Said, Nuri al-

Said, Nuri al- (b. 1888, d. 14 July 1958). Prime Minister of Iraq 1930–2, 1938–40, 1941–7, 1949–52, 1953–7, 1958 Born near Baghdad of mixed Arab-Kurdish descent, he enlisted in the army of the Ottoman Empire. He defected in 1914 and fled to Egypt. When the Arab Revolt broke out he became Chief of Staff to Emir Faisal. When the latter became King Faisal I of Iraq he was his chief adviser and virtual founder of the Iraqi army. He was to form no less than fourteen governments as Prime Minister during the rest of his life. In 1942, he proposed a confederation of Middle Eastern territories (including a Jewish enclave in Palestine), but this was frustrated by constant inter-Arab tensions and rivalries, and the Arab-Jewish hostilities in Palestine/Israel. The most important pillar of the Hashemite dynasty in Iraq, he was Prime Minister of the short-lived Arab Federation of Iraq and Jordan in 1958. He was captured and murdered in the coup of July 1958.