Review Gertrude Bell, The Letters of Gertrude Bell Volumes I and II, Benediction Books, 2009

Bell, Gertrude, The Letters of Gertrude Bell Volumes I and II, Benediction Books, 2009

 

The Letters of Gertrude Bell Volumes I and II collects together writings Ms Bell made to her family from 1874 until her death in 1926. It was put together and edited by her younger sister. Much of what Bell had to say was mundane such as commenting upon the hot weather in Iraq or asking for clothes to be sent from England. There are some insights into her strong character which set her apart from many of her contemporaries and her ideas about Iraq when it was formed by the British.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jun 13 Ayatollah Sistani called for men to defend Iraq after fall of Mosul to ISIS Led to Hashd al-Shaabi

 

1920 War Min Churchill wrote PM George that British army overextended in Mesopotamia

and asked whether UK should give up Mosul province because of costs

(Musings On Iraq How The Ottoman Province Of Mosul Became Part Of Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq Churchill In His Own Words On Mesopotamia/Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Churchill’s Folly, How Winston Churchill Created Modern Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Inventing Iraq: The Failure of Nation Building and a History Denied)

(Musings On Iraq review Supremacy And Oil, Iraq, Turkey, and the Anglo-American World Order, 1918-1930)

This Day In Iraqi History - Jun 12 ISIS massacred around 1200 cadets at Camp Speicher

1920 Protest in Karbala mosque calling for revolt vs British

(Musings On Iraq review Reclaiming Iraq, The 1920 Revolution and the Founding of the Modern State)

(Musings On Iraq review Enemy On The Euphrates, The Battle For Iraq 1914-1921)

Iraqi Govt Salaries Continue To Explode In Cost

The ruling parties in Iraq use government jobs as a way to battle unemployment and to maintain the support of their followers by handing out positions in their patronage networks. This has led to an explosion in the civil service which has become a major drain upon the budget. Al Mada recently reported on how much the public sector has dramatically increased.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jun 11 ISIS seized Tikrit without a fight

 

1925 Head of League of Nations Mosul Commission called King Faisal a “poor creature”

Baghdad Accuses Kurdistan Of Oil Smuggling As Dispute Between Two Widens

Baghdad and Irbil are in a new dispute over the latter signing two new natural gas deals. The central government has retaliated financially and verbally. The latest example was the Oil Ministry accusing the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of oil smuggling.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jun 10 Mosul fell to the Islamic State

1915 US consulate report Ottomans might have lost control of Najaf and Karbala and UK

money behind it