OTHER MIDDLE EAST LEADERS

Abdul Aziz ibn Saud (71), King of Saudi Arabia, adds up, statistically, to nine old battle wounds, some 40 sons, and 750,000 barrels of crude oil which Saudi Arabia produces daily. In ideas, he adds up to hatred of the Jews, strict devotion to the letter of the Mohammedan religion, and friendship for the U.S., though he is furious at President Truman's support of Israel. Ibn Saud used to live off tolls he collected from Mecca pilgrims, but the Arabian-American Oil Co. proved even more lucrative, made Ibn Saud one of the world's richest men. He is too old and complacent to go out of his way to help the West or assume active leadership of the Middle East.

Mohammed Reza Pahlevi (31),Shahinshahof Iran, is pro-Western and has progressive ideas (last January he began sale of his vast land holdings to peasants on easy installment terms, gave the proceeds to charity). But when the oil crisis flared up, though he was opposed to the fanatical National Front, he did not dare take action. He is now powerless before fragile, faint-prone Premier Mohammed Mossadeq and his National Front.

Haj Amin el Husseini (59), Mufti of Jerusalem, veteran plotter against British rule in the Middle East, and ruthless enemy of the West. Spent most of World War II in Berlin. In 1946, while awaiting trial in Paris as a war criminal, he escaped, since then has lived in Egypt as King Farouk's honored guest. Ambition: to be head of an independent Palestinian state. Methods: 1) recruiting of an Arab army from the 800,000 bitter, hopeless refugees driven from their homes by the Arab-Israeli war; 2) murder and terrorism through such groups as his own "Salvation Army," the Moslem Brotherhood, the Crusaders of Islam. His most recent victim: Jordan's King Abdullah.

Emir Tallal (40), heir apparent to King Abdullah, now a psychiatric patient in a clinic at Prangins near Geneva, while his brother Emir Naif acts as regent. Was packed off to Switzerland after several violent seizures, usually at cocktail parties, during which he fell on innocent bystanders--mostly British officers. Hates the British and the West.

Emir Abdul Illah (38), Regent of Iraq, has ruled the country since 1939, on behalf of his nephew, King Feisal II (16). Moderately able, but without stature or drive. Favorite pastime: driving through Bagdad in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee state coach (which he bought in 1949, insured for $16,000).

Charles Malik (45), Lebanese Minister to the U.S. and U.N. delegate, brilliant, genuinely pro-Western thinker and statesman. Cultured, well-educated (American University of Beirut, Harvard), Christian, international-minded, Malik is one of the few bright spots in the Middle Eastern picture, but has virtually no political force to back his sympathies.

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