Pasha's Putsch

Ever since Irak achieved "nationhood" by ceasing to be a British Mandate and entering the League of Nations (TIME, Oct. 17, 1932), London has been anxious lest this key Kingdom on the route to India take the pan-Arab bit in its teeth and kick over the traces. These fears were sharpened by the sudden death of Irak's King Feisal, who had always been able to see things more or less from British angles (TIME, Sept. 18, 1933). Last week his young son King Ghazi, educated in British boys' schools, was abruptly mastered by pan-Arab chiefs of his own Army.

British bombing planes used to keep Irak quiet, but last week Irak bombers were used by the Army's ruthless pan-Arab Major General Bakri Sidki Pasha to effect his putsch. He kept them circling over Bagdad for two hours, perfunctorily bombarded the Ministry Offices, and then issued a communique hanging around the neck of the 24-year-old King Ghazi responsibility for the change of Cabinet which by then had taken place.

Read the Putsch Pasha's communique: "His Majesty the King Has requested me to discharge the present Government and form another Ministry under Hikmat Bey Suleiman [a creature of the Pasha's] . . . our Movement has no object except realization of the happiness of the people . . . our mission is the will of the King."

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