Defence and Foreign Relations

It was early seen that independence, the ultimate goal of the Mandatory policy, would be a vain gift to Iraq unless she had the strength to hold it against all comers. By 1921 at Cairo the British Government had completed its consideration of this aspect of the question, and the decision was reached that until Iraq’s own national forces were ready to assume the burden in its entirety, Britain would undertake the defence of the country. At the same time it was decided, as a measure of economy, that the Royal Air Force should take over the responsibility from the Army. ¹ This was done as from October 1, 1922. In addition to sending out the Royal Air Force, Britain took over a small force of Levies, mostly Assyrians, organized on Indian Army lines. According to the Progress of Iraq it was decided not to embody this force in the new Iraqi army, because there was an insufficient supply of trained Iraqi officers immediately available to fill the higher ranks, and it was not the intention to ask British officers to exercise executive command in the Iraqi army. The decision thus to recruit and maintain the Levies, in addition to meeting these requirements, had the further merit of ensuring the existence within the country of a force loyal to Britain and possessing an efficiency and reliability that could be depended upon absolutely. The Levies—they latterly had become entirely Assyrian—were a splendid body of men and there was no trouble with them until the summer of 1932, when the prospect of Iraq’s independence in the autumn led them to make certain political demands, and numbers took advantage of the opportunity to leave the service. ² Since then the Levies, not now entirely Assyrian, have been reconstituted as aerodrome and other guards. They remain, however, British-officered and British-maintained, in effect a small but sturdy force of British infantry.