate mission. Tt is as well to remember these things for there is far too muĉh criticism indulged in, based upon inevitably incomplete information.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.