Facing Facts

U.S. troops had landed in Lebanon and two weeks later they were still there--men of many nations might damn that fact or praise it, but that did not change it. More than the blizzard of crisis words that crisscrossed the world last week, the simple fact of power--the physical presence of U.S. forces in the Middle East--shaped the world's thinking. Turkey and Iran, on the rims of the Nasser and Soviet empires, took heart at the news; many U.S. friends elsewhere joined neutralists in condemning the landings.

In general, most of the world seemed to regard the coup d'etat in Iraq as a genuine national uprising, and to deplore the dispatch of British and American troops to the Middle East. But there were some sober second thoughts, and subtle shadings. Even in Gamal Abdel Nasser's world, the realization dawned that the Russians had talked big but stayed away. And here and there, a world usually divided arbitrarily into West, East and neutral reacted in much less predictable fashion. Items:

Tunisia, The Sudan, Afghanistan and Indonesia, Moslem nations all, rushed to recognize the new republic of Iraq. But several among them were plainly disturbed by Nasser's increased power, and by his increased recklessness.

India recognized the new regime in Baghdad, but Prime Minister Nehru was repelled by the bloodthirsty manner in which it came to power. Nehru--who is no lover of Nasser--was reported disturbed by Nasser's maneuvers to cast his net over the entire Middle East, for the Middle East is India's lifeline to the West.

In New Delhi there was real concern that India's neighbor Pakistan might have a revolution that would throw it into the arms of Nasser. "The time has come to re-evaluate and reassess our foreign policy," wrote Frank Moraes, biographer of Nehru and editor of the influential Indian Express newspaper chain. He referred to the danger to India from Communist China, which talks of "liberating Asia," and Communist influences on exuberant Arab nationalism. Enlarging on the dangers to India of Communist infiltration of "the huge Pan-Arab Islamic land mass," Moraes asked: "Is it in India's interest to permit the penetration of any one foreign power here, or indeed of one pervading internal influence, which would bring the Arab world from Morocco through Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf to the borders of West Pakistan?"

Pakistan. Though the nation's leaders were sticking by the Baghdad Pact, newspapers and public opinion showed quite an admiration for Nasser. The influential Karachi newspaper Dawn commented: "A brother with whom we may have fallen out is still a brother and nearer to us than a stranger."

Iran. The stoutly pro-Western Shah, worried by regicide in neighboring Iraq, called members of Parliament to his palace and talked to them of the "bonds linking him with his people." One advantage the Shah has over the Hashemites of the Middle East: his people are Moslem but not Arab, and are thus beyond the limits of Nasser's current ambitions. The Shah's chief internal worry is the presence of 1,000,000 Kurds. This ancient group (whose great ancestor was Saladin) spread across northern Iran, northern Iraq, eastern Turkey, as well as the Soviet Caucasus. Russians employ their own Kurds to subvert the others.

Turkey was warned by Moscow not to attack Iraq, coolly replied that it had no such plans, and was used to such warnings.

Israel was anxious for British and U.S. forces to stay where they are, convinced that Lebanon and Jordan would fall to Nasserites if the Western powers left. Israel was not particularly interested in a summit meeting. Said one Cabinet minister: "The decisions are likely to be in accordance with Big Power interests, not regional interests, and certainly not Israel's." Israel's immediate wants were simple: more arms from the West.

Burma. Neutralist Premier U Nu wrote his friend Tito to urge Tito's friend Nasser to use "caution."

West Germany. For days Chancellor Konrad Adenauer's government kept silent while Socialists scored the Anglo-American troop landings. Germans, with their own strong trade ties and commercial ambitions in the Arab Middle East, did not mind letting it be known that they were not involved. Adenauer, miffed at not being told in advance, was mollified when John Foster Dulles made a special trip to see him en route to a Baghdad Pact meeting.

Switzerland. Touchy about their neutrality, the Swiss refused a U.S. request to fly troop transports over their territory, though bankers and businessmen cheered the ability of the U.S. to move swiftly and decisively in the Middle East. But when United Press International's President Frank H. Bartholomew wrote after a visit to Switzerland: "Diplomats and counterintelligence agents say the Iraqi revolt 'was born in Bern,' " government and press alike went through the roof of the Alps. Bartholomew reported estimates that the Reds disbursed $1,000,000 a week to Western European agents through Switzerland, much of the money coming from traffic in drugs.

One of his sources, Bartholomew made plain, was U.S. Ambassador Henry J. Taylor, onetime radio commentator, who was quoted: "The most vicious bullet the Reds have in the cold war is the dope traffic." Swiss newspapers angrily demanded the ambassador's recall, and told their readers that he was the same Taylor "who once wrote sensational stories about flying saucers." Taylor and Bartholomew issued conflicting versions of their interview; the Swiss government summoned Taylor to tell him that they were "not enchanted," and the U.S. State Department apologized to the Swiss for the "embarrassment caused."

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