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At the end of July 1941, Hanbury Dawson-Shepherd, the Defence
Security Officer (DSO), released one of the most important security-
intelligence summaries to come from CICI, which provides a snapshot of
the first steps taken by the British occupying forces and the Iraqi govern-
ment to clean up the ‘mess’ that Iraq was in after the Gaylani interregnum.
It is a document that objectively measures the extent of the damage done
to the fragile polity of a young nation. It is also an assessment full of cau-
tious optimism that nevertheless warns against complacency. The slow-
down in the tempo of Axis subversive activity in Iraq was pronounced, but
care had to be taken not to be lulled into a sense of false security. Although
unquestionably on the decline, enemy activity was still much in evidence.
Even so, many factors had contributed to a healthier outlook; for the sake
of convenience, they were best divided into internal and external factors.^25
The government had taken steps to bring before the public by various
means a true account of the lamentable events leading up to the coup and
the May debacle. It had provided for the surveillance of persons respon-
sible for the dissemination of Axis propaganda and had created a ‘sixth
column’ as a counterpropaganda measure in coffee shops and other places
of public resort. It had taken steps to deal firmly with lawbreakers by
courts-martial, paying special attention to those concerned in the looting
and atrocities during the Farhud riots at the beginning of June and sub-
mitting some of the worst of these offenders to the ignominy of a public
hanging. It had suspended a number of government officials regardless of
grade for their participation in the May hostilities, with the result that
many of those who had so far escaped expulsion had temporarily, perhaps
indefinitely, renounced politics in preference to safeguarding their own
interests. Strict observation had been placed on clubs and societies in Iraq;
their members, believing discretion to be the better part of valour, had, for
the time being, suspended most of their activities. Strong government
action had been taken against the Hizb al-Haras al-Fida’i (Suicide Guard
Party), 11 of whose members had been arrested and were awaiting trial.
During July, active measures had been taken to expel a large number of
Palestinians and Syrians whose continued presence in Iraq constituted a
danger to the security of the state. Two hundred fifty-four Palestinians and
153 Syrians in possession of travel permits had been compelled to emi-
grate, leaving behind 60 Palestinians and 352 Syrians. Of the 60 Palestinians
who remained, 35 had been separated into four groups and ordered to
reside in specific districts for the purposes of surveillance. The Iraqi
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had instructed the local author-