67
(1913–1915), as an APA in Mesopotamia (1915–1917), and in southwest
Persia (1917–1918).
In the immediate aftermath of the interregnum, Edmonds was all too
aware that the British had to tread carefully and use a great deal of discre-
tion when ‘mopping up’ among the Iraqi army elements that had sup-
ported the Golden Square and the urban politicians who had backed
Rashid Ali. ‘It is always difficult to argue against the advocates of a “strong
policy”,’ he wrote to Cornwallis. ‘To do so seems to imply lethargic acqui-
escence in a weak one. But of course strength can manifest itself in differ-
ent ways. There is for instance the strength of a bull in a china shop, and
the strength of a boa-constrictor or a trained tame elephant.’ Great care
would be required for a time. In Iraq pan-Arab propaganda had hitherto
been closely connected with vicious anti-British agitation. It was like meat
which, while it might have undeniable nutritive and body-building value,
had owing to faulty cooking ruined the digestion of the eater. Iraq was
now engaged in spewing out these lumps of undigested matter. Edmonds
thought that ‘a spell of milk diet would be essential before Iraq could
again digest meat, however tender and well-cooked.’^9
Not surprisingly, the arrival of Stewart Perowne in Baghdad signified the
beginning of a new approach to embassy public relations and propaganda.
However, one should not assume, as some writers unfamiliar with the secret
services have done, that Perowne and his very able press officer Christopher
Holme^10 could not have achieved what they did without the support of a
talented team of propagandists that included Freya Stark, Adrian Bishop,
Seton Howard Frederick Lloyd (1902–1966), Edward C. ‘Teddy’ Hodgkin
(1913–2006), and others. In reality, Perowne’s embassy department was a
cuckoo’s nest; it was not a place of employment but merely temporary
cover for almost everyone ‘assisting’ him, except Holme of course. Stark
was with the Ministry of Information (MOI), and the rest (with the excep-
tion of Lloyd) were in the Special Operations Executive (SOE) under dip-
lomatic cover.^11 In seeking to duplicate the very successful Ikhwan-al-hurriya
(Brotherhood of Freedom) she had established in Egypt, Stark was not
doing embassy propaganda work: she was doing her own, though she was
doubtless grateful for the use of Perowne’s embassy office premises and
some clerical support.^12 And Bishop’s black propaganda work and other
dirty tricks were top-secret and strictly for SOE. Until Bishop’s staff were
ready to leave the nest and move from the embassy to their new South
Gate HQ, they all doubtless had useful chats with Perowne and Holme
about propaganda work in general, but that was as far as it went.
RESTORING THE PEACE