Office of the Historian

890G.50/13

Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Welles) to the Chief of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs (Alling)

[Washington,] June 17, 1942.

Mr. Alling: I received this morning a visit from Rabbi Wise and some of his colleagues. Dr. Wise informed me that there were news reports alleging that the Prime Minister of Iraq8 had officially stated in Baghdad that the Iraqi Minister to Washington had reported that the latter had received assurances from this Government that the United States desired, after the war, to see the establishment of Arab states in Iraq, Palestine, and Transjordania.

I assured Rabbi Wise that no such statements could possibly have been made officially to the Iraqi Minister.

Can you throw any light on this report? If not, I suggest that you take an early opportunity of informing the Iraqi Minister that this report has come to my attention and that, while I naturally assume there is no truth whatever in it, I shall appreciate having any information he can give you about it.

S[umner] W[elles]
  1. Nuri as-Said.↩