America's Great Game (62 page)

19
. Hutchison to Eddy, September 28, 1955, 9.7, WAEP; Berger,
Memoirs of an Anti-Zionist Jew
, 103; Hutchison quoted in “Special Survey,”
Near East Report
, B-19; see “Propaganda Pressures,”
Near East Report
, October 15, 1958, 138; Telephone Call to Dr. Edward Elson, February 22, 1957, 6, Memoranda Tel. Conv.–Gen. Jan 1957–February 28, 1957 (1), General Correspondence and Memoranda Series, JFDP, DDEL; Berger,
Memoirs of an Anti-Zionist Jew
, 92.

20
. “Special Survey,”
Near East Report
, B-19. For more on the growing influence of modernization theory on US policy toward the Middle East after the late 1950s, see Jacobs,
Imagining the Middle East
, 164–186.

21
. “Draft, Story of a Purpose,” December 19, 1958, 59.3, JNP.

22
. “Inventory of U.S. Government and Private Organization Activity regarding Islamic Organizations as an Aspect of Overseas Operations,” May 3, 1957, 39, Ad Hoc Working Group on Islam, Lot 62D430, OCB Executive Secretariat, Regional and Country Operations Files, 1953–1961, RG 59, NA. See Robert Dreyfuss,
Devil’s Game: How the United States Helped Islamic Fundamentalism
(New York: Metropolitan Books, 2005).

23
. Minutes, Meeting of October 17, 1956, October 19, 1956, 2, Minutes IV, Lot 62D430, RG 59, NA; Edward P. Lilly to Elmer B. Staats, June 19, 1956, 78, 091.4 Near East (File 3) (6), OCB Central Files Series, White House Office, National Security Council Staff: Papers, 1948–61, DDEL.

Eighteen: Archie’s Turn: Syria, 1956

1
. Francis Russell, “U.S. Policies Toward Nasser,” August 4, 1956, 38, Omega—Developments—Miscl., 1956, Folder 2 of 2, Lot 59D518, RG 59, NA.

2
. Quoted in AR,
Lust of Knowing
, 445.

3
. See Roosevelt,
Keeper of the Gate
.

4
. AR, Biographical Material, 12.1, ABRP; AR,
Lust of Knowing
, 445.

5
. Code names in Eveland, “Outlines,” 539; Alsop quoted in ibid., 256; ibid., 545.

6
. AR,
Lust of Knowing
, 445–446.

7
. Seale,
The Struggle for Syria
, 275.

8
. Eveland,
Ropes of Sand
, 189–190.

9
. Ibid., 203.

10
. AR,
Lust of Knowing
, 433, 443–444.

11
. Selwa S. “Lucky” Roosevelt, interview by Charles Stuart Kennedy, November 24, 2003, FAOHP; Selwa Roosevelt interview by author; Dorril,
MI6
, chap. 19; AR,
Lust of Knowing
, 460, 447; Selwa Roosevelt interview by author; AR,
Lust of Knowing
, 366.

12
. Tom Bower,
The Perfect English Spy: Sir Dick White and the Secret War, 1935–90
(New York: St. Martin’s, 1995), 190; MC, obituary of AR. Archie interviewed Turkic Muslims for possible assignments with the Voice of America and other unspecified political warfare operations at the Munich headquarters of AMCOMLIB’s radio station, Radio Liberation (Rusi Nasar, interview by Ian Johnson, May 10, 2006). On AMCOMLIB and the blowback from its operations, see the excellent book by Ian Johnson,
A Mosque in Munich: Nazis, the CIA, and the Rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in the West
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010).

13
. AR,
Lust of Knowing
, 429–432.

14
. Ibid., 451–452. According to Bill Eveland, “Archie had a subconscious desire to oversee a coup in Syria and match his cousin’s reputation in Iran” (Eveland, “Outlines,” 544–545).

15
. Richard Beeston,
Looking for Trouble: The Life and Times of a Foreign Correspondent
(London: Brassey’s, 1997), 16; Nigel Ashton,
King Hussein of Jordan: A Political Life
(New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008), 62–63; Eveland,
Ropes of Sand
, 188, 191n; Jack O’Connell with Vernon Loeb,
King’s Counsel: A Memoir of War, Espionage, and Diplomacy in the Middle East
(New York: Norton, 2011), 5; AR,
Lust of Knowing
, 366.

16
. AR,
Lust of Knowing
, 373–376; Eveland,
Ropes of Sand
, 199.

17
. CIA guidance telegram, August 22, 1956, 38, Report of Special Mission to Saudi Arabia, August 20–27, 1956, Lot 59D518, RG 59, NA; see, for example, Telephone Call from Allen Dulles, Wednesday, April 4, 1956, 4, Memoranda of Telcon. General January 3, 1956–April 30, 1956 (3), General Correspondence and Memoranda Series, JFDP, DDEL; MC,
Without Cloak or Dagger
, 192–193. For a detailed discussion of Copeland’s claims, which concludes that they are credible,
see Barrett J. Riordan, “The Plowshare Program and Copeland’s Suez Energy Deception,”
International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence
17, no. 1 (2004): 124–143.

18
. Eveland,
Ropes of Sand
, 212–213. For a typically satirical secondhand account of the mission, see MC,
Game Player
, 207–208.

19
. Allen to John Foster Dulles, “Adib Shishakli and the Possibility of a Coup in Syria,” June 27, 1956,
FRUS 1955–57, Vol. 13
, 581; Seale,
The Struggle for Syria
, chap. 20.

20
. Seale,
The Struggle for Syria
, 245; “Notes on Syrian Personalities,” May 1, 1957, FO371/121857, PRO; R. C. Strong to Secretary of State, October 4, 1956, 30, Syria 350 Syria 1, 1956, Syria Classified General Records, 1943–1963, RG 84, NA.

21
. Eveland,
Ropes of Sand
, 125; Parker T. Hart, interview by William R. Crawford, January 27, 1989, FAOHP;
New York Times
, July 16, 1956, 6; Eveland,
Ropes of Sand
, 190; ambassador quoted in MC,
Game of Nations
, 188.

22
. Eveland,
Ropes of Sand
, 221; Seale,
The Struggle for Syria
, 276; Anthony Gorst and W. Scott Lucas, “The Other Collusion: Operation Straggle and Anglo-American Intervention in Syria, 1955–56,”
Intelligence and National Security
4, no. 3 (1989): 590; Rathmell,
Secret War
, 121.

23
. Dorril,
MI6
, 633; Kyle,
Suez
, 275.

24
. Allen Dulles quoted by John Foster Dulles in Richard J. Aldrich,
The Hidden Hand: Britain, America and Cold War Secret Intelligence
(London: John Murray, 2001), 483; MC,
Game Player
, 207–210; “Report of Conversation on Suez with Certain Egyptians, New York, 4 October,” October 9, 1956, 11, Egypt, Lot 58D776, Subject Files of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, 1945–60, RG 59, NA.

25
. Young quoted in Bower,
The Perfect English Spy
, 193; OIR Special Paper No. 2, “Hitler-Nasser,” August 14, 1956, 11, Egypt, Lot 58D776, RG 59, NA; Haikal,
Cutting the Lion’s Tail
, 106; MC,
Game of Nations
, 178.

26
. Rountree to John Foster Dulles, “Conversation with President Regarding Operation MASK,” October 19, 1956, 36, Mask—U.S.-U.K. Bilateral, Lot 59D518, RG 59, NA; MC,
Game Player
, 201.

27
. Memorandum of Conversation, “U.S.-U.K. Bilateral,” October 1, 1956, 36, Omega Syria, Lot 59D518, RG 59, NA; “MASK,” no date, 36, U.S.-U.K. Bilateral, Lot 59D518, RG 59, NA; Memorandum of Conversation, “Operation Mask,” October 18, 1956, 36, Mask—U.S.-U.K. Bilateral, Lot 59D518, RG 59, NA; CIA report quoted in Kyle,
Suez
, 275; Rountree to John Foster Dulles, October 30, 1956, 36, Omega–—Syria, Miscl. —Straggle, 1956, Folder 1 of 2, Lot 59D518, RG 59, NA.

28
. Bruce-Lockhart quoted in Dorril,
MI6
, 641; Dean quoted in Cooper,
The Lion’s Last Roar
, 159; KR, “Ghost of Suez.”

29
. KR interview by R. Harris Smith; KR, “Ghost of Suez”; Amory quoted in Hersh,
The Old Boys
, 368.

30
. Eveland,
Ropes of Sand
, 227.

31
. I am very grateful to Scott Lucas for sharing this information with me.

Nineteen: Game On: Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, 1957

1
. For an authoritative account of the Eisenhower Doctrine, see Salim Yaqub,
Containing Arab Nationalism: The Eisenhower Doctrine and the Middle East
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004).

2
. A number of recent books have favored a revisionist interpretation of post-Suez Anglo-American relations in the Middle East, the latest example being Simon C. Smith,
Ending Empire in the Middle East: Britain, the United States, and PostWar Decolonization, 1945–1973
(New York: Routledge, 2012), chap. 3.

3
. Young quoted in Dorril,
MI6
, 648; Telephone Call to Allen Dulles, October 30, 1956, 5, Memoranda of Telcon. General Oct.1, 1956–Dec. 29, 1956 (3), General Correspondence and Memoranda Series, JFDP, DDEL; Dorril,
MI6
, 648–649; Bower,
The Perfect English Spy
, 215–216.

4
. Sheehan,
Kingdom of Illusion
, 239, 277. Bill Eveland claimed secondhand knowledge of a plan, code name SIPONY, to carry out a “palace revolution” in Cairo, but he did not provide any more detailed information (see Eveland,
Ropes of Sand
, 244, 248). In contrast to Eveland, Miles Copeland wrote in his memoirs of “various desultory attempts to play along with the anti-Nasser mood of the moment,” including “the tightening of a channel to Nasser by which to ensure that whatever came of our anti-Nasser measures a pro-Nasser rescue operation would be on hand to
replace them if they failed” (
Game Player
, 208). More recent studies by historians likewise differ concerning the extent of US involvement in direct action against Nasser. Two works playing down American activism are Matthew F. Holland,
America and Egypt: From Roosevelt to Eisenhower
(Westport, CT: Praeger, 1996), 136–137; and Lucas and Morey, “The Hidden Alliance,” 112. A differing interpretation is offered in Little, “Mission Impossible,” 681–682.

5
. Eveland,
Ropes of Sand
, 242–243; Memorandum for the OCB Working Group on the Near East (NSC 5428), “Internal Security Program for Iraq,” June 4, 1957, 44, 091.Iraq (3), OCB Central Files Series, White House Office, NSC Staff: Papers, 1948–61, DDEL. The US success with Saud might also have owed something to the efforts of Ronald Irwin Metz, ARAMCO’s liaison with the Saudi king. Like Bill Eddy, Metz was an OSS veteran with close ties to the CIA. See Kai Bird’s memoir of his Middle Eastern childhood,
Crossing Mandelbaum Gate: Coming of Age Between the Arabs and Israelis, 1956–1978
(New York: Scribner, 2010), chap. 3.

6
. KR,
Arabs, Oil, and History
, 117; officials quoted in Pearson,
In the Name of Oil
, 113.

7
. See Lawrence Tal,
Politics, the Military, and National Security in Jordan, 1955–1967
(New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002), 44–45; Avi Shlaim,
Lion of Jordan: The Life of King Hussein in War and Peace
(New York: Knopf, 2008), 135–140; Ashton,
King Hussein of Jordan
, 63–64.

8
. Tal,
Politics, the Military, and National Security in Jordan
, 45–46; “The Road to Zerqa,”
Time
, April 29, 1957, 27.

9
. See, especially, Tal,
Politics, the Military, and National Security in Jordan
, 47–49.

10
. British official quoted in ibid., 48; Saïd K. Aburish,
Beirut Spy: The St. George Hotel Bar
(London: Bloomsbury, 1989), chap. 5; John Foster Dulles quoted in Douglas Little, “A Puppet in Search of a Puppeteer? The United States, King Hussein, and Jordan, 1953–1970,”
International History Review
17, no. 3 (1995): 524n3; MC,
Game of Nations
, 209.

11
. C. D. Jackson quoted in Yaqub,
Containing Arab Nationalism
, 138; NSC minutes, May 16, 1957, 7, NSC Series, AWF, DDEL; Little, “Puppet,” 525.

12
. Allen Dulles quoted in Yaqub,
Containing Arab Nationalism
, 143. See Pearson,
In the Name of Oil
, 145; Zachary Karabell,
Architects of Intervention: The United States, the Third World, and the Cold War, 1946–1962
(Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1999), 159; Eveland,
Ropes of Sand
, 252.

13
. Telephone Call to Allen Dulles, April 17, 1957, 6, Memoranda Tel. Conv.—General March 1957–April 30, 1957 (2), General Correspondence and Memoranda Series, JFDP, DDEL.

14
. Conversation with Harold Caccia, December 24, 1956, 1, Memos of Conversation—General—A Through D (3), General Correspondence and Memoranda Series, JFDP, DDEL; Allen Dulles to Hoover et al., November 10, 1956, 7, CIA Vol. 1 (4), Subject Series, Alphabetical Subseries, White House Office, Office of the Staff Secretary, DDEL; Rathmell,
Secret War
, 127; Telephone Call to Allen Dulles, April 17, 1957, 6, Memoranda Tel. Conv.—General March 1957–April 30, 1957 (2), General Correspondence and Memoranda Series, JFDP, DDEL.

15
. Edward L. Waggoner to Fraser Wilkins, May 13, 1957, 1, United States–Syrian Relations, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, Office of Near Eastern Affairs, Records of the United Arab Republic Affairs Desk, 1956–62, RG 59, NA; Telephone Call to Allen Dulles, April 17, 1957, 6, Memoranda Tel. Conv.—General March 1957–April 30, 1957 (2); Telephone Call to Allen Dulles, May 28, 1957, 6, Memoranda Tel. Conv.—General May 7 1957–June 27, 1957 (4), General Correspondence and Memoranda Series, JFDP, DDEL.