IRAQ
A ponte


PROPERTY OF
Univepsib of
Michigan
Libraries,
181
ARTES SCIENTIA VERITAS








322
KINGDOM OF IRAQ





PRINTED BY
THE LORD BALTIMORE PRESS
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, U. S. A.



Ferraul
His Majesty King Faisal II


AN INTRODUCTION TO THE
PAST AND PRESENT OF THE
KINGDOM of
IRAQ
By
A COMMITTEE OF OFFICIALS,
1946


DS
78
A3
1946


quais
Manuk at Chita
327-go
CONTENTS
PAGE
List of Illustrations....
.
IX
1. Foreword
......
II. The Royal Family of Iraq...
III. The Land
IV. History Up to 1914.....
History 1914 to 1944...
V. The People .............
The Women of Iraq...........
VI. Government and Justice..........
VII.
Finance ............................................................ ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......
1. General ...........
2. Currency and Banking............
3. Public Debts ..........
4. Budget and Accounts.............
5. Conclusion ........
ERYOG-i-go
· Commerce and Industry....
Oil ..........
Dates
Tobacco ...........
.............
IX. Agriculture ............
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
X.
Irrigation .........
XI. The Arab Horse....
XII. Other Live Stock..
Game ..............
............
XIII. Transportation
Railways ..........
Roads ..........
Waterways
Civil Aviation
Basra
.....
VII



His Royal Highness the Regent and Crown Prince Emir Abdul-Ilah


FOREWORD
An attempt has been made in the following pages to present to
the English-speaking world the picture of a young and progressive
nation.
Iraq was one of the several Arab provinces liberated from the
Ottoman Empire in the First World War. The political settlement
which followed did not embody the fullest realization of the aspirations
for which the people fought on the Allied side during the war, but
considerably fell short of it. Nevertheless Iraq continued its efforts in
the subsequent years. It became a kingdom upon the accession of King
Faisal the First to the throne in 1921. During the next ten years she
made great progress and reached a high enough standard of government
efficiency and stability to be admitted to the League of Nations in 1932
as an independent sovereign state. .
With her sister states of the Arab East she now awaits the day when
the historical and cultural identity of the Arab peoples will finally
attain economic unity and political expression. Meanwhile she has fol-
lowed her traditional inclination by linking her fortunes with the great
democracies by ranging herself beside her Allies in the war against
aggression.
This little handbook is not intended to describe the completion of
a task. On the contrary, every citizen of Iraq realizes that what has so
far been achieved is the establishment of Iraq as a recognized member
of the civilized family of nations which is only the first stage.
Iraq is now equipped with a framework of laws which have cleared
the path for social and individual progress. By trial and error she is
evolving an administrative machinery which will be capable of inter-
preting in a practical manner the growing demand of the younger
generation for a national effort to raise the country's standard of living
and administrative efficiency.
a
[1]



King Faisal 1
[4]


these qualities proved invaluable to the British, Iraqi, and other Arab
officers, who had joined the Arab Revolt, in organizing and co-
ordinating the Arab Forces which were to play a decisive part in the
liberation of Palestine and Syria.
In 1919, Emir Faisal went to Paris where he represented his father
at the Peace Conference. Later he visited London to press the Arab
claims under the Anglo-Arab Agreement of 1915. On his return to
Damascus he was crowned King of Greater Syria, a short-lived Kingdom
which succumbed to French Imperialism. On his accession to the
Throne of Iraq, King Faisal had to deal with the difficulties attending
the change from a British colonial administration to a national con-
stitutional government. The measure of his success is reflected in this
book. By wise statesmanship he adjusted the relations between Iraq
and her ally, Great Britain, by a series of treaties which hastened the
admission of Iraq into the League of Nations as an Independent Sov-
ereign State in 1932.
His frequent visits to Europe made King Faisal an international
figure and won him the goodwill of many great statesmen, especially
in England. He also cultivated the friendship of the rulers of neigh-
bouring countries and concluded friendly agreements with them which
greatly consolidated Iraq's position.
King Faisal's tastes and way of living were simple and democratic.
By keeping in close contact both with the administration and with his
people and by frequent personal tours of inspection, he was able to
control and guide the development of his country. He kept a model
farm which was open to the public and to which he frequently invited
prospective farmers for week-end visits. He inspired the teaching pro-
fession by registering himself as a teacher and presiding over a Teachers'
Conference.
A keen sense of humor and the ability to communicate his
enthusiasm and optimism to others enabled him to unite his country's
various communities in a bond of mutual confidence and common
endeavor. There was no racial or religious discrimination in the coun-
try, all communities sharing together in the government of the State
along democratic lines.
Born in 1883, Faisal had left the Hejaz as a young man for Turkey
and a few years later he represented Jedda in the Ottoman Parliament
at Istanbul. Socially inclined he mixed freely with politicians and states-
[5]


King Ghazi 1


King Ali
[6]


men and made close contact with Western life. Thủs in establishing a
modern order in Iraq, he was particularly well prepared to integrate
all that had a survival value in the cultural heritage of the country
with the best elements of Western civilization.'
Of his brothers, the Emir Abdullah has become the ruler of Trans-
jordan while the youngest, Emir Zaid, who had served with great gal-
lantry in the Arab Revolt, leading raiding parties in the rear of the
Turkish lines, went to Oxford, and on his return to Iraq temporarily
entered the diplomatic service.
Unac
It was, however, King Ali to whom King Faisal was most attached.
During the siege of Medina, they had ridden together among the
bursting shells of the Ottoman guns to inspire their men who were
unaccustomed to artillery. When King Ali lost the Throne of the
Hejaz, he came to live near his brother in Baghdad, where his gentle
nature and dignified personality soon made him popular. The two
brothers were inseparable and their characters in many ways comple-
mentary. On the death of King Husein in 1931, Ali became the Head
of the Hashimite Family and as such Faisal felt a sincere respect towards
him, whereas Ali deeply appreciated the hospitality of the King and
people of Iraq. This mutual respect is a typical trait of the Hashimite
tradition.
King Faisal died in 1933 and his only son, Ghazi, succeeded him
as King Ghazi I. The death of Faisal shook the Arab world. His per-
sonality was familiar to every Arab village and community. His name
had become legendary even while he still lived. For in Iraq he had
demonstrated to the world what could be accomplished in an atmo-
sphere of freedom and security. It was also an indication of what could
have been achieved in Greater Syria and other Arab countries had the
Allies respected the Anglo-Arab Agreement in its entirety. The Sep-
tember day on which Faisal passed away marked the birth of a new
spirit of unity among the Arab States. Iraq had lost its master-builder,
the Arabs their leader and champion.
Two years later King Ali who had been deeply affected by the
· loss of his brother died of a heart attack.
СО
Ghazi was born in 1912. Educated in England at Harrow and at
the Military College in Baghdad, he ascended the Throne at the early
age of twenty-two. Energetic and full of zeal he had a passion for mod-
ern mechanical inventions to which he devoted much of his spare time.
[7]


TREE OF THE HASHIMITE FAMILY
INCLUDING THE PRESENT ROYAL FAMILY OF IRAQ
ABBAS-
-ABDULLAH-
-ABU TALIB
:
THE ABBASID CALIPHS
(In Baghdad)
THE PROPHET MOHAMMAD
(Born A.D. 570. Died A.D. 632)
FATIMA-
- Married
- THE IMAM 'ALI
HASAN
HUSEIN
(37 generations of the Hashimite family
between the Prophet and King Husein)
KING HUSEIN OF THE HEJAZ
(Born 1852. Died 1931)
H.R.H. THE EMIR ZAID
(Born 1898)
KING FAISAL I
(Born 1883. Died 1933)
H.M. KING ABDULLAH I
(Born 1880)
(Ruler of Transjordan)
KING 'ALI
(Born 1879. Died 1935)
THE EMIR RAAD
(Born 1935)
THE EMIR NAIF
-Married 1934–
KING GHAZI-
(Born 1911. Died 1939)
THE EMIR 'TALAL
-H.M. QUEEN 'ALIYAH
(Queen Mother)
H.R.H. THE EMIR
ABDUL 'ILAH
(Regent and Heir to
the Throne)
(Born 1913)
H.M. KING FAISAL II
(Born 1935)
[6]


III
THE LAND
an
rs
The frontiers of the modern Kingdom of Iraq were fixed during
the years immediately following the First World War. The country
which they include approximately corresponds to what had previously
been the three Turkish provinces of Basrah, Baghdad and Mosul.
Limited on the East side by the mountains of Iran, and on the West
by a more arbitrary line in mid-desert, its several regions vary consid-
erably in character and even in climate. In the South is the alluvial
plain, reclaimed by the rivers themselves from the Persian Gulf. In the
North are the undulating uplands of the old vilayet of Mosul. These
are the main divisions, but also included within its frontiers are a large
slice of the Syrian Desert and approximately one-third of mountainous
Kurdistan
The southern alluvial plain is exactly delimited by the ancient
shore-line of the Gulf before the sixth millennium B. C. To the north-
east this follows the foothills of the Persian mountains up from the sea,
turns south-west across the old river estuaries at Samarra and Hit, and
returns parallel to and west of the Euphrates. Enclosed within this
boundary is an expanse of entirely flat and stoneless riverborn soil,
potentially very fertile indeed but requiring artificial irrigation to com-
pensate for climatic shortcomings, the annual rainfall averaging about
six inches. Through this area the two rivers have meandered for seven
millennia, changing their course continually, often remaining split
into several branches, but latterly always reuniting above the modern
city of Basrah to complete their course in a single great channel called
the Shatt-al-Arab. Above Basrah also is the marshland of the Muntafiq
liwa, where the drying-out process is still incomplete. Elsewhere, the
rivers, being in their delta, flow at a level a few feet higher than the
rest of the plain, which is consequently always in danger of flood, par-
ticularly in the springtime, when the snow melts on the mountains of
Kurdistan and Anatolia.
Depending for its cultivation on artificial irrigation, the entire
plain is threaded and crisscrossed with water-channels and the remains
[10]



The Bull, an Assyrian Statue

Ruins of Babylon
[ 14 ]


for four hundred years been continually encroaching northward from
the Persian Gulf and southern Babylonia, and finally occupied Babylon
itself. The Chaldeans now ruled in Babylon for 67 years, of which King
Nebuchadnezzar ruled for 40 years. Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt Babylon,
copying much from and surpassing Nineveh. It was during this epoch
that Jerusalem was conquered and the Jews brought captive to Babylon
The ruins of Babylon that can be seen today are those of Nebuchad-
nezzar's Babylon, nothing being left of the older city of Hammurabi.
This sub-period is often referred to in books as “Neo-Babylonian.”
AFTER 539 B. C.-FOREIGN RULE
SUB-PERIOD No. 5 (539 B. C.—331 B. C.). Finally Babylonia was
overthrown in 539 B. C. by Cyrus the Great, King of Persia, who de-
feated the Babylonian army led by the young crown prince Belshazzar
whose name in the Book of Daniel is a household word throughout the
Christian world. This defeat is the one forecasted in the writing on
the wall at the palace of Babylon. Babylonia became but a part of a
great Persian Empire, though Babylon itself was chosen as the winter
capital by its ruler.
It was during this sub-period that a famous raid was made on
Babylon by Xenophon and his Ten Thousand Greeks.
SUB-PERIOD No. 6 (331 B. C.—247 B. C.). In 331 B. C. Alexander
the Great invaded the country and changed Persian for Greek rule.
nu
I

Aerial View of Al-Malwiyah, at Samarrah
[ 17 ]


This remarkable and energetic young Macedonian had set out at the
age of twenty and conquered Asia Minor and Egypt. Then, at the age
of twenty-five, he decided to throw the Persians out of Babylon; in 331
B. C. he defeated the Persian King in a terrific battle near Arbela,
occupying Babylon a few days later. During the next seven years Alex-
ander conquered modern Persia and Afghanistan, crossed the frontiers
of India, and invaded the Punjab; he built a fleet on the river Indus
and returned to Babylon via the Persian Gulf. He thus became master
of the world—or of as much of it as was then known.
In 323 B. C., after 13 years' reign, Alexander died at Babylon,
aged 33 years. The succession was disputed, finally Seleucus (one of his
generals) acquired the Iraq portion of his conquests. The latter built
a new capital, Seleucia (on the Tigris, twenty miles below Baghdad).
The Greek House of Seleucus lasted for 175 years, but the culture
brought by the Greeks and the development carried out by them influ-
enced the country for several more centuries.
SUB-PERIOD No. 7 (247 B. C.—226 A. D.). The next invaders were
the Parthians (from Persia). After long wars this able people conquered
the Seleucids and built a new capital called Ctesiphon, just opposite to
Seleucia, on the other side of the Tigris. During this sub-period the
great Roman Empire was in being, and Syria formed part of that
Empire. There was continual war between Parthia and Rome.
SUB-PERIOD No. 8 (226 A. D.—636 A. D.). Afterwards another
Persian dynasty, the Sasanians or Sasanids, overcame the Parthians in
226 A. D., and in this epoch was built the great Arch of Ctesiphon,
where the Sasanid kings spent their winters. Iraq was in a fine state of
development under the Sasanids; and most of the disused irrigation
canals which are to be seen all over the country are said to have been
in operation during their reign. The strength and length of the Sasanid
rule make their epoch a most important one of the “Foreign Rule
Period” of Iraq history.
SUB-PERIOD No. 9 (ARAB CONQUEST) (636 A. D.—1258 A. D.).
In 570 A. D. the Prophet Mohammed was born in Mecca, and on reach-
ing manhood his religious teachings introduced a new great element
into the world, the Moslem religion. On his death in 632 A. D. the
Arabs inspired and united by his teachings organized campaigns which
overran the fertile but mismanaged states surrounding their desert. In
636 A. D. they defeated the Byzantine Romans at the battle of Yarmuk
and occupied Palestine and Syria. In 637 A. D. they reached Iraq and
1
m
[ 18 ]


routed the Sasanians at Qadisiyah, 15 miles west of al-Kufah. The fol-
lowing year the Arabs took Ctesiphon, the capital of the Sasanids, and
established strongholds at al-Kufah, Wasit, and al-Basrah; there was
at once an influx of Arabs into Iraq.
When the Prophet died the title caliph (or successor) was insti-
tuted as the title of the Head of Islam. The first three caliphs ruled in
Medina in the Hejaz; and Ali, the last one, came to Iraq where he was
assassinated. The Umayyad Dynasty made Damascus the center of Arab
power and the descendants of the Prophet's uncle, Abbas, brought the
caliphate again to Iraq, and the capital was moved from Damascus to
Anbar, near Faluja. The second Abbasid Caliph, Al-Mansur, decided
to move the capital again. He chose a spot as being suitable, healthy,
and well provided with water for irrigation purposes, and in 762 A. D.
he started building Baghdad.
Iraq under the ’Abbasid caliphate (750-1258) wrote one of the
most brilliant chapters in the history of that land. This was especially
true under Harun al-Rashid (786-809) and his son al-Ma'mun (809-
813). Sir Mark Sykes gives a vivid and realistic description of their great
empire in his book, “The Caliph's Last Heritage” from which we will
Vas
iaso

Sepulchre of Ali Ibn Abi Talib, Al Najaf
[ 19 ]


Furthermore it came at a time when Iraq's national equanimity
was already seriously shaken. For some years she had been watching
with increasing disquiet the tendencious aspect of events in sister States
with whom she felt her future to be identified. Owing to the non-
fulfilment of the Anglo-Arab Agreeinent of 1915, Arab public opinion
was crystalizing into a strong national movement. In Palestine itself,
political Zionism waxed aggressive in its fight for unrestricted immigra-
tion and political domination. In Syria up to 1940, the provision in
the mandate for its own ultimate termination had been ignored by the
French, while more recently under the Vichy regime the country had
become a center for the political and military activities of the Axis
Powers.
more
Each of these facts served to increase Iraq's misgivings, and what
little reassurance was forthcoming from her ally was insufficient to
prevent her resistance from being dangerously weakened. It was accord-
ingly less surprising when in 1941 this state of affairs culminated in an
attempt by an unscrupulous and non-representative faction to inter-
fere with the legitimate government of the country.
Since 1941 much has been done by both allies to restore each
other's confidence, and a landmark was reached in January, 1943, with
Iraq's decision to enter the ranks of the United Nations as a belligerent.
Her very real sacrifices in the cause of freedom are enumerated else-
where in this book and may be taken as a measure of her dedication to
that cause and her belief in its ultimate justice.
And so, with a clear conscience and great expectations Iraq faces
the future. Nor does she face it alone. In the last quarter of a century
she has become a corporate State, able to play a leading role in the
wider destinies of that community of Arab countries whose history,
language and religion made them a single entity in the past and point
the way to reunion in the future. Iraq cannot remain politically or
economically isolated. She is too small a unit to hold her own in the
economic and dynamic regrouping of nations in the post-war world.
Her one hope of security lies in the reintegration of the Arab World,
whereby not only her own future would be safeguarded, but the inter-
ests of her neighbours and traditional allies. Disruption in the past has
left the integral parts of the Arab Nation at the mercy of strangers.
Reunion in the future is their rightful destiny.
СО
SCIene
es
CU
300
econo
IS
[ 26 ]


Kurds fairly equally divided between Iraq, Iran, and Turkey. In Iraq
their domain corresponds to the highland country referred to elsewhere.
They are plainly Indo-Iranian by extraction, or what is sometimes
loosely called Aryan. Their religion is Islam, but they have a language
of their own. Kurdish families are characterized by the strongest pos-
sible feudal sense and a rigorous code of honour. Their women are
allowed considerable freedom, and often attain positions of respect and
authority in later life.
CHRISTIANS. There are Christian communities in all the prin-
cipal towns of Iraq, but their villages fall thickest in the Mosul district.
There are four principal local subdivisions of the Christian Church.
The two primary sects are the Nestorians (who have the purely political
denomination—“Assyrians”) and the Jacobites. The others are the
"Uniate” branches of these two, respectively known as the Chaldean
and Syrian Catholics. Christianity reached northern Iraq and Syria in
the very early years after the death of Christ. By the fourth century,
when Constantine made it the state religion of the Roman Empire,
there was a powerful church established in Antioch, and the missionary
work of St. Thaddaeus had spread its influence throughout Mesopo-
tamia. A famous heresy split the Antioch Church in two, and Sasanian
persecution scattered the Nestorians eastwards. Gibbon refers to the
remarkable role played by the Mosul Church in evangelizing India,
and Nestorian missionizing reached its climax in the time of the semi-
fabulous Prester John, whose temporal power carried Christianity east-
wards to China, while his fame spread to the courts of Europe. Religi-
ous apathy characterized the Mongol's treatment of Christians, but the
Tartars were less tolerant. Repeated massacres eventually confined the
Nestorians once more to a group of villages south of Van, and the
Chaldeans, who had now separated themselves to the Mosul district.
In 1917 the fortunes of war brought the Nestorian Assyrians back to
Iraq. Today Christians hold many responsible positions in the Iraq
Government and there has been more than one Christian Cabinet
Minister.
JEWS. The majority of Iraqi Jews, who slightly exceed the
Christians in number, live in Baghdad. It will be remembered that the
patriarch Abraham, whose first home was at Ur-of-the-Chaldees, later
migrated to Canaan; so the ancestors of the present Hebrew Iraqis must
have arrived at a later date—probably as war-prisoners in the wake of
the victorious armies of Tiglathpileser, Shalmaneser, Sargon and
tar
[ 29 ]


ere SOO
Nebuchadnezzar. The tears of their early captivity were soon forgotten
in their growing appreciation of this new land of promise, and the
Greek writers found them prospering in large communities on the
Euphrates, including their university cities of Sura and Pumbaditha.
In Sasanian times they even attained some measure of administrative
independence, while the Abbasid Caliphs benefited from their com-
mercial and economic acumen. They have since been assimilated into
the life of the country, until today a foreigner will find them barely
distinguishable from Iraqi townsmen of different extraction.
In Baghdad there are Jewish schools, hospitals and charitable
institutions, financed by the community, and conforming to govern-
ment regulations. The community has a president and two councils
whose appointment is confirmed by Royal Irada.
OTHERS. About thirty thousand Yezidis and an even smaller
number of Turcomans, Sabeans, Shebeks, and Lurs complete the pic-
ture. The Yezidis in the hills north of Mosul have an obscure religious
formula centered around the propitiation of the principle of evil. They
are consequently often erroneously called "devil-worshippers.” The
Turcomans are a remnant of a fourteenth-century invasion. They were
retained by the early Ottoman rulers in a line of settlements calculated
to protect their own communications with Turkey from the less reliable
elements along the route.
The Mandaean “baptists” have a more ancient faith, whose origins
may perhaps be buried among the ruins of Harran on the Turko-Syrian
frontier. They now ply their trade as silversmiths at Baghdad and
Amarah.
Near Mosul half-a-dozen villages of Shebeks speak a language of
their own; the Lurs are mainly confined to city activities.
are
On
10V
CTS
THE WOMEN OF IRAQ
The main object of the Arab Revolt was political freedom, but it
brought in its wake throughout the Arab countries an intensified desire
to gain other than political rights. Along with the hope of achieving an
independent Arab nation grew criticism of existing customs and insti-
tutions and the ambition for national reconstruction.
No one could doubt that the magnitude of the task called for the
combined effort of the whole nation, and no one could ignore the fact
that the cooperation of women was vitally necessary. No spectacular
[ 30 ]


IS
no 1
vas
the magnitude of their task but saw at the same time that they were
sadly unprepared for it. There was no feminist movement as such, for
there was no masculine antagonism. The complete emancipation was
the joint aim of both sexes, and the education of women was admitted
to be the first step towards the common goal.
Iraq was fortunate in being able to take over straight away the
most advanced educational theories. Equal educational opportunity
was the right of all. But it was not possible for women to avoid the
penalties imposed by their initial handicaps. Schools had first of all to
be started with teachers brought from other luckier Arab countries,
where women's education had not been so neglected. Even now, in
spite of constant endeavours to train teachers, supply still lags behind
demand and puts a brake on the growth of women's education.
There are now about 30,000 girls at school in Iraq, but the number
alone cannot give any idea of the fervor which women have brought
to learning. Girls ask for it as a present from their fathers; mothers
want it as a favour for their daughters. In schools women work with
such enthusiasm that they have gained some of the highest places among
the graduates at the Medical College, the Law College, and the
Teachers' Training College.
There are about 1,200 women teachers in Iraq, but again numbers
cannot tell the pioneering spirit that women have brought to teaching.
When King Faisal I enrolled himself as a teacher the gesture was pro-
foundly symbolical. Women from every sphere of society were coming

School Girls in
Swedish Exercises
[ 32 ]


39,920,000 on the same date which is an indication of great financial
stability. Iraq currency is freely convertible into sterling on London
and vice versa, subject to such conditions as are considered essential
for normal banking purposes. The dinar is, therefore, a very sound
currency and commands international confidence.
Banking is carried out by four Chartered banks and a certain
number of private banking houses. The banks have branches in impor-
tant cities and report to the Ministry of Finance according to the terms
of the law for the control of banking. The Rafidain Bank, created in
1941 under Government auspices, is banker to the Iraq Treasury and
other official and semi-official institutions. It has now two branches:
one in Basra and one in Mosul, and correspondents and agents abroad.
The Government further owns the Industrial and Agricultural Bank
which make advances and loans to farmers, cultivators, industrialists
and others on reasonable terms. Banking business is conducted on con-
servative lines and aggregate deposits at the end of 1943 were estimated
at about twenty million dinars.
3). PUBLIC DEBTS
Iraq was formerly an integral part of the Ottoman Empire, and
when the latter disintegrated as a result of World War I, its public debts
were distributed among its various former provinces irrespective of
whether these new States had derived any benefit from the debts or
not. Iraq's share of debt was fixed at about seven million Turkish
pounds which were subsequently increased to 912 millions by the
addition of various annuities, arrears, etc. The debt was mainly due to
foreign bond-holders. While Iraq derived little or no benefit from
these debts, yet because the main debtors were unwilling to face a
general settlement, it decided to pay up its full share of the debt. This
was done through a deal with the bond-holders, partly by the tender of
bonds and coupons purchased on the open market, and partly by a
cash payment spread over a certain number of years. The final settle-
ment was completed in 1932.
From the first the Iraq Government has systematically avoided
incurring foreign, or indeed any other debts. Its large capital works
programmes have been financed by local means and since 1932 by oil
royalties. An attempt was made in 1937 to raise a loan on the London
market for the purpose of financing the extension of the railway from
Baghdad to link up in Turkey with the European network. A first
2
rrea
er
n nu
TS.
[ 40 ]


O
tranche of one million pounds was floated at 41/2% interest for repay-
ment within twenty years. The scheme was received unfavourably in
Iraq, and accordingly no further issues were made. The amount was
wholly paid up in 1943 and much earlier than at first anticipated.
As a result of this policy Iraq has no public debt in the normal
sense. A sum of four million pounds has been received during recent
years from the various oil companies owning concessions in Iraq, rep-
resenting an advance payable from surplus oil royalties in future.
A law was passed recently for the floating of two internal loans
of one million dinars each, the first a short term and the second a rela-
tively long term loan. The object is more educative than financial, the
aim being to initiate the people in investing their savings in government
securities. For this purpose very generous terms are being offered and
it is expected that the loan will have a deserved success among the local
population.
4). BUDGET AND ACCOUNTS
The main concern of the State is the preparation and execution of
the budget. The budget in Iraq is prepared by the ministries and
departments concerned and submitted to the Ministry of Finance for
approval and to Parliament for sanction. It contains two parts: revenue
and expenditure, each divided into sections and sub-sections and covers
one financial year which in Iraq begins on the 1st of April.
In the last twenty-four years of its financial administration Iraq
has maintained a high standard of public budgeting. Seldom has a
deficitary budget been passed, and during years of crises such as 1923
and 1931 a ruthless axing policy was adopted in order to balance rev-
enue and expenditure. The size of the budget steadily increased since
its modest beginning in 1921 and in the year 1944-1945 the volume of
the ordinary and subsidiary budgets reached the figure of nearly
twenty-four million dinars, which works out at about five dinars per
head of population.
The revenue derives mainly from Customs and Excise, 15%; Oil
Royalties, 10%; Income and Property Taxes, 8%; Consumption and
Agricultural Tax, 13%; Railways, 15%; Government Services, 16%;
other income or revenue, 23%.
The expenditure is distributed as follows: for defense and security,
21%; Health, Education and other Social Services, 12%; Irrigation and
[41]


Public Works, 8%; Railways, 14%; Government Services, 14%; other
services, including temporary allocations, 31%.
The accounts of the State are regularly published. A detailed
report is issued annually which gives full particulars of the yearly
accounts and the cumulative financial position at the end of the year.
The accounts bear the counter-signature of the Controller and Auditor-
General who, in addition, reports separately to Parliament, to which
he is responsible.
In accordance with these statements the financial reserves of the
Treasury on March 31, 1943, amounted to 3,200,000 dinars besides
recoverable assets amounting to about two million dinars.
5). CONCLUSION
As previously stated, Iraq has no public debts; it has on the con-
trary a semi-permanent and fixed income in the form of royalty receiv-
able from the various oil companies operating or having concessions in
Iraq. It has a sound and easily convertible currency with a handsome
reserve and with no monetary complications. Budgets, even during the
war period, have been self-balancing, and the accounts have usually
resulted in some surplus of revenue over expenditure. The country has
great agricultural and economic potentialities which await develop-
ment. Its key position at the center of Middle East communications is
a guarantee of the future development of trade and industry. For these
and other reasons, the country looks to the post-war period with hope
and confidence.
Tunane
con
CC
-
IOU
CCO
e
[ 42 ]


be got from a pound of dates. For several hundreds of thousands of
Arabs the date is actually their staple, and sometimes their only food,
and these are among the healthiest members of the community.
The date industry of Iraq is now directly under the control of the
government, and is organized by a Date Board, largely financed from
government money, which has its headquarters in Basra and assists in
the marketing of dates abroad. There are also Growers' and Packers
Associations which meet periodically to discuss questions relating to
these aspects of the business. Finally, there is a Research Station, also
situated at Basra, which is engaged on the scientific study of improving
the date crop and utilizing the by-products.
DATE EXPORTS FROM IRAQ
1938
1939
1940
Tons
Value in Tons
Value in Tons
Id.
Value in
Id.
Id.
266,824
305,323
U.S.A.....................
..... 20,822
U. K..
13,242
INDIA......... 66,598
EGYPT.
...........
13,582
OTHER
COUNTRIES........ 71,306
173,284 20,572
106,924 23,871
223,144 58,066
43,568 8,614
2 08,953 23,048
244,549 25,540
260,999 53,527
29,609 1,544
258,546
9,701
340,220 37,139
218,114 28,593
204,602
TOBACCO
Tobacco has an increasingly important place in Iraq's economic
set-up, and the livelihood of a considerable section of the population
depends upon its cultivation. Production was formerly limited to the
Persian type and primitive methods of cultivation and packing were
used. Modern development of the industry began in 1930 when ciga-
rette-manufacturing machines were introduced to assist the hand-made
cigarette factories. The number of mechanical factories is fifteen per
cent at present. The daily cigarette output of all factories in Iraq has
long ago exceeded the ten million mark.
The cultivation of tobacco in Iraq is confined to the mountainous
Kurdish districts where the soil and climate are most favourable. The
yield in 1943 reached an approximate total of 4,000 tons which is
[ 48 ]



Harvesting Dates
[51]


ensures the navigability of the main river. The automatic weir at the
head of the temporary inlet to Lake Habbaniya is another example.
Finally, it is interesting to note that a variation of the irrigation regime
at Hindiya Barrage, at the suggestion of British medical experts, almost
eliminated the local occurrence of malaria.
First and foremost amongst the irrigation schemes planned for the
future is the Bekhme Dam. The proposed site of this dam is located at
a point where the greater Zab and Rowanduz rivers meet and flow out
into the Kurdish foothills through a narrow defile. The dam would
create a most spectacular mountain lake nearly forty miles long, extend-
ing along the foot of the Baradost mountain and up the Zab Valley as
far as Zibar. Since the Zab is the most important tributary of the Tigris,
it has been pronounced a perfect solution of the flood problem. In the
spring the snow water from Kurdistan will be held up and stored,
thereby removing the danger to Baghdad. In summer it would be
released and increase the irrigable area of land. It would also be used
for the generation of electric power on the lines of the Boulder Dam.
Another scheme is the new affluent from the Lesser Zab which will
bring the Hawijah district under cultivation, and the extension of the
Abu Ghuraib and Hurriyah canals, which add 40,000 hectares of land
to the cultivated area. It is only fair to add that all work of this kind
was greatly hampered by war conditions. Shortage of labor, inadequacy
of technical staff, lack of spare parts for machines in operation, shortage
and cost of building materials, have been some of the obstacles in the
path of the Irrigation engineers which made their achievements all the
more remarkable.
сте
rez
[ 58 ]


eu
GAME
Game in Iraq is plentiful and varied. Black partridge (francolinus
vulgaris) abounds in orchards and vineyards all over the country while
the Chukar (alectoris graeca) breeds in great numbers among the scrub-
oak on the rocky hillsides of Kurdistan. In the marshes of the south
every imaginable variety of duck and teal are to be found and in the
winter several sorts of geese, including the Grey Lag (anser anser) who
appears in flocks several hundreds strong. Two species of Sandgrouse,
the “pintailed” and “spotted” varieties (pterocles alchata and pterocles
senegallus) breed throughout Iraq and afterwards congregate in vast
flocks. All the above give excellent shooting in season while less usual
sport is provided by the greater Bustard (otis tarda), the Houbara
(otis chlarnydotis undulata) and the Crane (grus megalornis).
Far out in the desert one may still meet with a Bedouin Sheikh,
falcon on wrist and Saluki (Arab greyhound) trotting beside him, in
search of Houbara or Gazelle. At least three varieties of the latter
(dorcas, marica, and arabica) are common in the plains, while a large
brown hare (lepus dayanus connori) is also hunted with salukis in the
cultivation. In the mountains Ibex are shot beneath the snow-line in
winter. They have been seen up to eleven years old with very fine heads.
Finally, the rivers are full of fish, mostly of the carp and barbel
varieties. They run to vast sizes and have been known to provide excit-
ing sport for a rod.
e
[63]


But now that peace has come the Government's main attention is
directed towards post-war development. A fifteen year programme,
involving the expenditure of twenty-five million dinars (dollars
100,000,000) is under consideration. This would mean, in addition to
converting the metre gauge section of the railway to standard gauge,
the construction of new line from Baghdad to Homs in Syria, and
another from Baghdad to Andimeshk in Persia, which would have the
result of giving Persia, through Iraq, direct rail communication with the
Mediterranean.
These are long-term schemes. Short-term plans, involving the
expenditure of 41/2 million dinars (dollars 18,500,000) over a period
of three years, are already in hand. Work will soon be begun on a line
across the northern plain from Kirkuk to Erbil, the construction of
railway bridges over the Tigris and Euphrates, and a large modern
terminal station at Baghdad is to be built.
ROADS
In 1914 only two main roads were maintained to any extent for
vehicular traffic. The first started from Baghdad and crossed the desert
westwards to Faluja on the Euphrates. It then followed the river up-
stream through a picturesque valley rich in historical remains, where
ancient waterwheels irrigated a strip of land on either side, and islands
in midstream were crowned with ruined castles. This road eventually
joined the main highway from the capital, Istanbul to Syria. The

Mosul
Railway Station
[ 65 ]


second road which led northwards from Mosul to Mardin and Diarbakir
had served for centuries to carry the produce of northern Iraq up into
Anatolia. Together with the complementary tracks connecting Mosul
with the Euphrates at Deir-ez-Zor and directly with Aleppo along the
line of the modern railway, these roads constituted the only form of
communication between Ottoman-Turkey and her Mesopotamian
provinces. Mails and passengers travelled along them in lumbering
coaches drawn by four horses harnessed abreast, a day's journey aver-
aging about thirty miles. Elsewhere there were only pack-animal and
bridle-paths, where country carts would occasionally venture in fine
weather. There were as yet no automobiles.
On the rivers boat-bridges were maintained when the principal
tracks crossed their various tributaries and branches. At Baghdad there
was a single-bridge of boats, which in flood time was cut and folded
back against the bank, so that the swollen river could only be negoti-
ated in rowing boats. Another pontoon-bridge spanned the Tigris at
Mosul, but the swift waters of the two Zab rivers could only be crossed
in unreliable ferries.
The tranquil slumber of Mesopotamia was rudely disturbed by
the war of 1914-1918. Motor vehicles of the Allied armies spread over
the Middle East and engineers followed them to improve earth tracks
and bridge irrigation canals with culverts. When the tide of war receded,
motor traffic remained, and the new-born State of Iraq was faced with
an overwhelming demand for metalled roads and bridges. This demand
has still only partially been met. Brought suddenly into line with the
nations of the West, Iraq's national assets were at first scarcely adequate
to furnish the essential social and economic services and provide for
national defense. Road construction was costly and could only be under-
taken in gradual stages.
Nevertheless much has been accomplished. Of four thousand miles
of maintained roads, one thousand are now metalled and bitumen-
sealed. These occur mostly in the northern and eastern districts where
alternative communications by rail or river are non-existent. Fine feats
of engineering have carried new roads through the passes and mountain-
valleys of the northern highlands, and hundreds of permanent bridges
and culverts adequate for mechanized traffic have been provided. In
Baghdad two cantilever-type steel bridges have replaced the pontoon
contrivances inherited from General Maude's army in 1918, and at
Mosul a steel bridge one thousand feet long was opened to traffic in
1934.
O was
cur n
[66]



NAIRN TRANSPORTCO
Large Bus for Desert Transport
In the south many tracks still await the roadmaker, and there are
still to be seen on the Euphrates examples of the ancient type of boat-
bridge, inadequate for modern fast and heavy traffic. Many have been
replaced, but the recent war had temporarily halted the programme.
The main road-system now permits safe automobile travel throughout
almost the whole country, though in the South the grader-maintained
earth surfaces become impassable during and after rain. Finally, the
last few miles of metalled road are about to be completed, linking the
Mediterranean with Iran through the Syrian Desert and Baghdad-
the “Golden Road to Samarkand” in a new guise. The long trans-desert
section of this road was constructed by the British army as part of their
system of communications in the Middle East.
CO
WATERWAYS
The southern part of Iraq is fortunate in the possession of network
of navigable waterways, though, during a considerable part of the year
only shallow draft vessels can use them. Between Basra and Baghdad
on the Tigris a considerable volume of freight is carried in barges
usually lashed abeam to steam or diesel-engine vessels specially designed
for shallow draft. Nearly a hundred years ago the still active firm of
Stephen Lynch & Company initiated a service of this kind, and in the
name of associated companies has maintained ever since a fleet of vessels
in the trade. Motor launches are surprisingly few, but native sailing
[67]


craft trading for freight are myriad on both the Tigris and Euphrates.
They are graceful high-prowed, carvel-built craft, a high mast with a
distinctive forward rake carrying a single large sail. The type was stand-
ardized by the local shipwrights thousands of years ago, as antique
models, recently discovered, have proved.
On the northern Tigris prevailing northwest winds, coinciding
with the direction of the current, militate against the use of sail craft
and shoals and rapids tend to limit long distance river transport to rafts,
plying downstream only. These rafts are built up of poplar poles lashed
over a large number of inflated goatskins; they are broken up on arrival
at Baghdad where both the poles and skins are sold.
Local produce is carried for short distances in circular basket-form
craft, the woven shell waterproofed by a thick adhering skin of local
bitumen. These “gufas” vary up to about ten feet in diameter, and in
origin go back to antiquity. They are easily recognizable in Assyrian
relief carvings while the kelek rafts are mentioned by the famous Greek
travel-writer, Herodotus, in the fifth century B. C.
For sport and recreation the waterways are not much utilized, prob-
ably because the fairly swift current makes up stream movement slow
and laborious. Although the volume is small in the low water season
the current is still swift in the narrow tortuous channel that forms
through the wide shoals and silt banks on either hand.
I
I
rms

The Tigris at Night
[ 68 ]



Baghdad River Front
CIVIL AVIATION
Air transport in Iraq dates as far back as 1921 when military air-
craft of the Royal Air Force maintained a weekly civil service from
Cairo to Basra. In 1927 Imperial Airways inaugurated their first Empire
Service from Cairo to Basra, and later to India and Australia. They
were soon followed by the K. L. M. (Dutch) Company operating from
Amsterdam to Batavia, and by Air France from Paris to Hanoi in
French Indo-China, with a shuttle-service between Damascus and Bagh-
dad. In competition, these airlines gradually accelerated their services
and increased their frequencies. Thanks to facilities afforded by Airport
Authorities in Iraq and elsewhere, they did much of their flying at
night.
In the years immediately before World War II Iraq, by virtue of
her geographical position, had become a primary air-junction for ser-
vices of all nationalities. In addition to the three companies mentioned
above, the German, Italian, Egyptian and Iranian airlines were oper-
ating to and through Iraq, so that every day a great variety of airliners
passed through the air fields of Iraq carrying passengers, mail and
freight to remote parts of the world. Prospects for further increased
activity were also bright, as other companies such as the Polish and
Japanese Airways had already applied for concessions, while those
already operating, were planning to speed up their schedules.
As the public became increasingly air-minded, the traffic grew
greater from month to month, until in the month of August, 1939,
ne
[69]


more than 250 planes were handled and serviced at Baghdad, Basra
and Habbaniya airports. The Iraq Government did all in its power
to keep pace with this increasing volume of aircraft and to this end in
1932 they established a modern airport at Baghdad provided with the
latest amenities for passenger accommodation, night landing facilities,
radio goniometry, refuelling, etc. In 1935 a very comprehensive
meteorological service was created and in 1936 a large combined land-
and-water, all-weather airport was inaugurated at Basra (Margil),
including among its amenities an air-conditioned hotel, swimming pool,
tennis courts and elaborate aerodrome facilities, so that it ranked as
one of the best airports east of Suez. In 1937, a sea-plane base was estab-
lished at Habbaniya lake for flying boats on the Cairo-India route.
Meanwhile amongst the Iraqis themselves great interest was
aroused in aviation and a flying school for civilians was opened in 1937.
In the same year Iraq inaugurated its first national airline, oper
initially within its own frontiers. The war unfortunately hindered
further progress and the majority of airlines closed down. But with the
prospects of peace and the revival of civil air transport, the Iraq Gov
ernment is preparing to cater for the needs of post-war aviation. Already
the runways of the Baghdad Airport are being extended to the maxi-
mum length required by the largest air-liners under construction or
design. Attention is being paid also to improved wireless communica-
tion, lighting and control. A scheme for enlarging the Basra aerdrome
is also under contemplation. Finally, on the correct assumption that
Baghdad will in the future become an air-junction of major importance
and a primary stage halt for long distance craft in the world network
of post-war airways, negotiations are in progress for the foundation of
a national air-service to provide “feeder” lines from neighbouring
ne V
le a
1
ce

Basrah Airport
[ 70 ]


countries. Much else is being done to prepare for the day when air
transport will resume its true function of promoting the closer associa-
tion of peace-loving nations.
n
C
I
BASRA
The Port of Basra under the administration of the Port Directorate
comprises the River Shatt-al-Arab with its extensive approaches from
the open sea to Nahurumar, a distance of one hundred miles as well
as wharves, jetties, dockyards, airport, etc., covering altogether an area
of 2,000 acres. The commercial history of Basra as a seaport goes back
to the arrival of the Arabs in Iraq, but more has been attained in the
last twenty-five years in the development of this sea-gate of the Land of
the Two Rivers than in all the previous centuries.
In 1914 the port installations at Basra consisted of three customs
sheds. The bar at the mouth of the Shatt made it impossible for vessels
drawing more than nineteen feet to enter the river. All loading and
unloading was consequently done by “lighter," and in general, con-
ditions were exceedingly primitive. With the advent of the British
army during the First World War Basra became the base for a large
expeditionary force and the history of the modern port may be said to
date from that time. Modern equipment was brought out, wharves con-
structed, land reclaimed and railway sidings laid down. In fact, all pro-
visions were made by the British military for the rapid landing of cargo,
and as a result the return of peace found the newly constituted Port
Directorate well set up in many important essentials. In 1919 it was
transferred to a commercial administration and became a self-support-
ing unit, with an advisory committee consisting of representatives of
commercial firms, and the civil and military authorities. Today the
Port of Basra Directorate is an authority of quasi-autonomous nature,
with its own finances. It is controlled by the Ministry of Communica-
tions and Works.
In 1922 entry to the Port was still restricted to ships drawing less
than nineteen feet, while the operations of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co
pany in shipping oil from Abadan was severely handicapped by their
inability to pass fully-laden over the bar. A scheme for dredging a chan-
nel was therefore undertaken. The Directorate purchased dredgers of
the drag suction-hopper type and this was later financed by means of
a dredging due chargeable on all ships using the channel. The original
scheme provided for a channel 28 feet deep and 300 feet wide, but the
[71]


organized and experienced labor force of approximately 1,000 men was
in existence.
S
nen
nev
In 1941, strategically this situation was of the utmost value, since
a modern port was available as an advance base to the Allied armies
in the Middle East at a time when there must have been the gravest
apprehension that the Axis Powers would spread their activities further
afield by way of the Caucasus.
On the entry of the Allied armies the port facilities were still
further extended, and the original labor force was able to expand to
2,500 men within twelve months. Two new wharves were built,
the efficient lay-out of railway sidings and yards enabled additions to
be made. Power and filtered water was made available in unlimited
quantities for the huge base camp at Basra.
For two years from 1941 to 1943 the Port of Basra worked at top
pressure. All wharves were continuously occupied and every crane work-
ing day and night landing munitions for an army in the field. Floating
craft, workshops and every piece of apparatus available was incessantly
in use. At the same time the Port of Basra was called upon to cope with
the export of millions of tons of oil from the Persian Oil Fields. Vast
quantities of aid to Russia in the form of guns, munitions, tanks,
vehicles, etc., were handled expeditiously and forwarded to the Russian
battlefront.
It can confidently be said that the fleets and the armies of the
whole Eastern Theatre of war had been largely supplied with oil from
the Port of Basra. Just what this export was must remain a military
secret but some seven million tons were exported in 1936, so we may
hazard a guess that more than ten million tons of oil have left Abadan
during 1944. The handling of this vast quantity of oil is only possible
by the continuous and unrelaxing efforts of the Iraqi dredging fleet, and
work is in progress to get a still greater depth in the navigable channels
so that larger and deeper drafted vessels may enter the port.
The development of the Persian route as the main artery of aid
to Russia has resulted in the handling of large quantities of military
stores over the Port's own wharves in Margil and the American-built
wharves at Khorramshahr. The quantity of lease-lend cargo dispatched
by the U.S. A. and handled through the Shatt-al-Arab had exceeded
four million tons by 1944. The American-built wharves at Khorram-
[73]


shahr were only a practicable proposition on account of the fact that
deeply laden Liberty ships could be brought up the river.
Another valuable contribution that the port has made to the war
effort has been the export of large quantities of cereals, dates, etc., to
the Middle East and the countries of Iraq's Allies. Barley was exported
in large quantities to Bengal during the recent famine, and doubtless
contributed in a very material way to alleviate the food situation in
that province.
The history and value of the port cannot be complete without
reference to the airport and seadrome which were completed in 1937.
The Basra airport, which includes an administrative building and hotel,
an aerdrome and a flying-boat station is sited a mile above the main
wharves on the right bank of the Shatt. It is ideally situated, presenting
a landing-ground with exceptionally clear approaches for planes of all
dimensions. The sheltered reaches of the Shatt also simplify the hand-
ling of flying-boats.
The Airport Hotel is a fine modern building with air conditioning
and “five-star” accommodation. By providing ample and comfortable
accommodation for the armed forces it has furthered the strategic
position of the port in general.
hoteli
- -
-
-
---
[ 74 ]


in such places instruction in Arabic has from the first formed a large
part of the curriculum.
e
OL
ps
TODAY
Iraq's approach to education today may be characterized as nation-
alist, democratic and progressive. It is nationalistic in the sense that it
tends to make the rising generation nation-conscious; to recall the tra-
dition of Iraq as a center of Arab culture in the past, and to stimulate
its future contribution to human welfare. It is democratic in the sense
that it provides equal opportunities for education to all sections of the
population. It provides free primary and universal secondary educa-
tion. It recognizes no class, race or denominational distinctions. It is
progressive in that it appreciates all that is best in western education
with its attention to physical hygiene and social preparation as well as
industry and agriculture. But this in no way interferes with its efforts
to recall the peculiar literary and spiritual heritage of the Arabs and
stimulate their renaissance.
The present system is composed of three stages. Six years of primary
and five years of secondary education are followed by higher training.
The primary stage aims at developing in the children a capacity for
observation and thinking as a preliminary to studying the language,
literature and history of their country. Primary education is free and
compulsory, though compulsion has not yet been everywhere enforced.
During the school year 1943-1944 the following schools were
opened:
STATE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
1). For Boys........................ 625
Pupils.
61,954
2). For Girls......................... 199
Pupils.
19,069
3). For Children.................
Pupils...
6,240
PRIMARY SCHOOLS..........
Pupils........................ 13,484
The majority of the last named receive a State grant.
The courses of study in the Primary Schools consist of the follow-
ing subjects: 1) religion, 2) the three “R's,” 3) history, 4) geography,
5) civics, 6) object lessons (with a special emphasis on the health and
agriculture), 7) handwork and drawing, 8) physical training and sing-
ing, 9) English (which is taught in the fifth and sixth years).
In the secondary stage an opportunity is provided for the special
aptitudes of the students to be encouraged. The pupils are prepared for
40
.....
61
[76]


...
17
MUDIIS........................
TUS
various forms of higher education and so equipped that they may
eventually become leaders of the country.
Secondary Schools open at present are as follows:
INTERMEDIATE SCHOOLS (first stage)
1). For Boys......... ........ 27
Pupils..
6,640
2). For Girls.........
Pupils.
... 1,514
SECONDARY SCHOOLS (second stage)
1). For Boys.........
.... 19
Pupils........................ 2,272
2). For Girls.
Pupils.
702
In addition there are two Technical Schools for Boys, a School of Home-
Crafts for Girls, an Agricultural School, a School for Health Officials,
and a School for Nurses and Midwives.
. The curriculum in the Intermediate school does not vary. It con-
sists of religion, Arabic, English, mathematics, biology, elementary
physics and chemistry, hygiene, physical training and drawing. In the
second stage of the secondary education there is a special course for
girls dealing with child welfare. The programme for boys is divided into
three branches, scientific, literary and commercial.
Iraq has no University but the following Colleges fulfill many of
a university's functions:
1). The College of Engineering, with 140 students.
2). The College of Medicine with 302 students.
3). The College of Pharmacy, with 144 students.
4). The Institute of Physical Training, with 41 students.
5). The Law College, with 495 students.
The preparation of teachers is conducted on three academic levels,
the Intermediate, the Secondary and the High level. At the Inter-
mediate level there is the Rural Training School for Boys and the
Elementary Training School for Girls, each of which is a five years'
course in teaching to follow primary education. These institutions draw
their students mainly from the rural areas and particularly from small
towns and villages. Besides giving ordinary academic and educational
instruction the Rural Training School lays special emphasis on agricul-
ture and hygiene. The Girls' Elementary Training School pays special
attention to domestic science and child welfare, in addition to the
usual subjects.
On the Secondary level, there is the Primary Training School for
[77]


men which admits students for a three years' course in education after
they have passed their intermediate public examination, physical edu-
cation, handicrafts and hygiene are among the subjects taught here.
On the same level there is a school for girls, which also gives a three
years' course in education for girls who have passed their intermediate
public examination.
The Higher Teachers' Training College admits students who have
passed their secondary public examination and gives them a five years'
course. This institution is, in fact, a college which prepares teachers
for the country's intermediate and secondary schools. The students here
can specialize in any of the following subjects: 1) Arabic literature,
2) Chemistry and Biology, 3) Mathematics and Physics, 4) Social
Sciences, 5) Education and Psychology.
The objectives which the Ministry of Education has set itself may
be summed up as follows: a primary education which is universal, a
secondary and technical education which answer the increasing educa-
tional and technical needs of the country. The campaign against illit-
eracy is already under way—tribal schools have been opened, books are
distributed free to the poorer students. At the same time schools are
being used as the best medium for improving the health of the nation-
free meals and medical attention are being provided where necessary
and instruction in the principles of health and hygiene are being given
to all students.
IST
FINE ARTS
The Iraq School of Fine Arts, inaugurated in 1939 gives instruc-
tion in Painting, Sculpture and Drama. It also incorporates the Institute
of Music opened by the Ministry of Education in 1937.
In the years immediately before the war, important work was
done here to revive interest in classical music for the traditional instru-
ments of Arabia. Fine compositions came from the Institute, in addition
to pleasant, new instrumental settings for lyrics already well-known.
Simultaneously, though rather more slowly, a taste for western music
began to manifest itself in cultured circles. There is little doubt that
the advent of the gramaphone and radio had already done much to
foster this movement and the inauguration in 1935 of an Iraqi State
Broadcasting Establishment gave it a new impetus. The Iraq Army had
already made a modest experiment with a military band and the Min-
istry of Defence sent an officer to London for musical education.
[78]


He returned fully qualified in 1939 and was able to do much for the
western branch of Iraqi music. All the army bands were retrained and
modernized, while new instruments were taught to an increasing num-
ber of pupils, so that by 1941 it was found possible to create an Iraqi
Symphony Orchestra, which gave concerts of classical music in the new
and admirably suited Concert Hall dedicated to King Faisal II. Since
1941 the presence in Iraq of foreign musicians with the British and
Polish military, and the encouragement and help of the British Council
have greatly stimulated the movement. Nor has popular support been
lacking in Baghdad. An intelligent and almost universal interest in
western music is now to be seen amongst the better-educated classes
throughout the country.
Equally encouraging is the progress of modern art in Iraq. Up to
the last war, painting and sculpture in this country had been almost
completely in abeyance for over seven centuries. Conscious of this fact,
in 1930 the Ministry of Education sent their first pupil to a London
school to study European Art. Others followed, to study painting or
sculpture in the great ateliers of Paris and Rome, and returned at the
outbreak of the recent war to create a Faculty of Art in Baghdad. The
first months of the war were no auspicious time for such a venture, yet
in 1940 a group of them formed themselves into a society known as
“Friends of Art,” and in the autumn of 1941 were able to give their
first exhibition. In addition to attracting considerable interest in cul-
tural circles in Baghdad some of the pictures received flattering atten-
tion in the press of neighbouring countries. In this and the five further
exhibitions which have taken place since, critics were gratified to find
the first indications of a local style of expression which gives promise
for the future of an Iraqi School of Painting.
Meanwhile in June, 1943, the Iraq Government opened its first
gallery of modern art. The pictures were at first particularly chosen
for their interest as illustrating the nature of the country and the char-
acter of its people. The gallery was in this way intended to become an
annex to the neighbouring Museum of National Costumes. Some of the
pictures were commissioned especially for this purpose. Others, together
with some sculpture, were bought from the Art Society's exhibitions.
The group was later completed by representative work of foreign artists
temporarily resident in Baghdad, so that finally the whole collection
constituted a first attempt to establish a national collection of modern
art, in the hope that it may some day form the nucleus of an Iraqi
National Gallery.
S
[79]


XV
ANTIQUITIES
It is probably safe to say that the name of Iraq is mainly associated
in the mind of the outside world with two things—oil and antiquities.
The second of these is the more long-standing, for scholars and explorers
from the West made pilgrimages to Babylon and Nineveh long before
the mineral wealth of the country had begun to interest foreign indus-
trialists. Throughout the land a strange variety of standing monuments
testify to its illustrious past, and represent a succession of widely dif-
ferent periods in the longest history of any single state in the world
In Iraq the stone-built temples, the pyramids and rock-hewn tombs of
Egypt are missing, for the natural building material is brick which does
not stand up to the passage of time so well. Yet the ruins of many brick
buildings survive and others have been brought to light by excavators'
pick.
Almost every one of the city-states into which the Sumerians
divided the country from the thirtieth to the twentieth century before
Christ, has left traces of its capital city, with ruins of temples and pal-
aces. The most prominent feature of these is always the great temple-
tower or ziggurat, at the summit of which the central shrine was built.
At Ur-of-the-Chaldees, Kish, Eridu, Aqer Quf, near Baghdad, and a
dozen other sites the denuded remains of these great structures are
reared up against the sky like eerie Towers of Babel. But it has needed
the excavators industry to expose the buildings which cluster round
their bases and to recover their treasures. They are in fact all that
remains above the ground of Sumer and Akkad, and the same may
almost be said of Babylon and Assyria. Babylon itself before excavation
was no more than a vast brick-field while the four capital cities of
Assyria on the Upper Tigris were mere mounds, and even their identi-
fication was doubtful. It is true that high among the rocks at certain
places in the northern mountains the Assyrian kings had carved the
images of their gods and inscribed the records of their accomplishments
in the pompous idiom of their own language, but elsewhere only the
lion and the lizard kept watch where they and their Babylonia co
temporaries had “gloried and drunk deep."
CON-
[ 80 ]



et
22
SOLE
ES
SES
ot
.
84
23
SER
S
SA
IN
hoor
22
SED
ESC
SIS
SA
The Gold Cylinder Seal and Lyre from the Royal Graves at Ur
of the Chaldees B.C. 3000-2750


10U
city and the name of Baghdad. The line of its walls enclose the nucleus
of the modern city, but the only architectural remains of old Rusafa
are the famous college building of Al-Mustansir Billah called the Mus-
tansiriyah and the Abbasid Palace in the citadel, whose ruins have now
been partly restored. Few other buildings in Baghdad have survived the
seven centuries of war and general insecurity which have intervened
between the fall of the Caliphate and the present day, but certain of its
mosques, notably that which covers the tombs of the two Imams at
Khadimein make up in the richness of their ornament for what they
lack in antiquity. The city of Mosul has perhaps suffered less at the
hands of invaders. Here numerous buildings have survived with medi-
aeval ornaments beautifully carved in stone. The best of these date from
the time of the curiously named Atabeg Sultan, Badr-ud-Din Lulu. In
the Shi'a cities of Kerbela and Nejef, the fine ornament and accumu-
lated treasures of the two famous shrines are known to foreigners only
by hearsay.
Until a hundred years ago the buildings we have just mentioned
were all that remained to testify to the antiquity of Mesopotamian cul-

relo zelo
Historical Pottery
[ 82 ]



8250
M60
INTERS
Historical Arms
ture. Since that time archaeological excavations have added a great
wealth of historical information and ancient works of art. The story
of excavating in Iraq may be divided into three separate chapters. From
about 1840 until the end of the last century the work of the great
pioneer archaeologists, English and French, was mainly devoted to the
investigation of the Assyrian capital cities and the removal of their
treasures. The Ottoman government showed little interest in antiquities,
and during those years many heavily-laden barges and rafts floated
down the Tigris, carrying the fine sculptures of the Assyrians destined
for the principal museums of Europe and the New World, and price-
less historical documents for decipherment by the western scholars
whose industry and ingenuity had recently made the process possible.
To take an example, in King Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh Sir Henry
Layard unearthed “nearly two miles of bas-reliefs and twenty-seven
portals formed by colossal winged bulls and lion-sphinxes.” In this
palace and in that of Ashurbani-pal nearby, he also discovered two
libraries containing more than 25,000 clay tablets or books inscribed in
the wedge-shaped characters of the time. These revealed in detail not
ac
VO)
ven
acto
rev
[ 83 ]



Aerial View of Al-Ukhaidir Palace
for many months. It seems that these Sumerian notables were not only
buried with all their personal finery and possessions but were accompa-
nied to the grave by a great retinue of guards and male or female
attendants, fully equipped and dressed in ritual ornament, who in their
turn became human sacrifices to the after-world comfort of their mas-
ters. Many of the most famous treasures of the Iraq museum are from
this source. Weapons and vessels of finely-chased gold or silver, elaborate
personal ornament of lapislazuli, crystal and cornelians, musical instru-
ments, gaming-boards, toilet sets and the marvelous golden wig-helmet
of a Sumerian prince all testifying the splendor of these ancient courts
and the advanced craftsmanship of the Sumerian people. As we have
said many other archaeologists followed in Woolley's footsteps and
mounds in all parts of the country contributed a striking variety of
antiquities from the strangely modern-looking sculpture of the southern
sites to the exquisite painted pottery of the northern cultures, dating
from four thousand years before Christ.
The third chapter in our story has hardly begun. The outbreak
of World War II put an end to the activities of our foreign visitors,
and the Iraqi Department of Antiquities alone was left to preserve the
continuity of archaeological research in the country. Fortunately as a
result of long-term technical training the young Department was now
well equipped in this respect and an enlightened treasury did not find
it necessary to curtail the sum budgeted for excavation. It has conse-
quently proved possible in the past five years for work of this character
[ 86 ]


to be undertaken at five carefully chosen sites and the results have in
almost all cases been sensational. The now-famous “Painted Temple”
at ’Uqair with its remarkable pre-historic frescoes, the Treasure Cham-
ber and vaulted wine-cellar of King Kurigalzu at Aqer Quf with its
Kassite inscriptions, and the stone-age settlement of the first Iraqi
farmers at Tell Hassuna all represent notable pieces of research, and
have added a new section of exhibits to the Iraq Museum. In the Islamic
field the discovery of Al Hajjaj's palace and mosque at Wasit and the
Abbasid Mansions of Samarra have both produced interesting
publications.
Furthermore in Baghdad the Iraq Museum no longer stands alone.
The restored Abbasid Palace and the Khan Mirjan house a fine col-
lection of Arab antiquities. The Mediaeval city gate known as Bab al
Wastani is now rebuilt as a Museum of Arms. At South Gate there is
a museum of National Costumes and a Memorial Exhibition to the
late King Faisal I. Connected with these is the beginnings of a National
Gallery of Modern Art. Finally both Babylon and Samarra have small
local museums containing plans, photographs and scale-models of the
principal buildings found there.
[87]


XVI
HEALTH AND MEDICINE
A thousand years ago there was nowhere more famous for its doc-
tors and schools of medicine than the land of the Two Rivers. In the
hospitals of Baghdad, Rhazes and Avicenna taught and practiced, and
their influence for many centuries dominated the East and profoundly
effected medicine in the West. Then came the successive waves of
invaders—Mongols, Persians, Turks—and for six centuries Iraq lived
in a twilight of ignorance and neglect. Medical practice fell into the
hands of charlatans, plagues and famines periodically swept the land,
and when by the middle of the nineteenth century Iraq once more
opened relations with the outside world, travellers found only a
shrunken population, mostly diseased and living on the edge of
starvation.
It was Midhat Pasha, Turkish Governor of Baghdad and a great
reformer, who in 1872 built Iraq's first modern hospital, which still
stands in Baghdad on the west bank of the Tigris. Between this date
and the first World War medical progress was appallingly slow, although
one or two more hospitals were built, a few doctors who had been
trained abroad came to practice in Baghdad, and foreign medical mis-
sions established themselves in the main towns. But the Great War
swept away what was left of the Turkish system, and in its place the
beginnings of Iraq's modern health services were laid by the British
army of occupation. In 1920, when the first national cabinet was formed,
the military “Health Secretariat” was converted into a civil Directorate-
General of Health, under the Ministry of Health and Education. Now,
after various changes, the Directorate of Health forms part of the
Ministry of Social Affairs.
In less than a quarter of a century a nation-wide health organiza-
tion has been built up, almost from nothing. .
In each of the fourteen liwas there is now a Chief Health Officer,
directly responsible to the Director-General of Health in Baghdad, and
controlling all the hospitals, dispensaries, dressers, and so on in his own
ty
ar
nain
[88]


evo
area. In the qadhas (sub-divisions of the liwas) and some of the larger
nahyas (sub-divisions of the qadhas) there are also resident health
ollicers. It has to be admitted that there are still not nearly enough
health officials of all grades. Medical training is a long process, and
even before the war, when foreign countries were still accessible for
study, the rate of expansion in the health services was not fast enough
to fill Iraq's needs. For example, there are now 528 doctors in Iraq,
but accepting that one doctor for each 3,000 of the population is a
reasonable average, Iraq could still absorb another thousand.
The great majority of doctors in Iraq graduate from the College
of Medicine, which occupies a large tract of ground on the east ba
of the Tigris near the old North Gate. This College now includes
Schools of Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing and Midwifery, a School for
Health Officials, and a Teaching Hospital to which is attached a Nurs-
ing Home. There are twenty professorial chairs in the College, filled
by Iraqi, British and Egyptian specialists. Even in its present enlarged
form the Teaching Hospital cannot cope with all the students who wish
to enter it. Since the war began about 300 boys and 30 girls have applied
each year for admission, but there have only been vacancies for between
50 and 70. Before the war there was a steady stream of students going
to the American University of Beirut and to Europe to complete their
training, and an average of about two graduates a year used to go to
America, Britain or France to take specialist courses.
n av
The Schools of Pharmacy, Nursing and Midwifery, and the School
for Health Officials, are almost as hard pressed as the School of Medi-
cine. In some outlying parts of the country it is rare for even one of
these junior officials to be seen, and although mobile dispensaries, the
first few of which are already in service, will do something to fill the
gap, they should be ideally used to supplement and not replace resident
doctors.
In the past few years the authorities have been paying increased
attention to Preventive Medicine. In 1941 a separate Directorate of
Preventive Medicine was set up, with its own budget, staff and labora-
tories. Its headquarters are in Baghdad but it has seven specialist doctors
working in the provinces. In Baghdad research work is carried on
against the main scourges of the country—malaria, hookworm (anky-
lostomiasis), bilharziarsis, trachoma and other eye diseases, and tubercu-
losis. There is also a Pasteur Institute where in 1939 more than 500
people received treatment for rabies.
[ 89 ]


It is only through vigorous preventive measures that the country
will be rid of its endemic disease. The problem of malaria is of such
vital importance to Iraq that a separate chapter has been devoted to it,
but some of the other diseases most frequently met with deserve a word
of explanation.
Hookworm and Bilharziarsis are both diseases caused by worms
which live in the human body. The hookworm parasite lives in mud
or muddy water and burrows into the body, often through the feet of
the peasants who still in most parts of the country walk about bare-
footed. The effects of hookworm are not easily noticed, and by no means
always produce serious results, but it causes a great deal of anaemia and
weakness and may render other diseases more dangerous. Moreover, a
survey carried out by the Royal Hospital at Baghdad in 1926 showed
that probably as much as one-third of the population of Iraq was suffer-
ing from the disease.
Bilharziarsis is a more serious disease, and in some parts of the
country, particularly the rice-growing areas, even more widespread than
hookworm. Like the hookworm, the bilharzia parasite lives part of
its life in the human body and part in water, but to complete its cycle
of development it must enter the body of certain small snails and
molluscs which are found in the streams and irrigation channels of
Iraq. The disease is not a fatal one, but it is prolonged, and even more
debilitating in its effects than hookworm.
Trachoma is the eye disease most commonly met with in Iraq. It
is a very contagious conjunctivitis, and can be cured if treated early,
but if neglected it will cause blindness.
All these diseases, as well as tuberculosis, venereal disease, and
others which are common to Iraq and the West, can be eliminated or
reduced in their effects. But it will not be an easy battle. In the first
place, the fact that nearly three-quarters of the population of Iraq are
peasants scattered through innumerable villages and small settlements,
another twenty per cent are nomads, means that any form of control
is not easy to enforce. The cooperation of the people, in the towns as
well as in the country, must first be enlisted, and this is clearly not a
matter which can be tackled by the Directorate of Health alone. Pov-
erty and ignorance are, in Iraq as in any other country, the most usual
parents of disease, and they can only be removed when there is a general
rise in the standard of living of all classes and a general spread of
education.
IS
ise
Om
ene
WIN
[90]


XVII
ARCHITECTURE AND
TOWN-PLANNING
The Mongol invasion in the thirteenth century and the seven hun-
dred years of war, flood and general insecurity which followed were
reflected in the appearance of Iraq's cities at the beginning of the
present century. The capital, Baghdad, had shrunk to the dimensions
of a small Arab market-town whose twisting lanes and rickety houses
covered scarcely more than half the space enclosed by the dilapidated
remains of its mediaeval walls. In the villages peasants built themselves
houses of mud and reeds, identical with those of their Sumerian
ancestors. Such ancient buildings as had survived throughout the
country were in a ruinous state and of the magnificent edifices of the
Abbasid Caliphs hardly a brick remained standing upon another.
With the birth of the new State after World War I an intensive
campaign of building and public works was undertaken to remedy this
state of affairs, and its astonishing progress may be judged from a glance
at the country today. The capital itself has been transformed almost
beyond recognition, conforming always to a broad and imaginative
scheme of planning. Cautious clearances have been made in the old
city avoiding interference with historic buildings in order to open up
new traffic arteries with central squares at their intersections. From its
fringes flower-lined boulevards lead to distant suburbs along the river
bank, where a new style of private residence is to be seen, standing in a
pleasant garden and adapting the local brickwork to the requirements
of climatic extremes. Elsewhere problems of overcrowding and defective
sanitation, the heritage of so many eastern towns from the past, are
being seriously tackled and experiments made with new types of
working-class houses. New schools, hospitals and many other public
institutions are springing up at a great pace, built and equipped in a
modern manner. During the war years great ingenuity has been used
in substituting local materials for expensive imports. Amongst the not
able modern buildings which dominate the outlying districts of the
city is the mausoleum which lends dignity to the resting-place of King
Faisal I, founder of the modern State. An outstanding example of the
fine tradition of Arab ornament adapted to the functional character
of a modern building is to be seen in the group including a city-hall and
wa
I
[94]



TOBO
TO
Sepulchre of Musa Al Kadhim
[96]



Mosque of Al Kadhimain
[ 97 ]


XVIII
THE IRAQ ARMY
al
Sa
When King Husein joined the Allies in 1916 and declared war on
the Ottoman Empire in accordance with the Anglo-Arab Treaty, many
Iraqi nationalists made the long and dangerous journey from Baghdad
or Istanbul to join the newly-formed Arab army in the Hejaz. Iraq
officers who had previously served in the Turkish army and who had
graduated from Military or Staff Colleges in Istanbul became the mili-
tary leaders of the Arab Revolt under the command of the Emir Faisal.
Thus when the Kingdom of Iraq was established in 1921 and a national
army was formed, a nucleus of trained officers was available.
The force made a modest beginning with one infantry battalion
and one mountain battery. A British Military Mission was attached to
provide technical advice and assist its gradual expansion. Later military
colleges were established where young men who had completed their
secondary education received a two years' training course. In 1928 a
staff college was started and technical military schools for small arms,
mountain and desert warfare, etc., provided specialized training for the
young army. At the same time a flying training school was established
in Baghdad and several air squadrons were formed. A growing number
of qualified officers were now also sent abroad, at first to Great Britain
and India and recently to the Middle East centers for further
specialization.
By 1932 the Iraq Army included all the essential services of a
modern army, and ordnance factories for small arms and munitions
were established. Finally, with the introduction of conscription in 1935
the total strength reached several divisions.
Until World War II, the main duties of the army have been con-
fined to policing the tribal areas of the country both in the desert and
mountainous regions and to guarding the frontiers. On the outbreak
of World War II precautions were taken to protect natural communica-
tions including the strict patrolling of the waters around Basra against
mine-laying. Axis planes had extended their activities to that region
[99]



The Royal Guard
[ 100 ]


rea
cars and wireless has made their task easier, but they are still handi-
capped, as are the police in the mountain areas of the North, by the
fact that the political boundaries often cut across territories occupied
by nomadic tribes. Finally, as a reserve, there is a mobile police force
consisting of mounted, foot and motor police, complete with mobile
radio and signalling units, and trained on military lines. This consti-
tutes a balanced force available to reinforce the liwa police in an
emergency.
One of the most interesting and effective branches of the force
has proved to be the Finger Print Bureau, which is run as a branch of
the C. I. D. The bureau is in touch with similar departments in other
countries, and its effect has been to impress potential and actual crimi-
nals with the far-reaching hand of the police system.
Recruiting for all the police forces is entirely on the voluntary
system. After he has been accepted the recruit goes to an Other Ranks
School where he receives his elementary training. For higher ranks in
the force there are additional schools at which cadet mufawwadhs have
a course of two and cadet officers a course of three years' training.
[ 103 ]


Among major works carried out by the port technicians have been:
(a) Construction of two deep-sea berths.
(b) Construction of berths for discharge of lighters.
(c) Surfacing of areas for storage purposes.
(d) Erection of additional quay cranes.
AIR COMMUNICATIONS. All Iraq's air communication facili-
ties such as airports, landing fields, hangars, workshops and equipment,
have been handed over to the Allied military forces for their exclu-
sive use.
IRRIGATION. Flood control: The Department of Irrigation has
had to give full protection to the country's strategic communications,
to the large areas occupied by the armies of the United Nations and to
numerous storage installations housing valuable stocks of war materials.
The building and reinforcing of river bunds and other protective earth-
works such as diversionary outlets, sluices and gateways has necessitated
2 50 per cent increase in the department's engineering staff and an
increase of over 400 per cent in its labor force. The available stocks of
building material, originally intended for the expansion of irrigation,
in accordance with Iraq's plan for economic development, have been
used almost entirely for military purposes.
Canal construction: To promote production of foodstuffs, the gov-
ernment has had to hasten the completion of canals which were under
construction and to open new ones with the object of increasing the
arable areas by about 30 per cent.
Clearance of silt: Before the war, individual farmers were respon-
sible for the clearance of silt from canals passing through their lands,
but now all irrigation canals are being dredged by the government at
its own expense. This has been done for the double purpose of keeping
farm labor at its productive occupations and to insure an even flow of
water so as to irrigate all available land. The department of irriga
has had to meet these very costly undertakings from government funds.
AGRICULTURE. Though essentially an agricultural country,
Iraq has had to increase its yearly exports of foodstuffs so as to relieve
the food supply crisis faced by the United Nations in the Middle East.
The following steps have been taken:
(a) Control of foodstuffs at their source of production and govern-
ment requisitioning of all agricultural products at fixed prices.
anca
a
C
[106]


XXI
IRAQ AND POST-WAR
RECONSTRUCTION
Iraq's post-war reconstruction projects have been inspired by a
desire to raise the standard of living of the population, and so satisfy
ihe widely felt urge to ensure a fair share of the fruits of progress to all.
It is, moreover, generally realized that national policies, both in their
internal and in their external aspects, should fit in with the spirit of
the new age, with its implications of dynamic social and economic ad-
vances and international cooperation. The government and people of
Iraq are conscious of the colossal task which a policy of reconstruction
involves and they are prepared to pay the price.
To the Iraqi Government, raising the standard of living of the
people is not only a question of more and better food, or even more
material goods, but also of better housing, health services, education,
public services, and anything else which will ultimately lead to a fuller
life. To approach the problem of reconstruction by way of the standard
of living of the mass of the community, has its special value at present.
It is in harmony with the peace aims of the United Nations which are
mainly directed towards human welfare and material well-being. Any
government having this end in view must devote much of its energy
and time to bringing about successive orderly changes in the economic
structure of the State. Since the entry of the U. S. A. into the war Iraq
has taken a keen interest in the various economic and social conferences
which have been held in America, the Middle East and elsewhere, and
in the decisions reached at them. Iraq's attitude has not been confined
to observing international events; it has attempted in its small field of
action to promote a policy of direct assistance towards an Allied Victory.
In order that this collaboration should be of lasting benefit, the govern-
ment's plan is to carry the economic and social principles of the Atlantic
Charter and decisions of the Hot Springs Conference into effect.
A committee for reconstruction has been constituted and plans are
being considered by each department. Though these plans are still in
[ 109 ]


eas
their early stages, their cumulative effect will be considerable. The prob-
lem will be tackled from an agricultural point of view, since seventy-
five percent of the population of Iraq depends on agriculture for its
living, and national economy of the country is, therefore, based on agri-
cultural production. Any, improvement in agricultural methods would
make more food available and then lead to better nutrition for all.
Partial mechanization of agriculture is already increasing the produc-
tiveness of the land and so helping to fill the gap caused by a shortage
in agricultural labor and the use of antiquated farm implements. More-
over, wide areas of uncultivated land will be put into production. The
individual peasant will have more land to cultivate and his share in the
final produce will increase manifold. The government intends to en-
courage the small-holding system which allows the small farmer more
independence. Riverain water, which is abundant in the country, will
be economically utilized and will be brought to distant farms by means
of new irrigation channels and more water pumps.
For this purpose new irrigation schemes are being worked out.
Most considerable of these is the Bekhme Dam scheme in the North
which, when completed, will store up much of the Tigris water which at
present reaches the sea without being used and will protect towns and
villages lower down the river from the danger of floods. A similar form
of control for the waters of the Euphrates is envisaged in the Habbaniya
reservoir scheme. A third reservoir, for the Diyala river, is being con-
sidered, and a barrage on the Euphrates near Falluja has also been
proposed. All these schemes are intended to put available water to
greater use, and to solve the complicated problem of tribalism by set-
tling the still nomadic tribes of Iraq on cultivable land. In general
farmers will be encouraged to improve their conditions of life and work
by the building of modern villages where houses, schools, hospitals, and
recreation ground will be made available through State money and
effort.
Cooperative societies, legislation for which has already been passed,
are to be established through government guidance and finance, which
will afford both producers and consumers a better value for their
money.
Endemic disease is to be fought by prevention and treatment.
Special health centers are already being established although their
capacity at the moment is limited by the medicine, equipment, and staff
available. These obstacles will, however, be removed after the war. It
[.110 ]


Iev
is clearly realized that disease must be eliminated before the output of
labor can be increased or the population begin to rise. The health of
the people will not only be improved by making health institutions
accessible to everybody, but also by better nutrition which implies grow-
ing plenty of the right kind of food. Plans have already been made for
improving the breed of livestock and modernizing the fishing industry.
Roads and railways will be expanded to link all parts of Iraq with
each other, and to shorten the distance between the producer and home
and foreign markets. The project of extending the railway from Kirkuk
to Erbil will make it easier for Kurdish producers to reach the central
markets of the South. The projected railway link between Baghdad and
Haifa would open a new and direct route to the Mediterranean which
would considerably help the expansion of Iraq's commerce.
Last but not least, it is fully realized that unless the purchasing
power of the rural population is appreciably raised other professions,
handicrafts, and industries, can never greatly advance. By increasing
the purchasing power of the farmer new internal markets will be
opened for industrial products, and consequently the standard of living
of townsmen, workers, and others will automatically go up.
Attention is also being paid to the town laborers. Their conditions
of work and living are being gradually ameliorated; fair living wages
and permanent employment are being maintained through government
public works; more facilities for technical training are being planned
through new schools and training centers; child labor will be completely
eliminated when enough schools are established; the protection
women workers will be made effective; workers' housing schemes will
be wholly financed by the State. Freedom of association which is guar-
anteed by the Labor Law, will be encouraged with a view to making
trade unions healthy social institutions.
Iraq is looking ahead and planning a new and fuller life for every-
body. In this it will be helping in winning the battle for peace and
prosperity.
e
COL
[111]


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LONGRIGG (S. H.): Four Centuries of Modern Iraq. (Oxford, 1925).
LUKE (H. C.): Mosul and its Minorities. (London, 1925).
LYELL (Thomas): The Ins and Outs of Mesopotamia. (London, 1923).
MacDONALD ( A. D.): Euphrates Exile. (London, 1936).
MAIN (Ernest): Iraq from Mandate to Independence. (London, 1935).
MOBERLY (F. J.): The Campaign in Mesopotamia 1914-1918. (4 volumes,
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MONROE (Paul): Report of the Educational Inquiry Commission. (Baghdad,
1923).
SOMERSET DE CHAIR: The Golden Carpet: Personal Diary of Experiences
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STARK (Freya): Chapter on Iraq in Islam Today. (London, 1943).
STEVENS (E. S.): Folk-Tales of Iraq. (Oxford, 1931).
SWAYNE (M.): In Mesopotamia. (London, 1918).
THOMAS (Bertram): The Arabs. (London, 1937).
TOWNSHEND (C. V.): My Campaign in Mesopotamia. (London, 1920).
WIGRAM (Rev. W. A.): The Assyrians and their Neighbours. (London, 1929).
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WILSON (Sir A. T.): The Persian Gulf. (Oxford, 1928).
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AINSWORTH (W. F.): A Personal Narrative of the Euphrates Expedition
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BELL (G. L.): Amurath to Amurath (London, 1911).
BLUNT (Lady A.): Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates (2 volumes, London, 1879).
BUCKINGHAM (J. S.): Travels in Mesopotamia (London, 1827).
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BUDGE (Sir E. A. W.): By Nile and Tigris (2 volumes, London, 1920).
CANDLER (E.): The Long Road to Baghdad (London, 1919).
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FRASER (J. B.): Mesopotamia and Assyria (New York, 1865).
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GEERE (H. V.): By Nile and Euphrates (Edinburgh, 1904).
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HAMILTON (A. M.): Road through Kurdistan (London, 1937).
HAY (W. R.): Two Years in Kurdistan (London, 1921).
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JEBB (L.): By Desert Ways to Baghdad (London, 1909).
JONES (James Felix): Memoirs (Bombay, 1857).
KEPPEL (G.): Personal Narrative of a Journey from India to England via
Bussorah, Baghdad, the Ruins of Babylon, Curdistan, the Court of Persia
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KER PORTER (Sir Robert): Travels in Georgia, Persia, Armenia, Ancient
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PEARSON (L. T.): Through the Land of Babylonia (London, n.d.).
PETERS (J. D.): Nippur–or Explorations and Adventures on the Euphrates
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RASSAM (H.): Asshur and the Land of Nimrod (New York, 1897).
RICH (C. J.): Narrative of a Journey to the Site of Babylon in 1811 (London,
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Nineveh (2 volumes, London, 1836).
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STARK (Freya): Baghdad Sketches (London, 1939).
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USSHER (John): A Journey from London to Persepolis—including Wanderings
in Dagheston, Georgia, Armenia, Kurdistan, Mesopotamia and Persia (Lon.
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WARFIELD (W.): The Gate of Asia. A Journey from the Persian Gulf to the
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WEBB (FaCa): Up the Tigris to Baghdad (London, 1870).
WIGRAM (W. A. & Sir E.): The Cradle of Mankind (London, 1936).
MANDAEANS
DROWER (E. S.): The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran (Oxford, 1937).
SWEMER (S. M.): The Star-Worshippers of Mesopotamia (London, n.d.).
YEZIDIS
DROWER (E. S.): Peacock Angel. (Being some account of Votaries of a Secret
Cult and their Sanctuaries) (London, 1941).
EMPSON (R. H. W.): The Cult of the Peacock Angel. (A short account of the
Yezidi Tribes of Kurdistan) (London, 1928).
BAGHDAD
ALEXANDER (C. M.): Baghdad in Bygone Days (London, 1928).
COKE (R.): Baghdad the City of Peace (London, 1935).
LE STRANGE (Guy): Baghdad during the Abbasid Caliphate (Oxford, 1924).
LEVY (R.): A Baghdad Chronicle (Cambridge, 1929).
ISLAMIC PERIOD
BELL (G. L.): Palace and Mosque at Ukhaidir (Oxford, 1914).
BOWEN (H.): The Life and Times of “Ali ibn Isa" the Good Vizier (Cam-
bridge, 1928).
BUCKLER (F. W.): Harun' Al-Rashid and Charles the Great (Cambridge,
Massachusetts, 1931).
CRESWELL (K. A. C.): Early Muslim Architecture (2 volumes, Oxford, 1932-
1940).
DIRECTORATE OF ANTIQUITIES, IRAQ: Excavations at Samarra 1936-
1939 (2 volumes, Baghdad, 1940).
DIRECTORATE OF ANTIQUITIES, IRAQ: Harba Bridge (Baghdad, 1935).
DIRECTORATE OF ANTIQUITIES, IRAQ: Remains of the Abbasid Palace
in the Baghdad Citadel (Baghdad, 1935).
HITTI (P. K.): A History of the Arabs (London, 1940).
LE STRANGE (G.): Description of Mesopotamia and Baghdad—written about
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LE STRANGE (G.): Lands of the Eastern Caliphate (Cambridge, 1905).
MARGOLIOUTH (D. S.): The Table-Talk of a Mesopotamian Judge (2 vol-
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PALMER (E. H.): Haroun Alraschid Caliph of Baghdad (London, 1881).
[115]


HISTORY (I)
(SELECT LIST)
BAIKIE (J.): The Glamour of Near East Excavation (London, 1927).
BANKS (E. J.): Bismya (New York, 1912).
BEVAN (E.): The Land of the Two Rivers (London, 1918).
BREASTED (J. H.): Ancient Times. A History of the Early World (Chicago,
1916).
BRITISH MUSEUM: The Babylonian Legends of the Creation and the Fight
between Bel and the Dragon (London, 1931).
BRITISH MUSEUM: A Guide to the Babylonian and Assyrian Antiquities
(London, 1922).
BUDGE (Sir E. A. W.): The Rise and Progress of Assyriology (London, 1925).
CAMBRIDGE ANCIENT HISTORY: (Volumes 1-3, Cambridge, 1923-1925).
CARLETON (P.): Buried Empires: the Earliest Civilizations of the Middle
East (London, 1939).
CHIERA (E.): They Wrote on Clay; the Babylonian Tablets Speak Today
(Cambridge, 1939).
CHILDE (G.): New Light on the Most Ancient East (London, 1934).
CRAIG (J. A.): History of Babylonia and Assyria (New York, 1907).
DAICHES (S.): The Jews in Babylonia (1910).
DELOUGAZ (P.) and LLOYD (Seton): Pre-Sargonid Temples in the Diyala
Region (Chicago, 1942).
DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF ANTIQUITIES: A Guide to the Iraq
Museum Collections (Baghdad, 1942).
EDWARDS (C.): The Hammurabi Code (London, 1921).
FRANKFORT (H.): Archaeology and the Sumerian Problem (Chicago, 1932).
FRANKFORT (H.): Jacobsen (Th.) and Preusser (c.): Excavations of the
Oriental Institute at Tell Asmar, Khafaje and Khorsabad (5 volumes, Chi-
cago, 1932-1936).
FRANKFORT (H.): Lloyd (S.) and Jacobsen (Th.): The Gimilsin Temple and
the Palace of the Rulers at Tell Asmar (Chicago, 1940).
FRANKFORT (H.): More Sculpture from the Diyala Region (Chicago, 1943).
FRANKFORT (H.): Sculpture of the Third Millennium B. C. from Tell Asmar
and Khafajah (Chicago, 1939).
GADD (C. J.): Early Dynasties of Sumer and Akkad (London, 1921).
GADD (C. J.): The Stones of Assyria (London, 1936).
HALL (H. R.): Ancient History of the Near East (London, 1936).
HALL (H. R.): Babylonian and Assyrian Sculpture in the British Museum
(Paris, 1928).
HALL (H. R.): The Discoveries of Tell el-'Obeid in Southern Babylonia, and
some Egyptian Comparisons (1922).
HALL (H. R.) and WOOLLEY (C. L.): Ur Excavations: Volume I: Al-'Ubaid
(Oxford, 1927).
HANDCOCK (P. S. P.): Mesopotamian Archaeology (London, 1912).
HARCOURT-SMITH (S.): Babylonian Art (New York, 1928).
HARPER (R. F.): Assyrian and Babylonian Literature. Selected Translations
(New York, 1901).
[116]


ANCIENT
HILPRECHT (H. V.): The Excavations in Assyria and Babylonia (Philadelphia,
1904).
JACOBSEN (Th.) and LLOYD (Seton): Sennacherib's Aqueduct at Jerwan
(Chicago, 1935).
JASTROW (M.): The Civilization of Babylonia and Assyria (Philadelphia,
1913).
JASTROW (M.): Hebrew and Babylonian Traditions (New York, 1914).
JASTROW (M.): Religion of Babylonia and Assyria (New York, 1898).
JASTROW (M.): Die Religion Babyloniens (Giessen, 1905-1912).
KING (L. W.): A History of Babylon (London, 1915).
KING (L. W.): A History of Sumer and Akkad (London, 1910).
KING (L. W.): Legend of Babylon and Egypt (Oxford, 1916).
LANE (W. H.): Babylonian Problems (London, 1923).
LANGDON (S.): The Babylonian Epic of Creation (Oxford, 1923).
LANGDON (S.) and WATELIN (L. C. H.): Excavations at Kish (7 volumes,
Paris, 1924-1934).
LAYARD (A. H.): Monuments of Nineveh (2 volumes, London, 1849-1853).
LLOYD (Seton): Iraq Government Soundings at Sinjar (Rep. from “Iraq,”
volume III, Part I, Spring, 1940).
LLOYD (Seton): Ruined Cities of Iraq (Oxford, 1942).
LLOYD (Seton): Some Ancient Sites in the Sinjar District (Rep. from "Iraq,”
volume I, Part II, Autumn 1938).
LLOYD (Seton) and SAFAR (Fuad): Tell 'Uqair: Excavations by the Iraq Gov-
ernment Directorate of Antiquities in 1940 and 1941.
LLOYD (Seton): Mesopotamia (London, 1936).
LLOYD (Seton): Twin Rivers; a Brief History of Iraq from the Earliest Times
to the Present Day (Oxford, 1943).
LOUD (G.) and ALTMAN (C. B.): Khoreahad (2 volumes, Chicago, 1936-
1938).
LUCKENBILL (D. W.): The Annals of Sennacherib (Chicago, 1924).
MACKAY (D.): The Ancient Cities of Iraq (London, 1926).
MALLOWAN (M. E. L.) and ROSE (J. C.): Excavations at Tall Arpachiyah
(London, 1935. “Iraq," volume II, Number 1).
OLMSTEAD (A. T.): History of Assyria (New York, 1923).
PEAKE (H.): The Flood—New Light on an Old Story (London, 1930).
RAWLINSON (G.): The Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World
(3 volumes, London, 1871).
RAWLINSON (G.): The Sixth Oriental Monarchy; or the Geography, History
and Antiquities of the Sasanian or New Persian Empire (London, 1876).
RICH (C. J.): Memoir on the Ruins of Babylon (London, 1818).
RICH (C. J.): Second Memoir (London, 1818).
ROSTOVTZEFF (M.): A History of the Ancient World (Oxford, 1930).
SAYCE (A. H.): Assyria-Its Princes, Priests and People (London, 1926).
SMITH (Sidney): Early History of Assyria (London, 1928).
SPEISER (E. A.): Excavations at Tepe Gawra (volume I, Philadelphia, 1935).
SPEISER (E. A.): Mesopotamian Origins (Philadelphia, 1930).
STARR (R. F. S.): Nuzi: Report on the Excavations at Yorgan Tepa Near
Kirkuk, Iraq (2 volumes, Harvard University Press, 1937-1939).
[117]