ABSTRACT
At the end of May, a self-appointed committee of fifteen persons asked Wilson to transmit their views to the British government. Wilson refused to accept them as “representatives of the Iraqi nation” and invited an additional forty persons, all notables of Baghdad, regardless of their political affiliations, including representatives of the Jewish and Christian communities. The meeting took place at the Sarai (i.e., residence of the government) on second June. Wilson assured the delegates that the civil administration proposed to establish a Council of State under an Arab president, who would hold his office provisionally until the question of the final constitution of Iraq was confirmed by the nascent legislative assembly. Responding, the delegates produced a document in which they demanded “the immediate formation of a convention for Iraq, elected in conformity with Turkish electoral law; it would be empowered to draw up proposals for a National government for Iraq as promised in the Anglo-French Declaration of November 8, 1918.” The proceedings were conducted with dignity and restraint.
