Tenta: convertible car
Trammai: Iraqi colloquial term for tramway
Acknowledgments
THIS BOOK WOULD not have come to life without the help of many people, books, articles, photographs, letters and songs. It is simply not possible to thank you all, but I would like to give particular thanks to the following. Where I have quoted directly from a source I have included the page numbers on which the citation appears.
Verse 71 in Ali, A. Y. (tr.), The Holy Qu’ran (New York, 1987) appears on p. 196; Allaf, A. K., Baghdd al-Qadimah (Baghdad, 1960); Allaf, A. K., Qian Baghdad (Baghdad, 1969); Allawi, A.A., Tajjarub wa Dhikrayat (London, 1999); Jawahiri, ‘My Brother Jaafar’ in Badawi, M. M., A Critical Introduction to Arabic Poetry (Cambridge, 1975) appears on p. 231; Baghdadi, A., Baghdad fi al-‘Ishriniyat (Beirut, 1999); Barker, A. J., The Neglected War: Mesopotamia 1914–1918 (London, 1967); ‘1958 Revolution Proclamation No. 1’ in Battatu, H., The old social classes and the revolutionary movements of Iraq: a study of Iraq’s old landed and commercial classes and of its Communists, Ba’thists, and Free Officers (Princeton, 1978) appears on p. 265; Bell, G., The Letters of Gertrude Bell, 2 v. (London, 1927), p. 802; Bell, G., letters dated 8/7/1921 and 4/12/1922 reproduced on http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk appear on p. 115; Caractacus, Revolution in Iraq (London, 1959); Chicago Daily Tribune newspaper (15 July 1958); Chiha, H. K., La province de Bagdad: son passé, son présent, son avenir (Cairo, 1908); Cooper, A., Cairo during the War 1939–1945 (London, 1989); Christian Science Monitor (14 July 1958); Dakkash, Laure, ‘Amantu Billah’ (song) on YouTube apperas on p. 167; Dijlah newspaper (1921–1925); Falle, S., My Lucky Life (Sussex, 1996); Verses 42 & 84 in Fitzgerald, E., The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (Oxford, 1981); Gailani al Werr, L., ‘A Museum is Born’ in Polk, M., and Schuster, A. (eds), The Looting of the Iraq Museum (New York, 2005); Geniesse, J. F., Passionate Nomad: The Life of Freya Stark (London, 2000); British Colonial Office, ‘Report on Iraq administration’ (London, 1922); British Naval Intelligence Division, A Handbook of Mesopotamia 1916–1917, 4 v. (London, 1917); Haidar, R., Mudhakkirt Rustum Haidar (Beirut, 1988) appears on p. 9; Hassani, A. R., Tarikh al Wuzarat al Iraqiyya, 10 v. (Baghdad, 1988); Ireland, P., Iraq: A Politcal Study (London, 1937); Khalili, J., Mawsuat al-Atabat al-Muqadasah, vols 9–10 (Beirut, 1987); Kojaman, Y., The Contemporary Art Music of Iraq (London, 1978); LA Times newspaper (14 July 1958); Layla women’s monthly magazine (Baghdad, 1925); MacMillan, M., Peacemakers: The Paris Conference of 1919 and Its Attempt to End War (London, 2001); al-Mada newspaper (2003–2007); Madfa’i, Ilham, ‘Chalchal Alaya al-Rumana’ (song) on Ilham Madfa’i (2004) appears on p. 62; ‘Mali Shughul Bil Soug’ (Iraqi folk song), reproduced on http://www.ilhamalmadfai.com/lyrics.htm, appears on p. 69; Litvak, M., ‘Money, Religion, And Politics: The Oudh Bequest In Najaf And Karbala, 1850–1903’ in International Journal of Middle East Studies, 33:1:1–21 (Cambridge, 2001); Murrays’ Handbook for Travellers in Turkey and Asia (London, 1878); PRO BW 39/1; PRO E2515/1090/93; PRO E 6899/78/79; PRO FO 317/E6899/78/93; PRO FO 371/40014; PRO FO 371/34/98; PRO FO 371/5071, 5072, 5073, 5076, 5078, 5079, 6350, 6351, 6352, appears on p.p. 88–9; Faisal’s Coronation Speech recorded in Iraq Intelligence Report No. 19, 1 September 1921, in PRO 371/6353-W10532/100/93 p. 71, 6355, 133067, 133069, 133090, 134256; PRO FO 930/278; PRO FO481/1; PRO FO 624/1; PRO 624/30 appears on p. 107; ‘Proclamation of Lieutenant-General Sir Stanley Maude at Baghdad’, reproduced in http://www.harpers.org/archive/2003/05/0079593, appears on p. 65; MR97-269.5, US State Department; Qattan, A. R., Mudhakarat min Janub al-Iraq (London, 2005); National Geographic Magazine (December 1914, February 1916, April 1922); Qazwini, A. J., Tarikh al-Qazwini fi a’lam al musinin wal ma’rufin min a’lam al-Iraq wa ghayrahum, 1900–2000, 4 v. (Beirut); Rizk Khoury, D., The Ambiguities of the Modern: The Great War in the Memoirs and Poetry of the Iraqis (forthcoming); Rusafi, M., Al-Armalah al-Murdhi’a reproduced on http://www.aliraqi.org/forums/archive/index.php/t-55932.html appears on p. 34; al-Sabah newspaper (2004–2008); ‘Allahu Akbar’ (Sawt al-Arab song) reproduced on http://www.ebnmasr.net/forum/t90788.html appears on pp. 263–4; Qazzaz, Said, speech reproduced in al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper (17 March 2001) appears on pp. 312–3; Shahbandar, M., Dhikrayat Baghdadiya (London, 1993); Sheikh Ali, F., Mudhakarat Warithat al ‘Arsh (London, 2002); Lionel Smith Papers, GB165-0266 ALF Smith (St Antony’s College, Oxford); Stark, F., Dust in the Lion’s Paw (London, 1961); Stillman, N., The Jews of Arab Lands in Modern Times (Philadelphia, 1991); New York Times (14 & 17 July, 19 November 1958); Storrs, R., Orientations (London, 1945); Ta’i, J., Al-Zorkhana al-Baghdadiya (Baghdad, 1986); Time Magazine (17 June 1957); The Times newspaper (14, 15, 16 & 30 July 1958); Tripp, C., A History of Iraq (Cambridge, 2005); ‘Imnahu al Jad la al’abaya’ in Al-Uzri, A. H., Diwan al-Hajj Abdul Hussein al-Uzri (Beirut), p. 52 appears on p. 104; Wallach, J., Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia (London, 1997); al-Wardi, A., Lamhat Ijtima’yah min Tarikh al-Iraq, 6 v. (Beirut, 2005); Wall Street Journal newspaper (17 & 18 July 1958); Washington Post and Times Herald newspapers (16 June, 16, 17 & 30 July 1958); Wilson, J., Lawrence of Arabia (London, 1988); al-Yasin, M. H., Tarikh al-Kazimiya (Baghdad, 1970); Azzaman newspaper (2003–2007); Zubaida, S., ‘Entertainers in Baghdad 1900–1950’ in Rogan, E. (ed.), Outside In, On the Margins of the Modern Middle East (London, 2002); Zubaidi, F. (ed.), Baghdad min 1900–1934 (Baghdad, 1990).
I am grateful to many individuals in different parts of the world who gave me their time, knowledge and friendship. In no particular order, thank you to Lamia Gailani al-Werr, Abbas Kelidar, Sami Zubaida, Hala Fattah, Haitham Hadid, Abdul Razzaq al Safi, Tamara Daghistani, Nasser Saadoun, Louay Suwaidi, Salwa Suwaidi, Nibras Kazimi, Dina Risk Khoury, Betjullah Destani, Safa Killidar, the staff of the London Library, Ms. Debbie Usher of St. Antony's College archives, Lamys Araktingi, Muhammad Biyara, Silvia Kedourie, Fatima Mudamgha, Houchang Chehabi, Kevin Conroy-Scott, Muhammad Hassan al-Musawi, the archivist at Downing College, Cambridge, Ali Bahruluum, the late Hussein Ali Mahfouz, Fadhil Chalabi, Yiorgos Borovas, Jonathan Foreman, Assaad Eskandar and the staff of the Iraq National Library and Archives in Baghdad, Rima Osseiran, Megan Ring, Issam Ibrahim, Lauren Rizzo, Alex Selim. Special thanks to Hassan Mneimneh, Fabio D’Andrea, Amr Shalakany, Elif Uras, Michael Soussan, Terence Coleman, Joumane Chahine. A big thank you to Justine Hardy for her infinite wisdom and kindness and to Fouad Ajami for his unstinting support and encouragement. I would like to thank my sister Mariam for her unswerving encouragement, my father Ahmad, and my cousin Nadia Chalabi in particular, who indulged my idea for a book long before it became one and helped me in its early stages and shared with me her many insights and her memories.
At HarperCollins, I would like to thank Arabella Pike and Tim Duggan for commissioning the book, Annabel Wright, Robert Lacey and Sophie Goulden. I would like to thank Sue Lascelles for her wonderful support, Andrew Wille, Richard Kelly and Sarah O’Reilly. I would also like to thank my agent Elizabeth Sheinkman, and Jonny Geller and Felicity Blunt at Curtis Brown.
To several characters in this book who kindly recalled their histories in Iraq and elsewhere, I thank them for trusting me: my cousins Ghazi, Ali and Zina, Leila, Mahdi, Issam, Mohammad, Ali and Sarah, my great uncle Saleh, my uncles Jawad, Talal and Hazem. A special thank you to my aunts Thamina and Raifa, who walked me through their lives with enthusiasm, drawing on all details of their childhoods in the Deer Palace and their time in Iraq, from the furniture to the flowers, and answering every query I had, however farfetched. Finally, I would like to thank my uncle Hassan, who took this book very seriously and personally. He guided me through the labyrinth of Iraq’s history and the family’s with passion, patience and dedication. He held my hand every step of the way. It is to him that I dedicate this book, with love.
Searchable Terms
The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate
a specific passage, please use the search feature of your e-book reader.
9/11 375 Abbas, Sheikh 133
Abdiya, Princess 268
Abdul Ilah, Prince Regent
becomes Regent 191
flees to Transjordan 202–3
returns to Baghdad 205, 206–7
orders executions for treason 208, 234
relationship with Nuri Pasha 220–1, 258–9
dislike and unpopularity of 226–7, 247
and Anglo-Iraqi Treaty 229, 230
asks for money to be transferred offshore 259, 313
murder of 262, 264, 266, 268–9, 322
Abdul Wahab 166
Abizaid, Lieutenant General 378
Abu, Ahmad 186
Abu Ghraib prison 273, 309
Abu Hanifa shrine 197
Abu Muhammad 372–3, 374, 378
Abul Timman family 91
’Abussi, Abdul Sattar 268
Afnan, Sayyid Hussein 106
Agarguf 11
Agha Jaafar, Abdul Latif 237, 313
Agha Jaafar, Jaafar 295, 302
Agha Jaafar, Najla Chalabi 130, 150, 159
and the Eid festival 163, 165, 166
dislike of modernising ways 194
on holiday in Broumana 194
and death of Rumia 219–20
unwitting visit to the kallachiya 223, 225
and the military coup 277
children sent to London 295
arranges for food to be sent to Ahmad at school 304
attempted escape from Baghdad 309–11
difficult marriage of 343–4
exile in Britain 343–4
and death of Bibi 363–4
Agha Jaafar, Zeinab 295, 302
Akbar, Ali 130, 151–2, 205
Akhuwat-i-Iran 82–3
al Tai, Yunis 321–2
al-Abidin, Zein 115, 116, 151
al-Anfal campaign 361–2
al-Arab, Nabih al-Din 328–9
al-Arab, Shehab al-Din 328
al-Askari, Jaafar Pasha 139, 60
al-Bakr, Ahmed Hassan 346
al-Bassam, Aminah 55
al-Bassam, Fahima 42–3, 55, 61
al-Bassam, Kuku 235, 276, 295, 296, 326
al-Bassam, Leila 220, 252, 274, 295, 351, 352, 364, 385
al-Bassam, Mahdi 220, 252, 262, 264, 276, 302, 303
al-Bassam, Murtada 266, 274
al-Bassam, Rumia Kazimi (Postforoush)
family background 36
and choosing a husband for her daughter 37
description of 37, 62
meets her daughter’s future in-laws 40–4
arranges her daughter’s wedding day 44–5
and the mahir 46–50
and her daughter’s trousseau 50–2
and her daughter’s wedding 54, 55
worries about the Chalabis’ lifestyle 59–60
and British occupation of Baghdad 82, 83, 91
preparations for King Faisal’s visit 100–1, 103, 105
reassures Bibi on her fertility problems 108
and blindness of her grandson Hassan 123
visited by her grandchildren 161
known by the telephone operator 162
death of 219–20
makes pact with her friend Amira 361
al-Bassam, Saleh 195, 197–8, 201, 218, 247, 261–3, 273–4, 276
al-Bassam, Sayyid Hassan 36, 38–40
al-Duwayh, Rahim 126–7
al-Duwayh, Zahra 126–7, 131, 134, 244
al-Falaki, Adawiyah ‘Girl of the Bridge’ 230–1
al-Farun–Imad 185–6
al-Hakim, Sayyid Muhsin 362
al-Hashemi, Yassin 152–3
al-Hassani, Sayyid Muhammad Jawa al-Tag 179
al-Hayat 331
al-Husri, Sati’ 113–14, 116, 157, 183–4
al-Jawahiri, Jaafar 231
al-Jawahiri, Muhammad Mahdi 231
al-Karkhi, Mulla Abboud 141, 167, 224–5
al-Karmali, Pere Anastate 29
al-Kazim, Imam Musa 14, 155
al-Khalisi, Abdul Rasul (see also Khalisi, Sheik Mahdi) 290, 307
al-Lampachi, Dawud 224
al-Madfa’i, Ilham 69–70
al-Madfa’i, Jamil 152–3, 208
al-Majali, Abdul Wahab 367
al-Malaika, Nazik 251
al-Nayif, Abdel Razzaq 335
Al-Qotob, ‘the Pivot’ 40, 52, 269
al-Rashid, Haroun 14, 314
al-Sadr, Bint al-Hudda 351–2
al-Sadr, Sayyid Muhammad 84, 87, 91, 94, 231, 232, 333–4
al-Sadr, Sayyid Muhammad Baqir 351–2
al-Sadr, Sayyid Musa 335–7
al-Said, Nuri Pasha
relationship with Hadi 156
as Prime Minister 199, 200, 220–1
untenable position of 200–1
replaced by Rashid ’Ali 202–3
relationship with Prince Regent 220–1, 258
Communist vendetta 221, 253
rapport with Rushdi 226, 249
replaced by Saleh Jabr 229
and Arab–Israeli war 233
policies and plans 253–4
as official face of Iraqi politics 255
and the Suez crisis 257
takes refuge in Thamina’s house 264–6
and murder of his son 269
murder of 269–70
al-Said, Sabbah 269
al-Thawra 322
al-Tikriti, Barzan 348, 351
al-Uzri, Abdul Hussein 24–5, 29, 83, 104
al-Uzri, Amira 25, 30
al-Uzri, Issam 270, 271, 272, 286, 287
Ali (clerk) 133
Alia, Queen Mother 210
Allawi, Abdul Amir 219, 257, 266–7
Allawi, Ali 252, 276, 294–5
Allawi, Ghazi 220, 252, 276, 292, 293–4, 302, 303
Allawi, Jaafar 241
Allawi, Raifa Chalabi
memories of her mother 74–5
and the Baghdad markets 75–6
birth of 123, 124
fascinated by chandelier in the dining room 131
childhood of 149–50
and the Eid festival 163, 165
witnesses parental argument 173
shopping in Beirut 194
visits Cairo 218
marriage of 219
birth of children 220
and her mother’s charity-giving 244
and murder of Prince Regent 266
exile in London 313
dreams of Bibi 369
Allawi, Zina 73, 326–7
Alto, Alvaar 250
American University (Beirut) 122, 178, 337
Amir Abdullah 87
Amir, Umm Abdul (see also Istrabadi, Bibi) 300
Amira (friend of Rumia) 361
Amman 344, 366, 367
Anglo-Iraqi Treaty (1930) 147–8, 182, 202, 203, 229, 275
Anglo-Persian Oil Company 235
Arab Legion 232–3
Arab Revolt (1916) 87, 89
Arab–Israeli war (1967) 329
Arab–Israeli war (1948) 232–3
Arafat, Yassir 338
Arbil 373, 374, 376, 378
Arif, Abdul Salam 263, 265, 267, 278, 305, 322, 323
Arif Agha family 91
Arthur Andersen 368
Ashura festival xxviii, 78–9, 243, 279–80
Aswân Dam 257
Ayubi, Ali Jawdat 323
A’zamiya 197, 235–6, 241, 263, 277, 299, 320
Azerbaijan 36
Aziz (brother of Khalil the doorman) 341–2
Bab al-Mua’dham (Baghdad) 154
Bab al-Murad 4
Baban, Ahmad Mukhtar 323
Baban, Jamil 156
Babylon 380
Badiya, Princess 211, 261, 268
Baghdad
history of xxx–xxxi
attempts at modernization of 10–11
morale in 28
arrival of German military in 31–2
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br /> treatment of army deserters in 32
military casualties in 33
British occupation of 63–7, 77–84
beautiful memories of 74
markets in 75–6, 120, 161, 206
café culture in 79–80, 81–2
opposition to British rule 88, 91–2
King Faisal’s arrival at 102, 106–7
education in 113, 114
bustling streets of 142–4
unrest in 151–2, 154, 160, 191, 202–10
life and culture in 161, 166–7, 168, 169–72
nightlife 173–4
severe flooding of region 196
seized by Iraqi Army 202–3
Jews in 205–8
great uprising in 230–2
modernizing of 236–7, 245, 250–3
military coups in 260–9, 276–8, 300, 309–10, 312–13
and murder of the royal family 268–9
British Embassy attacked 274
Late for Tea at the Deer Palace: The Lost Dreams of My Iraqi Family Page 43
