PREFACE
My work on Nuri was written after my retirement from the Foreign Service. It is based largely on my personal notes and recollections covering the four years I was ambassador to Iraq, 1954-58, and on talks with Iraqi and American friends of mine who knew Nuri and understood the situation in Iraq. It is in no sense an official publication. The views and observations appearing in it are my personal ones.
For some valuable information appearing in my study on Nuri and for helpful suggestions on its content and form I am especially indebted to Dr. Majid Khadduri, distinguished authority on the Middle East, formerly on the faculty of the Higher Teachers College and the Law College of Baghdad and later professor at The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and Director of Research at the Middle East Institute, Washington, D.C.; to Mr. Hermann Eilts, a Foreign Service officer who served with me in Iraq and who subsequently was assigned as Middle East specialist to the American Embassy, London; and to John Gatch, a Foreign Service officer who had also been a member of my staff in Iraq and who was later attached to the Office of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs of the State Department. Their help and encouragement made this work possible.
Waldemar J. Gallman Washington, D.C. 1963
Introduction
This is the story of Nuri al-Said as I came to know him through almost daily contact over a period of four years. My association with him began in the autumn of 1954, shortly after he became prime minister of Iraq for the thirteenth time. It continued until a few days before his violent death at the time of the Qasim military coup in the summer of 1958. The last four years of his life were crowded ones for him and crucial ones for Iraq and her neighbors.
Nuri himself, unfortunately, kept few records of his activities even when in office, and that was for most of his life. During the last years he was repeatedly urged by his intimates to write his memoirs. He half promised to do so but was too engrossed in the problems of the day to make a start. He left texts of his public speeches and statements, some scattered letters, and his short work, Arab Independence and Unity, better known as “The Fertile Crescent Plan.’’ Because of this dearth of material giving insight into his character, personality and views, I felt impelled to record my impressions of him as I observed him working during his last years on the problems critically affecting Iraq and her neighbors. My story covers only a brief portion of his life. Even so, I hope ...
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