The Daily Alaska empire., 1941-05-05
By MORGAN M. BEATTY AP Feature Service Writer

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 WASHINGTON. May = The shock of the month for diplomatic Washington is not the battle of the Balkans, not the blitz in Af- rica, but revolt in Iraq.
 The sudden seizure of power by the Iraq army's intriguing Rashid Ali al Gallant and his pro-Nazi clique means the British rear in the Middle East is threatened, as well as the back doors to Turkey and Russia.
 But that's only part of the story
 Primarily the Iraq coup reflects the realism of all Moslems d therein lies barrel of trouble for Britain
 It is automatic that Moslems throughout the Middle and Asiatic East are bitterly hostile to She Jewish planting in Palestine. It also is known through the diplomatic grapevine that Mos lem eyes are popping over German blitz successes With a Moslem, nothing succeeds like success. While the Iraqi broke off rela- tions with Germany at the start of the war as gesture toward their British sponsors, they never closed the door to Italians. The Italians are primarily responsible for the hotBed of intrigue in Iraq.
 That little cut-out country down under Turkey is quite bit more than strategic chunk of territory Primarily, Iraq is Turkeys back door supply line to the outside world The Turkish end of the Berlin n-to-Baghdad railroad termin- ates at the Iraq port of Basra. Likewise the Mosul oil fields are in Iraq, and the pipelines run through the territory of belligerent Iraqi tribes to British fleet supply ports in Palestine. So do the cross desert bus lines.
 Iraq was scissored out of the pre- World War Turkish Empire by the League of Nations, mandated to the British. Through a series of treaties and oil concessions, the Iraqi won their status as a nation along about the end of the POS, , signed an alliance, giving the Brit ish the right to move troops, .es- tablish air bases The Royal Air 1 Force also has tank corps for des- ert work against rebel tribesnien in Iraq t3 Undercover reports to Washing l ton say the Germans offered Iraq i to Turkey as a prize if the Turks would turn against Britain at the beginning of the war This the Turks refused on the ground that the Germans were offering some thing they did not possess.
 Likewise, the British are said to have made assurances to Turkey about Iraq after the war, meaning that Turkey might again win back her possession.
 Of these secret dealings the Iraqi are we'll aware. So it hap pened that when the pro-Nazi Gal iani seized power in Iraq he was careful not to translate his German sympathies into public action against the British. Instead, he an- nounced there'd be no change in relations.
 That is interpreted here as mere Gallant insurance. The British called his hand on the weekend of April 20, by exercising their treaty rights to move troops into Iraq. If Gallant had wanted to exhibit his pro-German leaning. there was his chance to do it, by refusing the British permission to land their troops.
 But he did nothing of the kind He again pledged his cooperation. So, for the time being the British were assured their oil control, and their ability to keep the backdoor to Turkey open and ready for mili- tary business. But for how long? Nobody knew. Gallant and his German Italian friends obviously waited, in the view of diplomatic Washington, for a break.