Nuri Al-Said

Born 1888 in Baghdad; died there July 15, 1958. Iraqi politician and statesman.

Nuri received a military education in Istanbul and served in the Turkish Army. In 1913 he took part in an anti-Turkish conspiracy organized by Arab officers in the Turkish Army; after the plot was discovered, he emigrated to Egypt. In 1916 he joined the Arab anti-Turkish uprising in al-Hijaz and occupied important posts in the army of Emir Faisal. He returned to Iraq in 1921.

Between 1930 and 1958, Nuri headed the government eight times; several times he was minister of foreign affairs and minister of war. He acted as the most zealous defender of British interests in Iraq. He was instrumental in the signing of the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1930 and the Iraqi-Turkish and Anglo-Iraqi agreements of 1955, which laid the foundation for the creation of the aggressive Baghdad Pact. Within Iraq he pursued a policy of suppressing the labor and national liberation movements. Nuri was killed by the insurgent citizens of Baghdad during the Iraqi Revolution of 1958.