THE SEMINAL DECADE IN THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE EAST 1952-1961 EISENHOWER & NASSER

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1003676419655377

This 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.

US relation with Egypt in the 50's
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)

Nasser found the status quo obnoxious, tilted, as he thought it was, to the advantage of the West and the disadvantage of Egypt; and he did all he could to right the balance. HE WAS RIGHT.

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.

Nasser told Dulles that Egypt's principal problem was not with the Russians, but with the British, who had occupied his country for seventy years. “How can I go to my people,” Nasser said, “and tell them I am disregarding a killer with a pistol sixty miles (British) from me at the Suez Canal to worry about somebody who is holding a knife (Russians) 5,000 miles away?” “The British are our enemy not the Russians”.

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: On East Asia (p. 564): US relations with Formosa (now Taiwan): all about stopping a Communist Chinese takeover. On Africa (pp. 579-81): US and UN relations with Africa: all about ensuring that colonialism was not replaced by Russian-aided Communism. On Latin America (p. 539): US relations with the Organization of American States: all about stopping the spread of Cuban Communism. And Eisenhower did not always keep the Cold War cold: he had plenty of "hot wars", most of which are not well-remembered today. For example: 1956 Suez Crisis: The US aided Egypt against England and Israel (yes, we were on the OTHER side then!) 1958 Lebanon Crisis: The US sent 14,000 troops into Lebanon, with 40,000 more offshore -- a major invasion, but for only a few months. 1960: Early troops into Vietnam (yes, Eisenhower started it; JFK continued it; and LBJ escalated it). 1961: Almost invaded Laos (Eisenhower was only president for one month in 1961, until JFK's inauguration, but considered invading). 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?                            _________________________________________

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
Part of the Cold War and the Arab–Israeli conflict
Damaged Egyptian equipment Date 29 October 1956 (1956-10-29) – 7 November 1956 (1956-11-07) (1 week and 2 days) (Sinai under Israeli occupation until March 1957) Location Gaza Strip and Egypt (Sinai and Suez Canal zone) Result Egyptian political victory Coalition military victory Anglo-French withdrawal following international pressure (December 1956) Israeli occupation of Sinai (until March 1957) UNEF deployment in Sinai Straits of Tiran re-opened to Israeli shipping Resignation of Anthony Eden as British Prime Minister, end of Britain's role as a superpower Guy Mollet's position as French Prime Minister heavily damaged
 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:

• 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.

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.

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"