890G.24/46: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Iraq (Farrell)
176. Your 177, August 24, 11 a.m. For obvious reasons the Department does not desire to proceed on the basis of the first alternative proposed by the Iraqi Foreign Office.
It is requested that upon the arrival of the Minister, the Legation consider whether it would be useful to renew efforts to secure an agreement with Iraq promptly and informally on the basis of existing Iraqi legislation. If the Legation believes that such further efforts might be useful, they should be made. In that connection, the Legation will presumably desire to make its own examination of Iraqi legislation in order to determine whether some portion thereof may be applicable.
If the Legation should decide that it is useless to make any further effort to obtain an informal agreement, or if its efforts are unsuccessful, the Minister should then propose to the Iraqi Government the prompt signing of a formal agreement, which would become effective [Page 352] in this country as an executive agreement. The Department has under consideration a draft agreement for use if a formal agreement is necessary.