Editing Percy Cox (section)

==The 1921 Cairo Conference and the crowning of King Faisal==
[[File:Coronation of Prince Faisal as King of Iraq, 1921.jpg|thumb|Coronation of Faisal as King of Iraq. Faisal seated, to his right are British [[High commissioner]] Percy Cox and Lieutenant [[Kinahan Cornwallis]], to his left commander-in-chief of all British troops in the [[British Mandate of Mesopotamia|Mesopotamia]] Commander General [[Aylmer Haldane]].<ref>[[Justin Marozzi]]: the High Commissioner,[https://books.google.com/books?id=n8m7AgAAQBAJ&dq=Saray+al+Kushla+Tawfik+al+Damluji&pg=PT526 Baghdad – City of Peace, City of Blood], (2014).</ref>]]
Among the points Cox considered salient coming into the [[Cairo Conference (1921)|1921 Cairo Conference]] was the reduction of British spending in Iraq and the selection of a ruler for the country.  To satisfy the first item, Cox proposed a plan to cut immediately expenditure and withdraw troops from Mesopotamia.  On the question of who should rule Iraq, Cox considered the best option to be one of the sons of the Sharif of Mecca, with whom the British had a special relationship during the war due to promises made during the [[McMahon–Hussein Correspondence]].  At the conference, the Sharif's son Faisal emerged as the preferred choice, with Cox noting that Faisal's military experience in World War I as well as his vast political skills made him the most qualified to raise an army and rule Iraq effectively.<ref>"First Meeting of the Political Committee. 12 March 1921." Proc. of Conference on Middle Eastern Affairs, Cairo.</ref>

Cox would later write that the decision in favour of Faisal was "easiest to arrive at ... by the process of elimination," reasoning that local candidates for the throne would split the support of the major parties in Iraq while Faisal, as a result of his experience and his respected family name, would enjoy the "general if not the universal support of inhabitants."{{sfn|Bell|1927b}}  After arranging an election of sorts of Faisal's asking, Cox would go on to proclaim Faisal as King of Iraq on 23 August 1921 in Baghdad,{{sfn|Townsend|1993}} upon which event the provisional cabinet formed by Cox resigned.{{sfn|Bell|1927b}}  <blockquote>...For some time past letters have been passing between Sir Percy and Ibn Saud The Conquest of Hayil by the latter in November makes his frontiers continuous with the Iraq. Sir Percy is anxious to arrange a treaty between him and Faisal.<ref>Gertrude to Florence Bell, Baghdad, 17 October 1921,{{harv|Bell|1927b|p=638}}</ref></blockquote>

For his remaining years as the High Commissioner of Iraq, Cox continued to greatly influence Iraqi government and events in the country, using his power behind the throne to advise and put pressure on Faisal where necessary, including lavish festivities. On 2 June 1922, King Faisal's court was entertained at the High Commissioner's residency in Baghdad to celebrate the royal birthday.<ref>Gertrude to Herbert Bell, {{harv|Bell|1927b|pp=639–40}}</ref> In his subsequent eulogy on his friend Gertrude's death, Cox recalled that 'On 20 April 1923 a treaty was signed with Turkey with proviso that "Nothing in this Protocol shall prevent a fresh agreement from being concluded...and negotiations shall be entered into between them before expiration of the above period."  The parenthesis did not preclude the uncovering and exposure of the fraudulent [[The Protocols of the Elders of Zion|Protocols of the Elders of Zion]], later used by the Nazis, which International Jewry explicitly refuted. Yet the San Remo Treaty with Turkey included explicit acceptance of the British Mandate of Palestine – the Zionist home land.{{efn|1=extract Protocol IX, The Protocols of the Wise Men of Zion, pp. 156–58, 163 – The Protocol IX tried to imply a 'carve-up' of Palestinian territory in which the principle was implicitly agreed to in 1914 by British High Commissioner Sir Herbert Samuel, whilst simultaneously deliberately attributing anti-semitism as a means of control and for the separate existence of Jews.}}