Picking Up the Pieces

Brief as it was, the Middle East war took a heavy toll in Arab lives (22,000) and Arab real estate (30,000 sq. mi.). But the impact of those losses was small compared with the crippling economic aftermath of defeat. Last week, from one end of the Arab world to the other, government radios wove into their continuing threats and recriminations warnings of the "sacrifices" and "hard times" that lie ahead as the Arabs pick up the pieces.

In Egypt, the disappearance of tourists is costing Nasser $1,500,000 a week; the closing of the Suez Canal subtracts another $5,000,000. Even if the canal reopens, Cairo's ban on U.S., British and West German shipping will still deprive the government of $1,000,000 a week in tolls. Then there is cotton, Egypt's second biggest foreign-exchange earner after the canal. Because there is no money to spare for urgently needed insecticides, leafworms threaten to wipe out 30% of this year's crop. In desperation, the government sent almost 500,000 schoolchildren into the fields last week to pick leafworms off the plants. "We have yet another aggression on our hands," noted Cairo's weekly Rose Al Youssef wryly. "We must mobilize."

Blood Money. Thus far, Russia and its Eastern European allies have been too busy supplying arms to pay much attention to Egypt's other urgent needs. In an effort to head off total economic collapse, Nasser has had to hit his Arab "friends" for "contributions," which in most cases amount to little more than blood money. He got $28 million from neighboring Libya, which has been fighting a long, losing battle with Egyptian terrorists. He picked up another $28 million from Kuwait, and $20 million more from "private individuals"--half of that amount, a $10 million interest-free "loan" from Saudi Arabia's ex-King Saud, as part of the political rent he pays for his Egyptian asylum.

Few other Arab nations were in any position to help Nasser--or themselves. As a result of the Middle East oil embargo (see WORLD BUSINESS), Iraq's gold reserves are expected to dip perilously low. In Syria, which lost the vital revenues from two oil pipelines, the capital city of Damascus began rationing food last week. Lebanon's $85 million-a-year tourist industry, meantime, has all but dried up. Hardest hit is Jordan: it lost not only the tourist-rich Old City of Jerusalem but, at least for the time being, the agricultural lands on the west bank of the Jordan River. In Washington last week, King Hussein did not have to remind President Johnson that even in the best of times, his country has needed an annual U.S. budget subsidy of $30 million to $34 million.

A Conspicuous Clatter. The biggest drain on the Arab economies was their continuing military buildup. Soviet shipments of tanks, trucks and planes poured into the Middle East, and 1,500 to 2,000 Soviet military advisers were on the way. Hardly had Soviet President Nikolai Podgorny left Cairo after three days of talks, when top-ranking Czechoslovak party bosses arrived last week, followed by a Czech arms mission. With a conspicuous clatter of armor, Egyptian detachments rolled toward the west bank of the Suez Canal, and the skies over Cairo were filled for hours with the same MIGs flying the same patterns over and over to trick the fellah on the ground into thinking that the air force is larger than it really is. In similar empty exhibitions, Syrian troops moved south and west from Damascus toward the borders. Jordanian soldiers moved west toward the Jordan River.

The noisy displays, however, could not hide the fact that the Arab military machine is in no condition to think of another war. The Egyptian and Syrian armies have been completely demoralized and are riddled with dissension. By last week Nasser had purged 800 of his officers, and Soviet Chief of Staff Marshal Zakharov was personally on hand to help reorganize the armed forces. Syria, meantime, has cashiered 100 officers and jailed two dozen others. As a lesson to would-be plotters, Syria's Baathist government also arrested and tried two top Syrian officers who fled to Jordan last September after an attempted coup, then--hoping bygones would be bygones--returned to Syria to join the war with Israel. The pair, Radio Damascus announced, "admitted that they got in touch with British, American and West German quarters for a second dastardly plot, timed to take advantage of the Israeli aggression." They were summarily convicted of high treason and executed by a firing squad.

Rival Potshots. Arabs were also fighting among themselves in Aden, the turbulent British colony that, along with 16 tiny neighboring sheikdoms, will get its independence next January as part of the Federation of South Arabia. Last month, after 50 members of the Aden army mutinied because of the disciplinary suspension of four officers, thousands of Arab civilians boiled out of the fetid, slum-ridden Crater section of the colony and took up arms against the British. Then, in typical Arab style, rival terrorist organizations began taking potshots at one another.

Last week terrorists continued sniping away at their Arab brothers and the British alike. In Aden's Sheikh Othman district, one British patrol caught a terrorist executing four rivals--all bound and gagged. Another group of terrorists kidnaped Aden's Mayor Fuad Khalifa. Since the fighting erupted a fortnight ago, the death toll was up to 22 British soldiers, 20 terrorists and three other civilians.

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