© The Author(s) 2019 169
A. O’Sullivan, The Baghdad Set,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15183-6_8
CHAPTER 8
Six: His Britannic Majesty’s Secret
Intelligence Service
ISLD representatives in Middle East areas working parallel with those
of SIME were essentially collectors of intelligence rather than
investigators.
—Dick WhiteSo little is known of the activities and personnel of the Secret Intelligence
Service (SIS/MI6) in Iraq, where it went by its cover name of Inter-
Services Liaison Department (ISLD), that it is difficult to write a separate
chapter about it; consequently, this one will be concise. From the official
history of MI6 we can learn little more than the fact that Baghdad was the
smallest of the Middle East SIS stations, and that it was established in
March 1939.^1 The mysterious ‘Six’ is occasionally mentioned in the offi-
cial records, but seldom in more than a terse comment. Names are never
named; details are never given. Which is, of course, as things should be
with a secret service.
From unofficial sources, however, we know a little more, or we can at
least attempt the occasional reconstruction of events and personalities
with some accuracy and moderate speculation. To begin at the beginning,
Minutes and notes on the meeting of SIME representatives held at Beirut, 12–13
February 1943, KV 4/240, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey [TNA].