https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1003676419655377This is a video of a speech in Arabic given by President Nasser in 1966, after he read US PRESIDENT Dwight D. Eisenhower memoirs: Waging Peace, 1956-1961; The White House years Hardcover – January 1, 1965 . You will hear Nasser reveal to the audience that the USA intended to destroy SYRIA & INVADE IRAQ as early as 1957-58. INCREDIBLE BUT TRUE !
True b/c I read EISENHOWER memoirs in 1967 when I was working in Rome and so did Nasser who was, I found out later (internet) a voracious reader, unlike Sadat & Mubarak who weren't.
The
video triggered my long desire to shed some light on a somewhat
forgotten era of the US-EGYPT relation during the 50's between
Eisenhower and Nasser.
It
was a seminal important decade which has affected the M.E. to this
day!!!
Most
of you under 50 have no conception & no memory of this vital
period in the history of the Arab world. By contrast, I have lived
and was a contemporary of the epoch. Let me put the 50's into
perspective, specifically in the year 1955: in
-1 the only Arab country of importance was EGYPT (24 millions + Suez canal) - - 2 Iraq (6.4 millions) was totally controlled by GB with an inexperienced teenage King
- 3 Yemen (4. 7 millions) was one of the most backward country with no schools - - 4 Syria (4.0 millions) agriculturally rich but divided into sectarian fiefs
– 5 Saudi Arabia (3.5 millions) was an illiterate medieval country, no hospital or university, only $200 millions a year in royalties
– 6 Libya (1.2 millions) was still an impoverished nation
- 7 Jordan (800,000) was a desert Bedouin area with Amman about the size of one of Cairo average suburb
– 8 the Gulfies are not even worth mentioning.
Such was the M.E.
Countries in 1955.
What happened during
1952-1961 was momentous in the Arab world & the Middle East
1. Egypt becomes a
Republic in 1953 - Saudi Arabia started a modest modernization plan
in 1954 – Yemen coup against Imam (sovereign ruler) in 1955 - Great
Britain/France/Israel attack Egypt in 1956 – Israel occupation of
whole Sinai 1956- 57 - Eden resigns in Jan 1957 - Union between
Egypt/Syria becomes UAR in 1958 – US marines invade Lebanon in 1958
(4 months) - Iraq becomes a Republic in 1958.
GAMAL ABDEL NASSER
Like many who belonged
to the old regime, I grew up considering Nasser as an upstart &
a dilettante leader, however much later after research and the
advent of internet I realized that Nasser was neither. He was an
ardent admirer of the US, its democracy & secularism, he
genuinely wanted to modernize Egypt and alleviate the appalling
poverty (80% of the population ate meat only twice a year when
the landowner butchered lambs during Ramadan), he was in many
ways a self-taught man. He also
had an instinct for world politics & he was no one's fool.
The truth is that until 1956, the British still lord it over everybody, “God is an Englishman you know”. I know for a fact that all Egypt's intelligentsia, aristocracy & dynasty members hated the British, mixed with, when hearing that crisp British accent, a feeling of inferiority. To a British all Egyptians, without exception, were “WOGS”. (Most of you have no idea that until 1950-51 the GUEZIRAH SPORTING CLUB in Zamalek was exclusively reserved for British citizens and European whites only. The few upper-class Egyptians or Polo players were admitted as temporary Guests upon invitation). Nasser did not bow to anyone and that alone should make all Egyptians past & present remember him.
Through most of the 1950s, relations between the United States and Egypt were dominated by three individuals: Dwight Eisenhower, Foster Dulles and Gamal Abdel Nasser. Though the 2 Americans professed support, in principle, for the anti-colonialist nationalism Nasser represented, Eisenhower and Dulles were constrained by the fact that the United States was at the time a STATUS-QUO POWER, perhaps nowhere more than in the Middle East. Eisenhower overwhelming dogmatic preoccupation was to stop and reverse the spread of Communism. He was a soldier, not a politician, he did possess a military mentality, but he also was the ONLY President WHO SAID NO to Israel in 1958 (see further text)
Largely because of their
inability to fathom Nasser, Eisenhower and Dulles were unable to
shape a consistent policy toward Egypt. As a consequence,
U.S.-Egyptian relations during the eight years of the Eisenhower
administration oscillated wildly, from relative amicability to
spectacular contretemps that led to the decade's most astonishing
fiasco and PERMANENTLY ALTERED THE FACE OF THE MIDDLE EAST.
In Eisenhower's opinion, the
importance of the Middle East lay primarily in its role as
supplier of oil to Western Europe — to countries like Britain.
The whole point of worrying about Soviet penetration of the
Middle East was to ensure that Middle Eastern oil continue to
flow to Britain and the other European allies. For Eisenhower,
who had risen to world fame and launched a political career on
his wartime exploits in the European theatre, Europe was always
primary. The Middle East, Egypt included, was important, but only
— or at least chiefly — insofar as events there affected the
security of Europe.
NASSER WITH MARSHALL TITO OF YUGOSLAVIA & NEHRU PM OF INDIA
 Eisenhower's vision: the bipolar world of the Cold War. Eisenhower saw the world entirely within that Cold War framework: everything he did was about stopping Communism, for example:
The two lists above do not describe a
record of "Waging Peace," as Eisenhower would have us
believe from his title. His domestic policy accomplishments (the
first list above) show that his intentions were good -- but his
viewpoint was entirely colored by his military background.
Eisenhower was a military general -- not a diplomat; not a
legislator; not even really a politician -- so what else should
we have expected?
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The Tripartite Aggression
The Sinai War
Also named the Tripartite Aggression and the Kadesh Operation, was an invasion of Egypt in late 1956 by Israel, followed by the United Kingdom and France.
The aims were to regain Western control of the Suez Canal and to remove Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser from power. After the fighting had started, the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Nations forced the three invaders to withdraw. The episode humiliated Great Britain and France and strengthened Nasser.
On October 29, Israel invaded the Egyptian Sinai. Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to cease fire, which was ignored. On November 5, Britain and France landed paratroopers along the Suez Canal. The Egyptian forces were defeated, but they did block the canal to all shipping. It became clear that the Israeli invasion and the subsequent Anglo-French attack had been planned beforehand by the three countries.
The three allies had attained a number of their military objectives, but the Canal was now useless and heavy pressure from the United States and the USSR forced them to withdraw. U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower had strongly warned Britain not to invade; he now threatened serious damage to the British financial system. Historians conclude the crisis "signified the end of Great Britain's role as one of the world's major powers". Peden in 2012 states, "The Suez crisis is widely believed to have contributed significantly to Britain's decline as a world power." The Suez Canal was closed from October 1956 until March 1957. Israel fulfilled some of its objectives, such as attaining freedom of navigation through the Straits of Tiran.
As a result of the conflict, the United Nations created the UNEF Peacekeepers to police the Egyptian–Israeli border, British Prime Minister Anthony Eden resigned, Canadian Minister of External Affairs Lester Pearson won the Nobel Peace Prize, and the USSR may have been emboldened to invade Hungary.
 The Tripartite Aggression The Sinai War |
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Part of the Cold
War and the Arab–Israeli
conflict
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 Damaged Egyptian equipment
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NASSER BLUF
Nasser bluffed when he closed the strait of Tiran, though he knew the army was neither ready nor prepared and most importantly he received ASSURANCE FROM FOSTER DULLES, the US Secretary of State that Israel and G.B. will not attack first. He believed the US affirmation.
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When an American President Said No
to Israel
By Donald Neff
It was 39 years ago, on March 16, 1957, that Israel withdrew under unrelenting United States pressure from all the territory it had occupied in the Sinai peninsula during its invasion of Egypt less than five months earlier. As Israeli forces pulled out, they ignored pleas from United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold and displayed their contempt for US President Dwight D. Eisenhower's policy by systematically destroying all surfaced roads, railway tracks and telephone lines. All buildings in the tiny villages of Abu Ageila and El Quseima were destroyed, as were the military buildings around El Arish.
Israel's dogged insistence on keeping by military occupation parts of the Sinai had led to increasingly tense relations between Eisenhower and Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. From the very beginning of what became known as the Suez crisis, Eisenhower had forcefully opposed the secret plot by Britain, France and Israel to invade Egypt. Against great political pressures, Ike had managed to stop the ill-considered invasion – but not before Israeli troops grabbed Egypt's Sinai peninsula in a lightning surprise attack starting October 29, 1956.
Britain and France followed Eisenhower's firm advice and quickly removed their troops from Egypt. But Israel insisted on retaining parts of the peninsula. Despite repeated U.S. urgings, Ben-Gurion refused to withdraw Israeli troops. In retaliation, Eisenhower joined with 75 other nations in the UN General Assembly in passing a resolution on February 2, 1957, "deploring" Israel's occupation. Only two nations opposed: France and Israel.
Still, Ben-Gurion refused to move his troops. On February 11, Eisenhower sent a forceful note to Ben-Gurion to withdraw. Again Ben-Gurion refused. At the same time, the influence of Israel's supporters became intense. The White House was besieged by efforts to halt its pressure on the Jewish state; 41 Republican and 75 Democratic congressmen signed a letter urging support for Israel.
Donald Neff
'Terrific Control'
In reaction to mounting pressures against his policy, Eisenhower on February 20 called a meeting of the congressional leadership to seek their support for his position. But the lawmakers, sensitive to the influence of the Israeli lobby, refused to help, causing Secretary of State John Foster Dulles to complain to a friend: "I am aware how almost impossible it is in this country to carry out a foreign policy [in the Middle East] not approved by the Jews." In other conversations around the same time, Dulles remarked on the terrific control the Jews have over the news media and the barrage which the Jews have built up on congressmen ... I am very much concerned over the fact that the Jewish influence here is completely dominating the scene and making it almost impossible to get Congress to do anything they don't approve of. The Israeli Embassy is practically dictating to the Congress through influential Jewish people in the country.Disgusted with Congress's timidity, Eisenhower boldly decided to take his case directly to the American people. He went on national television on the evening of February 20 and explained:
If the United Nations once admits that international disputes can be settled by using force, then we will have destroyed the very foundation of the organization and our best hope of establishing world order. The United Nations must not fall. I believe that in the interests of peace the United Nations has no choice but to exert pressure upon Israel to comply with the withdrawal resolutions.
- Should a nation which attacks and occupies foreign territory in the face of United Nations disapproval be allowed to impose conditions on its own withdrawal? If we agreed that armed attack can properly achieve the purposes of the assailant, then I fear we will have turned back the clock of international order.
Not Words Alone EISENHOWER THE ONLY US PRESIDENT WHO SAID “NO” TO ISRAEL.
Ike did not depend only on words. While he expressed his principled position in public, privately that same day he sent a stern message to Ben-Gurion warning of punitive actions if Israel did not withdraw. Eisenhower threatened that he would approve trade sanctions against Israel and might also cut off all private assistance to Israel, which amounted to $40 million in tax-deductible donations and $60 million annually in the purchase of bonds. This combination of public diplomacy and private grit paid off. On February 27, Israel announced it accepted the U.S. position on withdrawal.
Although Zionists continue to criticize Eisenhower to this day, painting his policy as flawed and shortsighted, his actions in the Suez crisis represent one of the brightest, most principled victories of US diplomacy. Eisenhower had acted, as he later recalled, on the basis of his belief that "change based on principle is progress; constant change without principle becomes chaos."
NASSER QUOTE ABOUT US FOREIGN POLICY
Egypt's late president Gamal Abdel Nasser and his wife Tahiya pictured in 1944 in their wedding outfits at a photographer's studio in Cairo. He was an army Captain then ( he was 6'2" & Tahia 5'10"
