Sadat: A Sort of Whirlwind

Arab audiences revel in mellifluous oratory. Last week Egyptian President Anwar Sadat rewarded the Arab Socialist Union Congress with a first-class example of it. Mopping his brow often in a sultry hall, modulating his voice from whisper to thespian holler, Sadat delivered a largely off-the-cuff speech that was twice as long as any address delivered by his predecessor, Gamal Abdel Nasser, and every bit as dramatic. Excerpts:

> Lyndon Johnson agreed to Israeli aggression and gave it his blessing. Americans know very well that Johnson's rule was one of the blackest, most wasted periods in U.S. history. I hope there will be a brave American who one day will reveal the facts exactly as an American has revealed the facts on U.S. involvement in the Vietnamese war.

> Direct negotiations should be the way to solve the crisis, but what does this mean? If I were to sit at a table with Israel at a time when Israel is occupying my territories, this would only mean direct surrender.

> Nixon sent an American called [William] Scranton [former Governor of Pennsylvania]. He made a report when he returned to America that America should adopt an even-handed attitude and should not side with Israel. The result was that Scranton's report and Scranton himself were buried.

> There was no problem between me and the U.S. The problem is U.S. support for Israel. I told Nixon that because we had suffered a military setback, we would not perish. We will never surrender. We are holding out.

> When [U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Joseph] Sisco came here, he had a two-hour closed meeting with me. You know I am not in the habit of placing bugging devices. I hate this. It was just Sisco and me and God Almighty. Sisco later communicated his plan, and I found it couched in the same words we used. But when Sisco's agreement became known to the State Department and Israel, the State Department under Israeli pressure said it had no hand in it. I told the Americans I would no longer talk with them because "you are not a people of your word. You are lying, seeking to deceive and delude."

> You see the picture, I told the Soviet Union. The problem will not be solved if you take such an overcautious stand. You can take any stand you like, I told them, because you are a friend, and I cannot ask anything more from you. But you are obliged to tell me as a friend that your limit is at this point. The Soviet Union just said, "yes, yes, yes," and we found ourselves in a sort of whirlwind.

> The Soviets supported us, but our assessments of the situation differ. For them, the Middle East crisis may not be the No. 1 problem, but 2, 3 or 4. But for me the Middle East is the problem. It is not only the No. 1 problem, but it is sleep, life, food, fasting and drinking to me. It is my problem, the problem of my occupied land.

> We absolutely do not want a confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States. Anyone who requests this must be mad.

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