Page 211 - Life of Gertrude Bell

IRAQ *93
have no one but themselves to thank. We shall, I trust, make it a
centre of Arab civilisation and prosperity ... ’ She also told her
father that after the war she would seek permission to ‘do one bit
of real Arabian exploration*. By now she was Cox’s right arm, his
trusted Oriental Secretary and confidante, and she was the hub of
the Political Office’s relationship with the tribes and the notables
of the country. She described a visit to the military hospital at
Basra, where the matron Miss Jones showed her round and took
her to see wounded Turkish prisoners. T could have laughed and
wept for them—from Konia, from Angora, from Caesarea, some
from C’ple, and we talked of their homes and what fair country
they lay in ... Among the officers was an Arab of Baghdad, dying
poor boy ... [he] whispered painfully—the only question! News
of the Sharif. Was it true that his rebellion prospered, and were
we in agreement with him? ... ’
Baghdad was captured on March nth. Gertrude and other
Political Officers moved in the wake of the army to the capital
city. They travelled by troopship along the Tigris, setting out on
April 5 th. Cox was already in Baghdad, having entered with the
army to hear General Maude read his proclamation of deliverance
and of Britain’s support for Iraqi aspirations. She was able to step
ashore for an hour or two at Amara to meet Philby who was
A.P.O. there. Three days later they looked out on the battlefields
around Kut. ‘We stood on the bridge and traced the terrible
Sannaiyat lines which already are almost obliterated and will
soon be overgrown—no battlefields will bear fewer marks of war
than these Mesopotamian plains ... It seems almost incomprehen­
sible that as one looked across the level peaceful land, scattered
over with black Arab tents; for the Arabs are coming back to
their accustomed pastures and the sheep cover the river banks
along which the Turkish army fled a month ago.’ She soon settled
into her new office and home. She was disappointed with the first
house that was allocated to her and went out to find a place for
herself. With her undying love of flowers she was more concerned
with the garden than the abode and she found a ‘rose garden with
three summer-houses’ quite close to the Political Office. Within
days of her arrival, London was asking for signed articles from her
for propaganda purposes. Mesopotamia was in the news again,
this time for the encouraging fact that the Indian army had pro­
vided the first significant victory after a nightmare of reverses.
London intended to make the best of it and nobody was more