Anger & Dismay

Of all the allies of Britain and France--their NATO partners, Britain's Commonwealth members, the fellow members of Britain's Baghdad Pact--only Australia and New Zealand stood by their side in the U.N. Assembly.

Canada, torn by its historic loyalty to Britain, and its utter ignorance of just what Britain was doing, decided not to condemn Britain and France publicly. But it was miffed by having been kept in the dark by Eden. Not until two days after Israel's invasion did Canada suspend a scheduled delivery of 24 Sabre jets to Israel. External Affairs Chief Lester Pearson called the Anglo-French decision to intervene in Egypt "a most unhappy one."

Germany was worried by fears of what might happen to NATO. Predicted one foreign office man: "Many little strains and disagreements may now become big strains and big disagreements."

Pakistan's Prime Minister Hussein Suhrawardy filed vigorous protests with Britain and France. In Dacca, capital of East Pakistan, an angry mob of students set fire to the British Information Office, shouting, "Down with Britain."

India's Jawaharlal Nehru, between dashing off a message of sympathy to Nasser and a message of thanks to Eisenhower, lodged a protest against Britain's bombing of Egypt. All week long he kept up a running fire of public expressions of indignation. "In all my experience of foreign affairs," he trumpeted, "I am not aware of a grosser case of naked aggression." After first astonishing diplomats by refusing to show similar indignation at the events in Hungary, Nehru this week cited both the Egyptian and Hungarian crises as instances of "human dignity and freedom outraged."

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