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of Iraq, if it does not exceed it: the rich sulfur mines extending over a distance of no less than three hundred kilometers in northern Iraq, besides other resources on the surface or buried underground.

For the sake of this vast, rich territory, whose wealth was among the chief reasons for the colonialists’ greed and scramble for it, the English made tremendous efforts to maintain their control over it after occupying it toward the end of the First World War. They used various means and methods, from direct English rule to a mandate, to a treaty, and so on (the names changed, but the aim remained the same).

From my arrival in Baghdad on the second of Ramadan 1358, corresponding to October 15, 1939, until my departure on the evening of May 29, 1941, a period of one year and seven and a half months, six cabinets governed Iraq.

Grave events occurred: the killing of the late Rustum Haydar, Minister of Finance, and the resignation of Nuri al-Said’s cabinet; the strife between two groups of army men; the formation of another al-Said cabinet, followed by the formation of the al-Kaylani cabinet; Italy’s entry into the war alongside Germany on June 10, 1940, and the resulting British pressure on Iraq to sever diplomatic relations with Italy and drag it into the war on its side (Britain’s side), and Iraq’s refusal; the journey of the Minister of Justice, Sayyid Naji Shawkat, to Ankara and his meeting with von Papen, Germany’s ambassador to Turkey; the conduct of Britain’s ambassador to Iraq, Sir Basil Newton, and his blatant interference on many occasions and in many circumstances; the crises stirred up by colonial hands to place the al-Kaylani cabinet in difficulty, the resignation of some of its members, and the fomenting of strife in the country, such as the Regent, Emir Abd al-Ilah, unexpectedly leaving Baghdad for al-Diwaniyya on January 30, 1941, followed by the resignation of the al-Kaylani cabinet because of the interference of foreign hands and interests, as stated in its resignation telegram to the Regent in al-Diwaniyya; the formation of Taha Pasha al-Hashimi’s cabinet, the continuation of British pressure and colonial intrigues, the attempt to replace the army commanders and change their posts, and the resignation of Taha al-Hashimi’s cabinet; the Regent’s departure from Baghdad (for a second time) on April 2, 1941, in a motorboat that took him to al-Dawra, then his transfer by car to Habbaniya, by plane to Basra, and from there to the armored warship “Kuk Shib” on April 4; and the formation of the National Defense Government under Sayyid al-Kaylani, which convened a meeting of the National Assembly on April 10, at which it was decided to appoint