ABSTRACT
Baghdad has come back to its old importance as the junction of the great roads to the East. Indeed, Britain’s interest in Iraq is largely, almost entirely, dictated by the necessity of keeping her Indian communications open. Now that flying has become a normal means of communication, and even of troop movements, now that motor transport has brought the journey across the Syrian Desert within a day’s compass, the Suez route has lost a certain amount of its value to Britain. At the same time, and by the same token, the old land routes between the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf via Baghdad are recovering their ancient importance which they enjoyed before the opening up of the Cape route to India.
