Page 254 - Life of Gertrude Bell

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GERTRUDE BELL
position in Iraq is unsupported by physical force. One cannot
but admire, however, the dogged and uncomplaining resolu­
tion with which the Turkish civil bureaucracy and skeleton
army persist in their impossible tasks ... ’

Such a survey of the past would seem to hold signal warnings for
those who came in succession to the Turks.
‘No sooner had Sayid Talib left to meet Sir Percy than all the
undercurrent of hostility to him began to come to the surface/
she wrote on October 10th, 1920. ‘Sir Percy is bringing S. Talib
back with him and Baghdad is muttering grimly at the joint
arrival/ She went on to attack criticisms of British policy in the
home Press; criticisms which arose primarily from the vast and
increasing cost of die occupation to the taxpayer, over £20 million
a year at a time of grave economic difficulty. ‘On die whole the
English papers write egregious nonsense in detail —such as, for
instance, that the management of Arab affairs has gone wrong
ever since the death of Maude! — Maude! anyone more totally re­
moved from the remotest idea of self-government in Asia it would
be impossible to conceive ... One of the papers says, quite rightly,
that we had promised an Arab Government with Bridsh advisers.
Let us now turn to anodier mandated province—Palestine. The
same general principles should apply there as here, it seems to me;
yet within the last two mondis Herbert Samuel has established in
Palestine proper, exactly what has borne sway here, a British
Government with native advisers. He does it because any sort of
native institution of a really independent kind ... would reject
Zionism—but isn’t that a sufficient condemnation of Zionism?’
Cox had brought with him Sir Colin Garbett as his chief secre­
tary and Philby who was to act as adviser to the Minister of the
Interior in a provisional government. Sir Percy lost no time in
putting the plans formulated in Whitehall to the Administrative
Council. An Arab government under the presidency of die Naqib,
and the withdrawal of practically all land forces and their replace­
ment by Air Force reinforcements with Air Vice-Marshal Sir
John Salmond taking over the command of defence forces, was
the gist of the plan. At this point Gertrude and Philby took virtual
charge of the proceedings. ‘Sir Percy was interviewing Evelyn
Howell and Colonel Slater who are wholly concerned with
British ... personnel, matters which seem to me to be quite un­
important compared with the future of Mesopotamia ... ’ She and

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