Raised from the Dead

"I am very, very happy to be here," said Britain's Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd, as he stepped off his plane into Karachi's 104DEG heat. Only seven months ago, demonstrating in Karachi's streets, Pakistanis were cursing the name of Britain, Iraq's Premier Nuri asSaid was declaring Iraq would boycott any meeting of the Baghdad Pact attended by Britain, and just about everyone was saying that the Baghdad Pact was dead. But last week as the five members of the Baghdad Pact (Britain, Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan, Iran) met for the first time since the British attack on Egypt, Lloyd and Nuri asSaid were all smiles. Said one U.S. observer: "The biggest thing about this meeting is that it is being held at all."

What had brought about this revival from the dead? For one, an increased Arab concern over Egypt's President Nasser and his involvement with Russia. For another, the slow recognition that the Eisenhower Doctrine is genuinely intended to help the Middle Eastern nations to preserve their independence and viability. With Saudi Arabia's King Saud shifting his considerable weight to the side of his fellow kings in Iraq and Jordan, the four Moslem pact countries suddenly found that they could safely reassert their common concern against the Communist threat and their membership in a useful instrumentality that did not compromise their independence.

Unsolicited Praise. The British brought gifts. Lloyd lost no time in announcing that Britain would provide nearly $6,000,000 in economic aid to develop the pact communications system. But the British had obviously become junior member of the pact, welcome but not encouraged to make too much noise. Undisputedly senior was the U.S., which emphasized the importance it attached to the meeting by sending Deputy Under Secretary of State Loy Henderson and Air Force Chief of Staff General Nate Twining, who is soon to become Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

First day's business was the ceremonial vote to accept the U.S. offer to join the pact's military committee, making the U.S. a full member in all but name, and loosing a flood of unsolicited praise for the U.S. Said Pakistan's Prime Minister Hussein Shaheed Suhrawardy, whose country depends on the U.S. for 40% of the government's budget: "They have made no attempt to bind us to them in chains or strings, and weak though we are, negligible though we may be in military might, they have had the vision and large-heartedness to treat us as equals."

In their new-found enthusiasm, the Moslem members talked of expanding the pact's coverage far beyond its original purpose as "a defensive instrument against international Communism." Suhrawardy urged that the pact should back Pakistan on Kashmir against India. Iraq's Nuri asSaid, pounding the table for emphasis, identified the chief threat as Israel. Commented one Western observer: "There now seems to be some confusion just who the enemy is." The U.S.'s Twining also had to calm down Moslem military chiefs, who were all ready to establish a joint command for all pact countries and make Twining overall commander. Twining patiently explained that the pact countries still lacked the communications and transportation system needed to support a centralized command structure but promised to expand the group of U.S. officers now in Baghdad.

The meeting ended with the dignitaries in high good humor. Said Pakistan's Suhrawardy: "People used to say the pact nations were being cut off from the Moslem world. Does that make sense, when we in the pact are 125 million Moslems against 25 million [in the Middle East] outside it? The question is asked, why don't we get together rather than be tied to a big power like the United Kingdom or America? My answer to that is that zero plus zero is after all equal to zero. We have, therefore, to go farther afield rather than get all the zeros together."

Left Out. Watching the festivities from Cairo, Gamal Abdel Nasser began to act like a man who felt left out. Nor could he be wholly pleased over Jordan's enthusiastic welcome last week for King Saud of Saudi Arabia, who arrived in Amman with three Cadillacs for King Hussein, a Chrysler Imperial apiece for the Premier, the Deputy Premier and the Queen Mother. Saud has become increasingly friendly toward Nasser's old foe, Nuri asSaid. Saud recently told Nuri that though he still did not like the Baghdad Pact, he would no longer denounce it in public.

Nasser seemed also to be having second thoughts about Moscow. The Russian wheat promised with so much acclaim had arrived late and proved be of poor quality. The Russian oil contained so much sulphur that Egyptian refineries were damaged in trying to process it. Last week Nasser was anxiously trying to re-establish some of Egypt's old trade with the West. In the talks with Britain he obtained the release of -L-6,000,000 involved in contracts made before the Suez attack, was negotiating to get another -L-23 million of blocked sterling. Western customers willing to pay for Egyptian cotton in free currencies were offered discounts of 15% to 20%. In Washington there were reports that Egypt was ready to talk about compensation to the Suez Company stockholders--a first condition stipulated by the U.S. for the release of Egyptian funds frozen at the time of Suez.

The man who a year ago had boasted of defying the West was beginning to have an uneasy feeling that those who cooperated with the West were doing better than he was.

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