Book Review: Middle East: The Yemen
| Author | J. R. Blackburn |
| Date | 01 December 1964 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206401900440 |
| Published date | 01 December 1964 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BooK REviEws
593
other
instances
show how
Great
Britain
and
the
United
States
con-
stantly
let
down
the
one
great
Arab
leader
who
stood
for
legality,
moderation and
friendship
with
the
West.
When
they
provided
help,
it
was
too
little
and
too
late.
A
chapter
on
the
British
in
Iraq
gives
examples,
not
highly
important
perhaps,
of
dishonourable
meanness
on
their
part.
Equally
valuable
are
the
comments
on
Nuri's
internal
policies.
He
rightly
gave
priority
to
control
of
the
two
rivers,
and
without
his
insistence
the
great
dams which
now achieve
this
task
would
probably
not
be
standing.
Later
he switched
to
social
improvements,
but
was
impeded
by
the
Suez
and
other
crises. He
showed
persistent
concern
to
build
up
the Iraqi
armed
forces,
and
on
July
12, 1958,
when
Mr.
Gallman
last
met
him,
felt
complete
confidence
in
the
troops
who
were
to
kill
him
three
days
later.
He
overestimated
the
importance
of
tribal
sheikhs,
who
were
no
longer
the
powerful
men of
his
younger
days,
and
underestimated
the
urgency
of
the
need
for
land
reform-admittedly
a
very
difficult
problem in
Iraqi
conditions. He
kept
order
with
a firm
and
relatively
gentle
hand
and
showed
consideration
for the
Kurds,
but
suppressed political
parties
and
restricted
the
press.
Even
so
he
allowed
far
more
freedom
of
discussion
than
has
been
seen
under
sub-
sequent
Iraqi
and
other
Arab dictatorships.
He
did
not
bother
about
publicity
or
fully
explain
his
policies
to
the
Iraqi
and
Arab
masses.
He
never
wavered
in
his
loyalty
to
the
Hashimite
throne,
despite
incon-
siderate
treatment
by
the
ambitious
and
unpopular
Crown
Prince
Abdul
Ilah
(pp.
89-91).
After
Nuri's
death many Western
critics
hastened
to
say
that
his
policies
were
all
wrong.
Yet
Iraq
obviously
needs
internal
and
external
security, constructive
co-operation
with
the
West,
good
relations
with
neighbouring
Persia
and
Turkey,
and
some
sort
of
"Fertile
Crescent"
association
with
the adjacent
Arab
countries.
Mr.
Gallman
is
con-
vinced
that
Nuri
was
a
true
Iraqi
patriot
and Arab
nationalist,
and
be-
lieves
that
the Iraqis
will
one
day
erect
a
monument to him.
"To
des-
troy
is
easy.
To
build
is
difficult" (p.
218).
Those who
overthrew
and
killed
him
may
have
had
patriotic
and
reforming
emotions
also, but
they
have
lacked
a
traditionally
Muslim
virtue
which
Nuri
possessed,
and
that
is
magnanimity.
"To
those
with
whom
he
had
exchanged
blows
in
the
political
arena,
he
showed
no
bitterness.
He
carried no
grudges.
No
traces
of
meanness
or
pettiness
marred
his
mature
per-
sonality.
...
With
the
death
of
Nuri,
illiberal
as he
was
at
times
in
dealing
with
domestic
issues,
Iraq
lost
her
best leader towards
an
eventual
life
of
dignity
and
decency".
(p.
230).
Durham
University,
England
F.
R.
C.
BAGLEY
THE
YEMEN.
Imams, Rulers, and
Revolutions.
By
Harold
Ingrains.
1964.
(New
York:
Frederick
A.
Praeger.
Toronto:
Burns
&
Mac-
Eachern.
xi,
16
4
pp.
$5.00)
This
book,
which
treats
events
past
and
present
in
what
until
recently
was
"the
most
secluded
country
left
on
earth",
is
a
timely
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