711.90G2/21
The Minister Resident in Iraq ( Knabenshue ) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 5.]
Sir: With reference to the Department’s instruction No. 242 of January 18, 1937 (File No. 711.90G2/7) transmitting a draft of a treaty of commerce and navigation between the United States and Iraq, and to my telegrams No. 6 of April 1 [14] 1 p.m. and No. 11 of June 2, 11 [1] a.m., 1937, in reply thereto, I have the honor to enclose copies of note No. 6857 dated June 26, 19375 from the Foreign Minister submitting certain amendments to the Department’s draft. It will be noted that these are described by Dr. Naji al-Asil as “minor amendments which I trust will find no difficulty of acceptance”. The original signed note was in Arabic but the translation, of which a copy is enclosed, was forwarded by the Foreign Office as an enclosure.
The Department will observe that the Iraq Government suggests amendments in addition to those mentioned in my telegram No. 11, of June 2, 11 [1] a.m. It will also observe that the Arabic text of the Treaty as amended was enclosed with the note from the Foreign Minister with a proposal that it have equal force with the English text.
In this connection and in connection also with the last sentence of the Department’s instruction No. 242 of January 18, 1937, I have had the Arabic text of the Treaty checked by the well-known Arabic scholar Dr. John Van Ess, an American citizen. He has informed me that the translation is in general very good. He did, however, find a few typographical errors and one incorrect translation. These corrections can, of course, be taken up with the Foreign Office after the Department has determined whether or not it can accept the amendments suggested by the Iraqi Government.
Respectfully yours,
- Not printed.↩