Another Chance

In catastrophe, a willing and resolute first-aider on the spot can be worth a dozen doctors in a far-away hospital. Last week, as the rumbling political volcano of Egypt blew its top in a roar of fulminant frenzy, first aid was urgently needed. It was firmly applied by a young king whom the West had long regarded as a fatuous playboy.

Winston Churchill was sailing homeward aboard the Queen Mary when Egypt's mobs swarmed through Cairo, demanding an immediate declaration of war on his nation. The U.S. State Department was leisurely considering, and disliking, Churchill's plea for a token show of U.S. force in Suez. Bloodshed in Ismailia, followed by vengeful bloodletting in Cairo, ended the false calm.

Looking on, Americans felt a division of loyalties. The cry of freedom in Egypt, though exploited by hotheads and irresponsibles, had an ancient appeal; so did the hopeless, helpless stand of the Egyptian troops (see below). Yet the British, too, disliked their unhappy role. Their defense of the Suez Canal, their insistence on the sanctity of international contracts, and their efforts to preserve order--compromised though these might be by past errors--added up to a defense of American strategic interests too. So, though U.S. emotional reactions might be divided, the U.S. response could not be. The U.S. had to stand with Britain, for the defense of the Canal and the restoration of order. This fundamental commitment once made, the U.S. could well insist that its British ally must resist a too-easy reliance on the whiff-of-grape philosophy.

The London Times, though backing up Britain's show of force, this week conceded "the trouble with the present policy is that there is no obvious limit to it." The Times continued: "The final aim of British policy is not to control Egypt . . . or even the Suez Canal, which should be an international responsibility. It is to create a stable and defensible structure in the Middle East; and while one necessity for this is certainly a firm base in the Canal Zone, another is the cooperation of Egypt and other Arab nations."

Cairo's volatile mixture of pride, intransigeance and irresponsibility might have touched off an explosion that would blast the free world asunder. Acting just in time, King Farouk brushed aside his irresponsible and dangerous Premier Nahas Pasha and took stern measures to restore a semblance of order. His action in no way solved the problem, but it did give the West, and Egypt, another chance.

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