Washington's Role in the Mideast War
TAS, SAL
washington's role in the Mideast War By Sal Tas Paris England and France have suffered a humiliating setback at the hands of Egypt's dictator, Gamal Abdel Nasser. This in itself, of course, is...
...In condemning the Anglo-French action, the United Nations was forgetting that: 1. Nasser and the Soviet Union ignore the UN whenever they feel it serves their purposes...
...5. A blow to Anglo-French prestige is also a blow to the North Atlantic Alliance and, consequently, to the U.S...
...2. It was a crime and a blunder to join hands with the murderers of Budapest...
...This is a crime against NATO...
...When Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal on July 26, it was clear that his move was designed to damage Western prestige, influence and long-term interests in the Arab world...
...3. The UN has never acted effectively against these two aggressors...
...From the course of events following the first few days of the Anglo-French intervention, it was clear that these goals could be accomplished—to the benefit of the entire free world...
...inaction...
...2. The UN has never done anything to compensate Israel, England or France for the damage they have suffered as a result of the Egyptian and Russian attitude toward the UN...
...Indeed, the State Department is acting as if it is more important to bring John Bull and Marianne to their knees than to bring Nasser into line...
...But Washington forced its two Western European friends to give up their advantageous position without making any counter-proposals...
...At the very least, Washington should prove itself a generous master of its allies...
...For, as the backbone of that organization, the U.S...
...it should have sought a way to save its allies, instead of attempting to show who was boss...
...It must: 1. Reduce Colonel Nasser to proper size...
...3. Press for a just Arab-Israeli peace...
...must consider the interests of its allies together with its own...
...This in itself, of course, is tragic, but much more tragic is the role Washington played in bringing about its friends' failure and the State Department's obvious gloating over its success...
...2. Bring about a decent solution of the Suez Canal problem...
...Thus, the U.S...
...Rarely in diplomatic annals have allies been let down the way England and France have been let down...
...Even if one grants that the U.S...
...4. See to it that Western Europe is able to hurdle its present oil difficulties...
...England and France were prepared to meet this challenge with immediate action, but they were persuaded otherwise hy the U.S...
...left them with the choice of either sitting by quietly and seeing their interests destroyed or else acting on their own...
...After two Suez conferences in London and the formation of a Users' Association, both inspired and then rendered useless by Secretary of Stale John Foster Dulles...
...England and France decided to act...
...efforts to make them think otherwise...
...Once again, England and France became the victims of U.S...
...3. Half of the bloc that voted against the British and French consisted of nations that violate the UN charter not once in ten years (like England and France), but every morning...
...4. The Afro-Asian bloc, remains in the UN only in order to sabotage its machinery and prevent any action against the aggressors within its own camp...
...This, incidentally, was also the view of British Labor-party chief Hugh Gaitskell before he capitulated to Aneurin Bevan and the ghost of George Lansbury...
...4. The UN has no right to act against countries which, in self-defense, take steps that the UN itself should have taken in their behalf...
...was right in being furious with London and Paris, its first concern should have been the effect of its actions on NATO...
...They embarked on a carefully planned expedition, designed to avoid as much human and material damage as possible (as the casualty figures show and limited to excellent objectives: to force Nasser to accept a just peace with Israel and to solve the Suez Canal problem in accordance with United Nations recommendations...
...The Afro-Asians see the West as one bloc, despite belated U.S...
...is now obvious...
...The duty of the U.S...
...If this is not done, then allies become mere satellites, and satellites do not fight well...
...And in voting with the Soviet Union against England and France, the United States was forgetting that: 1. The Kremlin's motives did not correspond at all to those of Washington...
...London and Paris realized that Washington's policy simply called for complete inaction...
...It should base NATO power in the Middle East not on the floating and doubtful sympathy of a handful of feudal Arabs, but on respect...
Vol. 39 • November 1956 • No. 51
