0:00:11.049,0:00:14.050
This is a story of how the government of the United Kingdom

0:00:14.005,0:00:19.061
decided to attack an Arab nation, of how afraid

0:00:20.006,0:00:20.088
its oil supplies were under threat and

0:00:20.088,0:00:23.170
embarked on a strategy of regime change.[br]

0:00:24.007,0:00:27.176
Of how Britain deliberately bypassed the United Nations

0:00:27.869,0:00:31.670
and of how a power British Prime Minister led

0:00:31.067,0:00:35.071
the nation to war based on suspect intelligence.

0:00:35.071,0:00:42.071
But this isn't Iraq 2003,

0:00:44.073,0:00:49.072
this is Egypt 1956. These are British paratroopers

0:00:49.072,0:00:51.063
fighting on the orders of British Prime Minister

0:00:51.063,0:00:55.149
Anthony Eden. He has gambled on a war in a desperate bid to destroy

0:00:56.049,0:00:59.084
Egypt's new young president Gamal Abdel Nasser.

0:01:00.076,0:01:03.108
"I'm utterly convinced the action we have taken is right."

0:01:04.007,0:01:07.050
This is a war over who will run

0:01:07.005,0:01:11.043
this Egyptian waterway - the Suez Canal - and the vital

0:01:11.043,0:01:13.064
oil supplies which are transported through it.

0:01:13.064,0:01:17.065
Suez is a crisis which will push the world to the brink of nuclear

0:01:17.074,0:01:19.975
catastrophe. "That moment I did think

0:01:19.975,0:01:21.100
this is really going to be the

0:01:22.000,0:01:24.061
Third World War."

0:01:24.061,0:01:27.149
In Britain we know Suez is a war based on a Prime Minister's lie,

0:01:28.049,0:01:32.123
a lie which destroys him. "MI-6 sexed up their intelligence."

0:01:33.023,0:01:37.051
But seen from the other side, Suez is a story of how a small

0:01:37.051,0:01:40.079
poor Arab country defended itself against the Western world

0:01:40.079,0:01:44.158
and won. "People will defend their country, they will defend their land."

0:02:02.002,0:02:06.061
July the 26th, 1956. It is a warm evening

0:02:06.061,0:02:10.073
as Egyptian President Gamal Abdel[br]Nasser prepares to address his people.

0:02:10.073,0:02:14.119
His country is in ferment. Only seven[br]days before,

0:02:15.019,0:02:19.035
the young president had suffered a[br]humiliating blow when the West sabotaged

0:02:19.035,0:02:20.068
his key plan to lift

0:02:20.068,0:02:25.070
Egypt out of poverty. Now, two hundred[br]thousand people gathered to hear their

0:02:25.088,0:02:26.091
president's response.

0:02:27.018,0:02:32.023
But unknown to the crowd, 30 people[br]stationed on the banks of the Suez Canal

0:02:32.068,0:02:35.153
are listening for a password - a[br]Frenchman's name hidden

0:02:36.053,0:02:39.058
in Nasser's speech. "They have

0:02:39.058,0:02:43.066
their radio on to follow the speech

0:02:43.066,0:02:47.095
waiting for the password "De Lesseps."

0:02:47.095,0:02:52.152
When they hear this word, their president[br]has told them to storm the offices of

0:02:53.052,0:02:54.096
the Suez Canal Company.

0:02:54.096,0:02:57.105
{Segment from speech}

0:02:58.005,0:03:01.079
As jubilant Egyptians celebrate,

0:03:01.079,0:03:05.150
Nasser heads to a movie theater to relax.[br]He doesn't know that in London,

0:03:06.005,0:03:13.005
Anthony Eden has already decided to have[br]him killed.

0:03:18.079,0:03:21.100
Egypt - cradle of ancient civilizations

0:03:22.000,0:03:26.035
and in the post-war era, strategically[br]the most valuable country in the Arab

0:03:26.035,0:03:29.035
world.

0:03:29.035,0:03:34.110
Thanks to this, the Suez Canal, which[br]carries oil to the economies of the West.

0:03:35.001,0:03:39.057
The company that runs the canal

0:03:39.066,0:03:43.073
is largely owned by Egypt's old colonial[br]masters, Britain and France,

0:03:43.073,0:03:46.110
and is staffed by Europeans. "Reconsider

0:03:47.001,0:03:53.002
the Suez Canal Company is a country, inside

0:03:53.011,0:03:59.093
our country, a state inside our state. Egypt sees virtually nothing of[br]the tens of millions of dollars the

0:03:59.093,0:04:00.139
canal earns each year.

0:04:01.039,0:04:05.388
Feelings of resentment are growing.[br]"Imagine

0:04:05.739,0:04:11.080
somebody, a foreigner in your country, and he give[br]your nothing.

0:04:11.008,0:04:14.020
He take everything and give you nothing. Is[br]that justice?"

0:04:14.002,0:04:15.008


0:04:15.008,0:04:20.019


0:04:20.091,0:04:24.147
In February 1955, Egypt's young President[br]Gamal Abdel Nasser

0:04:25.047,0:04:28.081
meets British Prime Minister Anthony[br]Eden for the first time.

0:04:28.081,0:04:31.132
The two men dislike one another from the[br]start.

0:04:32.032,0:04:36.067
"The impression of President Nasser

0:04:36.067,0:04:39.083
about Anthony Eden

0:04:39.083,0:04:41.134
was that he was small Cheshire and not a, you know,

0:04:42.034,0:04:44.122
committed with imposing

0:04:45.022,0:04:50.561
the British point of view on the other side."

0:04:50.759,0:04:54.813
For Eden, Egypt remains part of Britain's[br]sphere of influence in the Middle East.

0:04:55.299,0:04:59.383
Although nominally independent since[br]1922, Egyptian kings have dutifully done

0:05:00.139,0:05:01.198
what British Prime Minister's

0:05:01.729,0:05:04.765
have told them to do. "Eden lived in the

0:05:05.089,0:05:08.136
legend of the empire, but the world was different.

0:05:08.559,0:05:11.588
Eden didn't realize

0:05:11.849,0:05:16.960
the change in the balance of power."

0:05:16.096,0:05:19.107
Anthony Eden is every inch the[br]conservative Prime Minister.

0:05:20.007,0:05:24.035
Educated at Eton and Oxford, he was[br]foreign secretary during the war

0:05:24.035,0:05:31.035
and is Winston Churchill's hand-picked[br]successor.

0:05:32.008,0:05:35.055
But in Nasser, Eden encounters a new kind[br]of Arab leader.

0:05:35.055,0:05:38.136
He is part of a new generation[br]of Egyptians determined to secure

0:05:39.036,0:05:42.090
real independence for their country.

0:05:42.009,0:05:46.046


0:05:47.027,0:05:51.416


0:05:51.659,0:05:55.780


0:05:55.078,0:05:58.117
Nasser is one of a group of officers who[br]had overthrown the playboy

0:05:59.017,0:06:03.062
King Farouk in 1952. Two years later,

0:06:03.062,0:06:06.106
Nasser had shown Britain that Egypt would[br]not be pushed around.

0:06:07.006,0:06:11.013
An aggressive guerrilla campaign forces[br]the British to evacuate

0:06:11.013,0:06:14.061
eighty-eight thousand soldiers from the[br]biggest base in the world,

0:06:14.061,0:06:18.102
on the banks of the Suez Canal. "At that[br]time,

0:06:19.002,0:06:23.031
what was most important is real independence

0:06:23.031,0:06:26.034
and to get free, really free, by

0:06:26.034,0:06:30.043
evacuating the troops." "There was an[br]operation

0:06:30.043,0:06:34.050
against the British troops prior to[br]the negotiations.

0:06:35.013,0:06:38.091
When the negotiations go in a smooth[br]way,

0:06:38.091,0:06:42.094
we ease the resistance. When

0:06:43.021,0:06:46.073
the British delegation became[br]stubborn,

0:06:46.073,0:06:53.073
we intensify the resistance."

0:06:56.699,0:06:58.705
By the spring of 1956,

0:06:58.759,0:07:03.300
Egypt is free of British troops. With[br]his country moving away from its

0:07:03.003,0:07:04.029
colonial past,

0:07:04.056,0:07:09.285
Nasser embarks on an ambitious plan to[br]transform the lives of his people.

0:07:09.789,0:07:13.220
"Egypt was very much backward,

0:07:13.022,0:07:16.061
half percent of the people were[br]possessing

0:07:16.259,0:07:19.630
nearly about seventy-five percent of the[br]fortune.

0:07:19.063,0:07:22.132
"We had one of the lowest standards life,

0:07:22.699,0:07:25.733
the majority of Egyptians were in[br]streets with

0:07:26.039,0:07:30.520
naked feet."

0:07:30.052,0:07:36.115
Nasser's solution is to build a huge dam on[br]the Nile at Aswan

0:07:37.015,0:07:40.018
which will provide water for agriculture[br]and electricity.

0:07:40.018,0:07:44.032
It will be the biggest dam in the world[br]and will lift Egypt out of poverty

0:07:44.032,0:07:47.125
once and for all. "This project of the high dam

0:07:48.025,0:07:51.032
will provide Egypt with water to double the

0:07:51.032,0:07:57.086
farms and will give power - electricity to[br]industrialize Egypt."

0:07:57.086,0:08:00.163
But Nasser needs four hundred million[br]dollars to realize his dream,

0:08:01.063,0:08:05.091
an enormous sum in the 1950s.[br]His first port of call

0:08:05.091,0:08:09.130
is the West. "In the beginning, Nasser

0:08:09.949,0:08:15.008
and all the revolution have no problem[br]with the Americans. On the contrary, we can get help

0:08:15.539,0:08:20.130
of the Americans." The World Bank, backed by the United[br]States and Britain,

0:08:20.013,0:08:24.088
agrees to give him a loan. At this point,[br]Nasser's relations with the Americans

0:08:24.088,0:08:27.617
seem close. "Nasser's favorite film

0:08:28.409,0:08:31.820
is It's a Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart.[br]He really loves that

0:08:31.082,0:08:35.361
film and Washington arranges to send out[br]a special copy of the film

0:08:36.099,0:08:40.900
with Arabic subtitles." By 1956,

0:08:40.009,0:08:43.948
Egypt's glamorous young president is[br]confident his plans to develop Egypt

0:08:44.839,0:08:47.851
are on course, but Nasser has another[br]problem,

0:08:47.959,0:08:54.959
which will destroy his plans.

0:08:55.759,0:08:59.170
"As the sporadic fighting takes on the[br]proportions of full-scale war,

0:08:59.017,0:09:03.075
dead and captured arms are the order of[br]the day, as both Arabs and Israelis put

0:09:03.075,0:09:05.644
their nations on a full mobilization[br]basis."

0:09:06.319,0:09:10.382
{Explosions}

0:09:10.949,0:09:14.981
Nassar faught in the Arab armies defeated by[br]the Israelis in 1948.

0:09:15.269,0:09:19.326
Since then the Middle East's newest[br]state has fought a border war with its

0:09:19.839,0:09:20.690
Arab neighbors.

0:09:20.069,0:09:23.398
Israel's very existence is an affront

0:09:24.019,0:09:28.038
to Nasser. "Nasser was at the time a great

0:09:28.209,0:09:32.214
danger and enemy. Very soon, it was clear[br]that he aspires

0:09:32.709,0:09:36.690
to the unify the Arab world." "Nasser

0:09:36.069,0:09:39.118
made great speeches. He was handsome, he

0:09:40.018,0:09:43.079
was eloquent. He carried fire with him,

0:09:43.079,0:09:48.144
there was a catastrophe."

0:09:49.044,0:09:55.047
The Israelis see themselves surrounded[br]by enemies,

0:09:55.047,0:09:59.266
fearing attack, they are desperately[br]trolling the world for arms.

0:09:59.689,0:10:02.784
"The Americans were very strict, they wouldn't supply us arms,

0:10:03.639,0:10:07.130
so did Great Britain, and I thought

0:10:07.013,0:10:10.013
the only opening we have is France."

0:10:10.013,0:10:16.041
France agrees to supply Israel with the[br]Jewish state's

0:10:16.041,0:10:19.660
first jet fighters. To Nasser,

0:10:20.029,0:10:23.095
it looks like an increasingly powerful[br]enemy is at the gates.

0:10:23.689,0:10:27.721
"The French are giving Israel arms, I am

0:10:28.009,0:10:31.620
confronting the situation that may distract my[br]country.

0:10:31.062,0:10:35.070
Should I stand still?"

0:10:35.007,0:10:40.012
So Nasser decides he too will look[br]abroad for arms.

0:10:40.075,0:10:43.078
As with the loan for his dam, his first[br]call

0:10:44.005,0:10:47.033
is on the United States. "Nasser, from the first

0:10:47.033,0:10:50.036
day of revolution, asks the Americans,

0:10:50.063,0:10:53.095
I need arms, our

0:10:53.095,0:10:56.139
army needs arms and he asked the British

0:10:57.039,0:11:00.478
the same question. Neither the British

0:11:00.829,0:11:07.829
nor the Americans gave a response on that." But[br]this

0:11:09.459,0:11:13.120
is the 1950s, the depths of[br]the Cold War,

0:11:13.012,0:11:17.054
the West and the Soviet Union are locked[br]in a battle for influence across the

0:11:17.054,0:11:17.663
world.

0:11:18.149,0:11:21.240
Nasser knows that if Washington says no

0:11:21.024,0:11:28.024
then maybe Nikita Khrushchev in[br]Moscow will say yes.

0:11:30.052,0:11:34.063
"Egypt flexes its military muscles with[br]the display of arms newly acquired from

0:11:34.063,0:11:35.117
Russia and its satellites."

0:11:36.017,0:11:39.086
The first arms from the Soviet bloc

0:11:39.086,0:11:42.086
land in Alexandria on the 27th of[br]September,

0:11:42.086,0:11:45.153
1955. The deal as a triumph for Khrushchev,[br]

0:11:46.053,0:11:49.067
who is keen to extend Communist[br]influence in the region.

0:11:49.067,0:11:52.150
"He didn't expect that countries would[br]be communist immediately,

0:11:53.005,0:11:56.078
he's willing to wait. Egypt was[br]the first great success for him.

0:11:57.023,0:12:00.034
This was for Khrushchev a sign.

0:12:00.034,0:12:03.076
The kind of relationship he could have[br]with many of the large states in

0:12:03.076,0:12:03.159
developing world.

0:12:04.059,0:12:07.077
And for the West, this was a very[br]dramatic achievement."

0:12:07.077,0:12:10.133
But Nasser is not in Khrushchev's pocket,

0:12:11.033,0:12:16.046
as many in the West fear. "Nasser has[br]never been a Communist, never, never

0:12:16.046,0:12:19.129
at all." "We are believer. I[br]am a believer, I believe in God. Nasser

0:12:20.029,0:12:23.045
used to believe in God. Nasser used to[br]pray.

0:12:23.045,0:12:26.102
The Communists don't believe in God.

0:12:27.002,0:12:31.019
Nasser was an anti-communist.

0:12:31.019,0:12:35.020
The soviets knew full well he was an anti-communist.[br]They knew that he was putting communists

0:12:35.002,0:12:35.055
in jail.

0:12:35.073,0:12:38.115
He didn't let those communists out of jail[br]when his relations improved with the

0:12:39.015,0:12:42.048
Soviet Union, but both sides made a[br]pragmatic

0:12:42.048,0:12:45.075
decision." But in Eden's view,

0:12:45.075,0:12:49.078
Nasser does look like a communist stooge. The prime minister and the Americans

0:12:50.005,0:12:52.091
decide to punish him for cutting a deal[br]with the Soviets.

0:12:52.091,0:12:56.135
Their response is to mount a covert[br]campaign against Nasser,

0:12:57.035,0:13:01.110
code-named Omega. "Omega includes[br]propaganda

0:13:02.001,0:13:05.024
to provide information to journalists, to[br]broadcasters,

0:13:05.033,0:13:09.082
that say, "Nasser really isn't a very good[br]person, can you please report this?"

0:13:09.082,0:13:11.171


0:13:12.071,0:13:15.116
"Omega also includes sanctions against[br]Egypt. It includes

0:13:16.016,0:13:20.061
locking military aid to Egypt." Then

0:13:20.061,0:13:24.144
as part of this undeclared war, a secret[br]decision is taken to slow down financing

0:13:25.044,0:13:26.087
on the Aswan dam.

0:13:26.087,0:13:30.094
Anthony Eden and the US Secretary of[br]State, John Foster Dulles,

0:13:30.094,0:13:33.100
are behind the new strategy. "I think

0:13:34.000,0:13:38.035
Dulles was angry with Nasser for having

0:13:38.035,0:13:42.048
almost flaunted his independence. I really[br]think that

0:13:42.048,0:13:46.133
Dulles believed that Nasser's[br]behavior was

0:13:47.033,0:13:54.033
almost a personal affront him.

0:13:54.067,0:13:58.067
In London, Eden's mistrust of Nasser is[br]increased by some mysterious

0:13:58.067,0:14:01.166
intelligence reports which have just[br]landed on his desk.

0:14:01.769,0:14:05.540
They are from an MI6 contact known as[br]"Lucky Break".

0:14:05.054,0:14:10.097
Lucky Break tells Eden that Nasser is a[br]pawn of the Soviet Union

0:14:10.097,0:14:15.256
and the Egyptian people will welcome his[br]overthrow. "From reading the reports in MI6

0:14:16.129,0:14:19.138
is giving to British officials and[br]giving to the Americans,

0:14:20.029,0:14:23.490
I think they're taking a few sources and[br]their sexing them up.

0:14:23.049,0:14:27.338
No one individual

0:14:27.779,0:14:33.600
could have provided the information that[br]Nasser was so close to the Soviets,

0:14:33.006,0:14:37.013
that Nasser was so vulnerable to being[br]overthrown,

0:14:37.067,0:14:40.069
if not assinated, because that was

0:14:40.087,0:14:45.158
not true, that simply was not true."

0:14:46.058,0:14:49.113
But "Lucky Break" is telling the British[br]Prime Minister

0:14:50.013,0:14:55.071
what he wants to hear them. The firm attitude that the[br]government have adopted is not (quote fades)

0:14:55.071,0:14:56.077
Foreign Office Minister Anthony Nutting

0:14:57.031,0:15:00.037
is one of the first to realize just how[br]far the Prime Minister

0:15:00.091,0:15:02.763
is now prepared to go. "Over an open line,

0:15:05.435,0:15:08.109
having just said, 'it's me,' we started[br]a violent argument on the telephone, and he

0:15:09.009,0:15:09.105
was really violent

0:15:10.005,0:15:12.036
in our conversation

0:15:12.036,0:15:16.195
and ended up by shouting at me, 'I don't[br]want Nasser neutralized, I want him

0:15:16.519,0:15:17.390
destroyed'."

0:15:17.039,0:15:20.178
There were two-two people [unintelligible] in conversation:

0:15:20.529,0:15:24.060
Eden and Nutting. Nutting said subsequently that Eden had said murder.

0:15:24.006,0:15:28.067


0:15:28.067,0:15:29.142
Operatives within MI6

0:15:30.042,0:15:34.139
take the Prime Minister at his word. "What[br]you have is Thomas of Becket situation

0:15:35.039,0:15:36.064
were Eden says will someone not

0:15:36.064,0:15:41.152
make me rid of this turbulent Nasser." "I'm not[br]exaggerating.

0:15:42.052,0:15:45.060
Nearly every month, nearly

0:15:46.032,0:15:49.032
every month, there was an attempt against Nasser.

0:15:49.032,0:15:52.060
From the West, either French

0:15:52.006,0:15:56.094
or British, or Israelis, nearly every month.

0:15:57.048,0:16:01.066
As Nasser was making a public speech in[br]Alexandria,

0:16:01.066,0:16:05.071
a young man fired eight bullets at him.[br]All missed the Premier, but two of his aids

0:16:06.016,0:16:06.069
were wounded.

0:16:06.069,0:16:09.086
"The plans just are are wildly out of[br]control,

0:16:09.086,0:16:12.132
putting nerve gas into the ventilation[br]system of

0:16:13.032,0:16:17.034
Nasser's headquarters, trying to put poison[br]into Nasser's coffee,

0:16:17.034,0:16:24.034
trying at some point to possibly shoot[br]Nasser.

0:16:27.071,0:16:31.117
If Lucky Break did not exist in 1956, he would[br]have had to be created

0:16:32.017,0:16:39.017
to justify their extravagant plans to[br]get rid of Nasser.

0:16:49.045,0:16:53.116
On the 19th of July, 1956, the Egyptian[br]ambassador to the USA

0:16:54.016,0:16:58.049
is called into the state department. He is[br]informed that the financing up the Aswan

0:16:58.049,0:17:00.114
dam is cancelled.

0:17:01.014,0:17:05.040
If the West can't assassinate Nasser,[br]then they will destroy his dreams to

0:17:05.040,0:17:06.057
develop Egypt.

0:17:06.057,0:17:11.076
To add insult to injury, president Nasser[br]only learns of the decision from the

0:17:11.076,0:17:12.080
radio news.

0:17:12.080,0:17:16.720
I was surprised by the insultive attitude

0:17:17.449,0:17:21.180
which the refusal was declared,

0:17:21.018,0:17:24.060
not by the refusal itself, but the

0:17:24.060,0:17:30.132
insultive attitude and- which[br]meant humiliation. Now

0:17:31.032,0:17:35.038
Nasser has two choices, he can meekly except[br]the West's punishment,

0:17:35.092,0:17:38.154
or he can fight. Three days later,

0:17:39.054,0:17:44.093
he gathers his most trusted lieutenants[br]together. "President Nasser

0:17:44.093,0:17:51.093
ordered me to bring him the file on the[br]Suez Canal.

0:17:53.095,0:17:58.174
And he told me 'what about nationalizing this canal?'"

0:17:59.029,0:18:03.105
I got surprised

0:18:03.789,0:18:06.888
but internally

0:18:07.779,0:18:11.840
in myself, I got proud to think about

0:18:12.389,0:18:15.405
this action at that time.

0:18:15.549,0:18:18.578
I felt proud."

0:18:18.839,0:18:21.900
Nasser calculates that the Aswan dam[br]can still be built,

0:18:22.449,0:18:25.537
if the tolls have ships transiting the[br]Suez Canal come to Egypt

0:18:26.329,0:18:29.385
and not the British and French[br]controlled Suez Canal Company.

0:18:29.889,0:18:33.917
But Nasser knows that nationalization is a[br]huge risk,

0:18:34.169,0:18:38.181
he will have to physically seize control[br]of the canal itself.

0:18:38.289,0:18:43.190
The next day he is scheduled to make his[br]first speech since his humiliation at

0:18:43.019,0:18:46.358
the hands of the West. All Egypt[br]waits for his response.

0:18:46.529,0:18:50.543


0:18:50.669,0:18:53.765
The speech is an anti-climax. "It was all[br]rhetoric.

0:18:54.629,0:18:58.676
The reaction of Egyptians was 'Oh, that[br]he hasn't got the balls

0:18:59.099,0:19:03.168
to really stand up to the United States. But[br]afterwards

0:19:03.789,0:19:06.812
Nasser orders an old military colleague,[br]Mahmoud Eunice,

0:19:07.019,0:19:11.035
to mastermind the dangerous job taking[br]physical control of the canal.

0:19:11.179,0:19:14.860
Eunice selects 30 man he can trust.

0:19:14.086,0:19:17.144
Eunice emphasized that, if

0:19:18.044,0:19:21.049
this peace of news

0:19:21.049,0:19:24.066
is released then

0:19:24.066,0:19:27.068
it will surely

0:19:27.086,0:19:31.139
not succeed. Three days later,

0:19:32.039,0:19:36.073
Nasser is scheduled to speak publicly[br]again. The men know their queue for

0:19:36.073,0:19:39.077
action is a password hidden in the[br]President's speech,

0:19:39.077,0:19:42.138
which will be carried on Egyptian radio.[br]The password

0:19:43.038,0:19:47.061
is the name of the man who designed the[br]canal, Ferdinand de Lesseps.

0:19:47.061,0:19:51.144
As they wait, they still don't know if[br]their President has definitely decided

0:19:52.044,0:19:53.078
to take the gamble.

0:19:53.078,0:19:56.147
"My feelings were combination

0:19:57.047,0:20:00.101
of first, fear,

0:20:01.001,0:20:05.002
and of course the sense of

0:20:05.011,0:20:08.102
responsibility. This

0:20:09.002,0:20:16.002
is tremendous.

0:20:19.078,0:20:24.347
In the stifling July heat, Nasser makes his[br]way to Alexandria's Mansheya Square,

0:20:25.049,0:20:30.090
where he is to deliver his speech. Once[br]again his people wait to hear if he

0:20:30.009,0:20:31.052
will respond to the West's

0:20:31.052,0:20:35.100
denial of funding for the Aswan dam.[br]At 9pm,

0:20:36.000,0:20:41.021
Nasser climbs the podium. The speech is long.

0:20:41.021,0:20:46.058
Nasser catalogs the centuries of[br]humiliations the Egyptians have suffered

0:20:46.058,0:20:50.110
at the hands of the West.

0:20:51.001,0:20:54.690
It is an attitude of such arrogance towards other peoples. We will not be manipulated.

0:20:54.789,0:20:55.850


0:20:55.085,0:20:57.169
His tone is measured but angry.

0:20:58.069,0:21:01.125
Today we are going to get rid of what happened in the past.

0:21:02.025,0:21:07.112


0:21:08.012,0:21:11.023
On the canal, Esset and his men are in[br]position,

0:21:11.023,0:21:14.086
ready for the signal, but after two hours,

0:21:14.086,0:21:17.151
it still hasn't come.

0:21:18.051,0:21:25.051
"Every year the Company earn 35 million pounds sterling. This money should be ours.

0:21:26.006,0:21:29.094
Then the moment of truth

0:21:29.094,0:21:33.108
"I imagined I had seen Ferdinand De Lesseps."

0:21:34.008,0:21:38.054
At the signal, Eunice, Esset and their[br]men, simultaneously break into the

0:21:38.054,0:21:40.117
four main offices ot the Suez Canal[br]Company.

0:21:41.017,0:21:45.025
In Alexandria, Nasser leaves nothing to[br]chance.

0:21:45.025,0:21:48.104
He repeats the password a total of 14[br]times.

0:21:49.004,0:21:52.086


0:21:52.086,0:21:54.163


0:21:55.063,0:21:59.068
In the Canal Company headquarters, Eunice[br]informs the European employees that the

0:22:00.013,0:22:01.100
company has been nationalized.

0:22:02.000,0:22:03.069
He is polite,

0:22:03.069,0:22:07.161
but he is also armed. Attempts sabotage[br]or obstruction by the employees

0:22:08.061,0:22:11.460
will not be tolerated. "They were very

0:22:12.009,0:22:16.110
astonished and afraid.

0:22:16.011,0:22:19.062
We tried to calmed them down and

0:22:19.062,0:22:22.951
asked them to continue work

0:22:23.509,0:22:26.740
as if nothing has happened."

0:22:26.074,0:22:30.110
Back in Alexandria, Nasser now reveals to[br]the world

0:22:31.001,0:22:38.001
what the employees at the Suez Canal[br]Company have just discovered.

0:22:43.089,0:22:46.172
"Some of your fellow citizens have just taken over the Canal." Across Egypt, there is pandemonium. "It was a.

0:22:47.072,0:22:51.091
bombshell, of course, absolute bombshell. We[br]listen to this thing

0:22:51.091,0:22:55.107
nobody expected." "People were rioting

0:22:56.007,0:22:59.026
in the street.

0:22:59.026,0:23:02.039
I celebrated with all Egyptians."

0:23:02.039,0:23:04.092
The Suez Canal Company shall be nationalized. All Company assets shall be transferred to the state. The Company is under new management.

0:23:04.092,0:23:11.092


0:23:13.079,0:23:19.094


0:23:19.094,0:23:21.168
The employees at the newly nationalized[br]company

0:23:22.068,0:23:25.111
do not join in the celebrations. "I[br]remember that

0:23:26.011,0:23:29.093
some of them said, 'You do not

0:23:29.093,0:23:32.120
to realize the impact

0:23:33.002,0:23:36.005
and the reactions from the West.

0:23:36.023,0:23:39.050
Because the West cannot leave

0:23:39.005,0:23:42.013
this international waterway

0:23:42.058,0:23:45.149
in incapable hands.

0:23:46.049,0:23:50.057
In London,

0:23:51.029,0:23:55.080
Eden is enjoying post-dinner brandys[br]with military and diplomatic top brass

0:23:55.008,0:23:56.011
at No. 10.

0:23:56.083,0:23:59.083
When news of Nasser's actions comes[br]through,

0:23:59.083,0:24:02.137
he is furious. "We all know this is how

0:24:03.037,0:24:07.070
fascist governments behave and we all[br]remember,

0:24:07.007,0:24:10.102
only too well, what the cost can be

0:24:11.065,0:24:15.161
in giving in to Fascism." The former commanding[br]officer

0:24:16.061,0:24:20.087
of our battalion described, in his usual blunt way[br]to me, he said that

0:24:20.087,0:24:24.116
the moment you mentioned the name Nasser,[br]Eden practically

0:24:25.016,0:24:30.048
got down and chewed the carpet.

0:24:30.048,0:24:33.937
But in the United States, initial[br]reaction is less belligerent.

0:24:34.369,0:24:38.210
Eisenhower dispatches John Foster Dulles[br]to London,

0:24:38.021,0:24:42.840
to calm me Eden down. Dulles carries with him[br]a letter from the President.

0:24:43.029,0:24:46.330
"The letter said that, under no circumstances,[br]within

0:24:46.033,0:24:49.862
American public opinion or the american[br]government support use of force in the

0:24:50.159,0:24:54.850
Middle East." But Eden has already made[br]his decision.

0:24:54.085,0:24:57.404
The next morning, Eisenhower had a

0:24:58.169,0:25:01.600
cable from Eden,

0:25:01.006,0:25:05.105
stating the explicitly that the[br]government had decided that they were

0:25:06.059,0:25:07.124
going to get rid of Nasser,

0:25:08.024,0:25:12.323
that this is the only alternative, that[br]there was a firm decision, they were

0:25:12.539,0:25:13.551
going to change it,

0:25:13.659,0:25:17.660
and that was that."

0:25:17.759,0:25:20.940
"Essentially, the British and French reaction

0:25:20.094,0:25:25.313
to the Suez Crisis, captivated[br]two principles,

0:25:26.159,0:25:29.196
about which we have heard quite a lot[br]recently.

0:25:29.529,0:25:32.530
One was regime change, feeling that Nasser must go.

0:25:32.539,0:25:35.610
The other was preemptive

0:25:36.249,0:25:39.830
self-defense. Eden's justification for[br]this

0:25:39.083,0:25:43.097
is the belief that Nasser is a Soviet[br]puppet, a direct threat

0:25:43.097,0:25:47.176
to British interests. Lucky Break's[br]intelligence has told him so.

0:25:48.049,0:25:52.062
But the intelligence is wrong. In moscow,

0:25:52.179,0:25:55.179
Nikita Kruschev knows nothing of Nasser's[br]plans.

0:25:55.179,0:26:00.720
"When he nationalized the canal, it was[br]a surprise for the Soviet Union also.

0:26:00.072,0:26:04.073
He didn't take their permission or anything."

0:26:04.082,0:26:08.181
"Even once he had made this decision, a few days before[br]the announcement, he didn't tell the Soviets.

0:26:08.919,0:26:12.840
And he didn't tell them for an obvious[br]reason, he knew what their reaction

0:26:12.084,0:26:16.773
would be. Moscow would tell him, "Don't do[br]it." The West

0:26:17.529,0:26:23.567
saw Moscow as the ginger man in the[br]story, as provoking Nasser to be more and

0:26:23.909,0:26:23.985
more aggressive.

0:26:24.669,0:26:28.753
In fact, Moscow was doing the opposite."[br]Meanwhile,

0:26:29.509,0:26:33.220
in the newly nationalized canal, the[br]atmosphere is tense.

0:26:33.022,0:26:37.601
Nasser knows that Edan does not expect[br]the Egyptians will be able to run the

0:26:37.799,0:26:38.350
canal.

0:26:38.035,0:26:41.041
Critical to its running, are the three[br]hundred pilots,

0:26:41.095,0:26:45.134
nearly all European, who guide each ship[br]from one end to the other.

0:26:46.034,0:26:49.047
"Without these pilots, the traffic will

0:26:49.047,0:26:52.082
will never start, canal will stop."

0:26:52.082,0:26:55.151
"We noticed that after

0:26:55.889,0:26:58.955
the summer leave is over, some

0:26:59.549,0:27:03.550
did not come back. We also notice

0:27:03.559,0:27:07.350
that some are selling their cars."

0:27:07.035,0:27:10.604
"In fourteenth of September,

0:27:10.919,0:27:13.925
at twelve o'clock, they declared

0:27:14.519,0:27:19.590
we stop work." Seven weeks after nationalization,[br]

0:27:19.059,0:27:23.248
the British Prime Minister has secretly[br]instructed the pilots to abandon the

0:27:23.779,0:27:23.838
canal.

0:27:24.369,0:27:27.720
"It was now an exam, in

0:27:27.072,0:27:30.135
which if we failed, then soon,

0:27:31.035,0:27:37.074
then soon the Suez Canal would be lost. [br]Egypt's hopes rest on the shoulders of the

0:27:37.074,0:27:39.863
26-year-old trainee pilot Ali Nasri,

0:27:40.529,0:27:44.533
who, with only a fortnight's training, has[br]to take a ship through the canal.

0:27:44.929,0:27:49.952
"My first vessel was German and the[br]captain came and say,

0:27:50.159,0:27:55.220
'You are from the new pilots?', I said, 'Yes[br]and this is my first time.

0:27:55.022,0:27:59.069
I have to take a ship alone'."

0:27:59.069,0:28:04.048
The potential for disaster is huge. The[br]canal is little over a hundred meters

0:28:04.669,0:28:05.681
wide at points.

0:28:05.789,0:28:09.886
Ali Nasri fears a miscalculation could[br]send his tanker into the bank's

0:28:10.759,0:28:13.788
blocking the whole canal and proving[br]Eden right.

0:28:14.049,0:28:19.134
"The feeling of responsibility makes me losing[br]some confidence.

0:28:19.899,0:28:23.700
I couldn't see the buoys. You see the[br]green boys and red buoys.

0:28:23.007,0:28:27.476
I couldn't see any.

0:28:28.169,0:28:32.251
But by time, they [unintelligible], and they start to give orders.

0:28:32.989,0:28:35.120


0:28:35.012,0:28:42.012
Slowly his ship moves off down the canal.

0:28:45.057,0:28:51.098
"My orders, I executed immediately.

0:28:51.098,0:28:53.166
You keep the vessel in the middle, straight.

0:28:54.066,0:28:57.073
So I start to feel happy, relax.

0:28:57.073,0:29:00.107
I can see the way, the vessel was moving.

0:29:01.007,0:29:07.009
So I start to feel easy-easy." Nasri's[br]progress is followed with baited breath

0:29:07.027,0:29:10.079
on the banks of the canal. I saw somebody

0:29:10.079,0:29:13.130
in the road, somebody calling, "Pilot, Pilot."

0:29:14.003,0:29:18.028
Yes, I look by the glass, and found him,[br]Mahmoud Younis himself.

0:29:18.055,0:29:22.119
The Chairman standing in the road saying,

0:29:23.019,0:29:26.088
'Good luck, go ahead."

0:29:26.088,0:29:30.181
14 hours later, a ship piloted by an[br]Egyptian has passed successfully through

0:29:31.081,0:29:31.155
the canal.

0:29:32.055,0:29:35.057
Once again, there are celebrations in the[br]streets.

0:29:35.057,0:29:38.155
"It is beyond any imagination

0:29:39.055,0:29:42.056
that gave the confidence

0:29:42.065,0:29:45.118
to the Egyptian state that they can do

0:29:46.018,0:29:49.054
what the whole world thought

0:29:49.054,0:29:55.573
that they cannot.

0:29:56.059,0:30:00.095
But in London, Eden is still determined[br]to build a case for intervention.

0:30:00.419,0:30:03.580
Removing the pilots is only his opening[br]gambit.

0:30:03.058,0:30:07.037
Now he decides to overwhelm the[br]inexperienced Egyptians

0:30:07.559,0:30:13.330
by forcing a gigantic fleet of tankers[br]through the canal.

0:30:13.033,0:30:17.104
"Now the British had planned a nice[br]little scheme which would demonstrate to

0:30:18.004,0:30:19.086
the world Egyptians were incompetent at

0:30:19.086,0:30:22.905
running the canal and they would have lots of[br]ships, just poised and ready,

0:30:23.679,0:30:26.900
to go through the canal once the pilot's have been withdrawn."

0:30:26.009,0:30:30.065
"Then instead of receiving, say 20 vessels at

0:30:31.046,0:30:36.145
Port Said, you receive 30, to make it more difficult

0:30:36.559,0:30:43.559
for any group to carry on as [unintelligible].

0:30:43.077,0:30:46.078
Exhausted, the 36 Egyptian pilots

0:30:46.078,0:30:49.161
and whatever foreign recruits they can[br]muster, work day and night

0:30:50.061,0:30:53.099
to deny Eden his wish and to keep the[br]canal running.

0:30:53.099,0:30:56.102
We were working continuously.

0:30:57.029,0:31:00.118
President Nasser, at that time,

0:31:01.018,0:31:04.055
was on the phone, on the wireless,

0:31:04.055,0:31:08.108
hour by hour."

0:31:09.008,0:31:13.064
The Egyptians succeed in keeping the[br]canal open, despite Eden's best efforts

0:31:13.064,0:31:13.155
at sabotage.

0:31:14.055,0:31:17.127
For a second time, the Prime Minister has[br]been foiled.

0:31:18.027,0:31:21.071
The whole world was

0:31:21.071,0:31:24.157
not expect, at all, that

0:31:25.057,0:31:29.065
Egypt would succeed in this severe

0:31:29.065,0:31:32.148
exam. And some of the Western

0:31:33.048,0:31:36.094
papers sugguested that the Egyptians

0:31:36.094,0:31:39.097
cultivate the Suez Canal area with

0:31:40.024,0:31:43.026
potatoes, instead of running

0:31:43.026,0:31:47.103
the Suez Canal." Eden is frustrated,

0:31:48.003,0:31:53.079
but Nasser feels vindicated. It is now[br]almost three months since nationalization

0:31:53.079,0:31:58.164
and the canal is still open for business.[br]It seems Aiden's plans to overthrow Nasser

0:31:59.064,0:32:04.119
and wrestle back control of the canal,[br]have failed. The world can see no reason

0:32:05.019,0:32:10.073
for war. Then,

0:32:10.073,0:32:14.120
on the 14th of October, two visitors from[br]the French Ministry of Defence

0:32:15.002,0:32:18.060
arrive to see a gloomy Prime Minister[br]at his country retreat,

0:32:18.078,0:32:21.144
Checkers. "The French had invented the[br]following

0:32:22.044,0:32:25.129
senario, that Israel should attack

0:32:26.029,0:32:29.085
Egypt. There upon, Britain and France, who

0:32:29.085,0:32:34.098
had forces in the neighborhood, should say,[br]'We cannot allow this kind of war because

0:32:34.098,0:32:37.160
it will interfere with the Suez Canal, and therefore.

0:32:38.006,0:32:41.015
we are going to intervene and hold the two[br]countries apart.

0:32:42.005,0:32:43.365
"I happened to be in Paris,

0:32:46.087,0:32:48.128
so the Minister of Defense called me in

0:32:49.028,0:32:54.120
and says, 'You ever thought about storming over Sinai?'

0:32:55.002,0:33:01.096


0:33:02.014,0:33:05.099
And that's how it started."

0:33:05.099,0:33:07.177
Eden is enthusiastic about this[br]French plan,

0:33:08.077,0:33:12.109
not only will he be able to seize the[br]canal, he sees a way to bring about

0:33:13.009,0:33:14.056
Nassar's downfall.

0:33:14.056,0:33:17.110
"To bomb Egypt, you

0:33:18.001,0:33:22.014
create panic within the country, you link[br]this

0:33:22.023,0:33:26.058
to an invasion - Israeli invasion, and[br]the new government will emerge

0:33:26.058,0:33:30.064
and Nasser will be no more. As Eden is[br]plotting in Britain,

0:33:31.018,0:33:34.052
the rest of the world is trying to[br]broker a peace deal at the United

0:33:34.052,0:33:34.115
Nations.

0:33:35.015,0:33:38.054
Eden has reluctantly sent his foreign[br]secretary,

0:33:38.054,0:33:41.078
Selwyn Lloyd, to meet with the French and[br]Egyptians in New York.

0:33:41.078,0:33:44.107
To Lloyd's surprise, the talks are going[br]well.

0:33:45.007,0:33:48.018
"He desperately hoped he would be able to[br]make

0:33:48.018,0:33:51.026
real progress in these talks in the United[br]Nations

0:33:51.098,0:33:55.169
and was encouraged by the Egyptian Foreign[br]Minister, Fawzi's,

0:33:56.069,0:34:01.147
willingness to talk over the subject." But[br]just as it seems progress is being made

0:34:02.047,0:34:05.082
the atmosphere changes, the attitude

0:34:05.082,0:34:09.088
of Pireau, the French Foreign Minister,[br]was very ambiguous.

0:34:09.088,0:34:13.110
From the beginning, he seemed to be[br]prepared

0:34:14.011,0:34:19.016
to get down to real negotiations, but[br]then halfway through,

0:34:19.016,0:34:23.069
he seemed to lose interest intirely and[br]we wondered

0:34:23.069,0:34:26.163
what was going on and why. Eden,

0:34:27.063,0:34:31.130
anxious that no deal is struck in New[br]York, telephones Lloyd and orders him to

0:34:32.031,0:34:33.105
abandon the talks immediately.

0:34:34.005,0:34:37.079
The Foreign Secretary, feeling he might[br]be close to a solution,

0:34:37.079,0:34:40.114
is exasperated. Selwyn Lloyd

0:34:41.014,0:34:44.107
probably thought that it was worthwhile[br]continuing with these discussions.

0:34:45.007,0:34:48.016
You might say like Hans Blix thought that he[br]could do with a couple more months

0:34:48.097,0:34:52.176
of time to decide something very definite[br]about the weapons of mass destruction

0:34:53.076,0:34:57.139
but Eden wasn't having any of it."

0:34:58.004,0:35:02.033
Eden has another agenda and instructs[br]Lloyd and Logan to travel,

0:35:02.069,0:35:05.112
in secret, to a Parisian suburb called[br]Se,

0:35:06.012,0:35:09.026
to finalize the plot with the French and[br]Israelis.

0:35:09.026,0:35:13.044
Lloyd was desperately disappointed, but felt,

0:35:13.044,0:35:17.110
out of loyalty, that he had to do it but it[br]turned his stomach to do it

0:35:18.001,0:35:22.087
and he hated it all the way through. The[br]document agreed on here,

0:35:22.096,0:35:26.159
known as the Sev protocol, puts down in[br]black and white the covert plan to

0:35:27.059,0:35:28.068
invade Egypt

0:35:28.068,0:35:32.135
and fool the world. At the end, copies of[br]the protocol are presented for

0:35:33.035,0:35:33.111
signatures.

0:35:34.011,0:35:38.073
Patrick Dean, a Foreign Office official,[br]signs on behalf of the British.

0:35:38.073,0:35:41.165
But Eden does not expect his desire[br]for war

0:35:42.065,0:35:45.164
to be confirmed in writing. "We returned late[br]that night and took the

0:35:46.064,0:35:50.150
document to him in No. 10 and his immediate reaction

0:35:51.005,0:35:56.012
was, 'Oh my god, I never expected it to be signed'." When this document finally emerged,

0:35:56.057,0:35:59.135
forty years later, it confirmed how a[br]British Prime Minister

0:36:00.035,0:36:03.108
had deceived the world and deliberately[br]engineered a war

0:36:04.008,0:36:06.102
in the Middle East.

0:36:07.002,0:36:12.561


0:36:12.579,0:36:16.640
On October the 29th, the Israelis land a[br]parachute brigade

0:36:16.064,0:36:21.089
deep in the Sinai, as agreed at Sev. Nasser[br]is awoken at 4am

0:36:21.089,0:36:24.128
and told the news. "You can take that he[br]was surprised

0:36:25.028,0:36:29.617
and not surprised. We were predicting

0:36:29.869,0:36:34.210
that there would be an action against Egypt, but[br]we have

0:36:34.021,0:36:40.024
no information from Israel." But the[br]Israeli advance towards the canal

0:36:40.051,0:36:41.052
is a fake,

0:36:41.061,0:36:44.106
designed purely to convince the world[br]that the canal is threatened.

0:36:45.006,0:36:48.072
"It was about 40 kilometers from the canal or[br]45 kilometers.

0:36:48.072,0:36:51.103
But when you look at big maps then you can say

0:36:52.003,0:36:56.008
the drop was not far from the canal. There[br]was enough to fulfill the needs of the

0:36:56.053,0:36:56.060
British to say

0:36:57.023,0:37:01.088
the canal is threatened."

0:37:01.088,0:37:04.157
"We didn't go into the motives and[br]consideration of

0:37:05.057,0:37:08.123
France and England because our aims were clear."

0:37:09.023,0:37:14.023
The Israeli forces concentrate instead

0:37:14.023,0:37:18.092
on destroying the Egyptian army in Sinai[br]which they have long seen as a threat

0:37:18.092,0:37:22.181
to Israel's security. The attack takes[br]Nasser's commanders by surprise.

0:37:23.081,0:37:26.099
They are quickly overwhelmed and forced[br]to retreat.

0:37:26.099,0:37:29.103
The following day, Britain and France

0:37:30.003,0:37:35.045
issue their ultimatum as planned at Sev,[br]Israel and Egypt are to cease fighting

0:37:35.045,0:37:39.129
or the two Western powers will intervene.[br]Eden knows

0:37:40.029,0:37:43.046
this is an ultimatum that Nasser cannot[br]accept.

0:37:43.046,0:37:47.095
On the evening of the 30th of October,[br]the ultimatum expires.

0:37:47.095,0:37:54.095


0:37:57.007,0:38:02.020
Shortly afterwards, Nasser hears planes in[br]the skies above Cairo.

0:38:02.083,0:38:07.131
"I was with the Indonesian ambassador and there[br]were the air warning

0:38:08.031,0:38:10.460
and then

0:38:10.739,0:38:14.773
came the blackout. I listened

0:38:15.079,0:38:20.510
and there was the jet airplanes and I said to[br]the Indonesian

0:38:20.051,0:38:24.059
ambassador these are British."

0:38:24.059,0:38:28.338
Now Nasser realizes just how much Eden is[br]prepared to gamble.

0:38:28.869,0:38:32.200
"I hadn't thought at all that Britain would do

0:38:32.002,0:38:35.070
any attack against us because it was clear

0:38:35.088,0:38:38.089
that any attack against us would effect

0:38:38.098,0:38:41.104
the British position all over the Arab countries.

0:38:42.058,0:38:45.115
And would mean the end of the British relations and

0:38:46.015,0:38:50.019
influence in the Middle East.

0:38:50.055,0:38:53.096
As the bombs fall, a frightened[br]Egyptian population

0:38:53.096,0:38:56.155
rush to join civilian militias. "Most of[br]us,

0:38:57.055,0:39:00.103
the young people, decided that we're going to[br]defend the country."

0:39:01.003,0:39:05.049
"We really didn't know what we're gonna[br]do because our training was very cursory.

0:39:05.049,0:39:08.928
It included one clip of live ammunition.[br]When we joined,

0:39:09.369,0:39:13.310
first thing they did was they give us[br]those cases of Kalashnikov rifles

0:39:13.031,0:39:17.590
right out of the boxes with Greece,[br]and they said, 'Okay, here is your rifle.'"

0:39:17.869,0:39:21.350
This makeshift civilian army

0:39:21.035,0:39:24.043
now waits for the arrival of British[br]paratroopers.

0:39:24.043,0:39:27.048
"You hear a lot of fire, people flying

0:39:27.093,0:39:30.141
rifles and firing in the air. We don't-

0:39:31.041,0:39:35.088
you know, everybody is a parachutist, you know.[br]Any noise you think somebody had just

0:39:35.088,0:39:38.092
come from sky. So it was a very very

0:39:39.028,0:39:43.057
tense moment and we were scared."

0:39:43.057,0:39:46.155
But Cairo, where Talaat Badrawi and[br]other volunteers are waiting

0:39:47.055,0:39:51.098
is not the target for the British[br]paratroopers assault. Port Said,

0:39:51.098,0:39:55.142
at the mouth of the canal, is where[br]Britain will begin the reconquest

0:39:56.042,0:40:03.042
of Egypt.

0:40:03.079,0:40:09.113
After five days of aerial bombardment,[br]668 British paratroopers land in Port Said.

0:40:10.013,0:40:16.056
The city quickly finds itself under[br]occupation,

0:40:16.056,0:40:20.091
but its population is determined not to[br]give Eden the easy victory

0:40:20.091,0:40:24.110
he has anticipated. "And then they landed,

0:40:25.001,0:40:28.002
the British landed[br]in Port Said.

0:40:28.011,0:40:31.028
So of course we wanted to wipe them[br]out."

0:40:31.028,0:40:34.062
"All the people have

0:40:34.062,0:40:38.084
arms and guns and machine guns. They shoot at the airplanes

0:40:38.084,0:40:41.169
and every Egyptian people are ready to[br]sacrifice himself

0:40:42.069,0:40:46.137
in order to- to defend his country." [br]As the resistance mobilizes,

0:40:47.037,0:40:50.040
the British Prime Minister is insisting[br]to the world

0:40:50.004,0:40:53.091
that his actions are right, legal, and[br]morally sound.

0:40:54.027,0:41:00.082
"All my life, I've been a man a man of peace.

0:41:00.082,0:41:03.126
Working for peace, striving for peace,

0:41:04.026,0:41:07.081
negotiating for peace

0:41:07.081,0:41:12.123
and I'm still the same, with the same[br]conviction,

0:41:13.023,0:41:16.041
same diversion to peace.

0:41:16.041,0:41:19.045
But I'm utterly

0:41:19.045,0:41:24.414
convinced the action we have taken is[br]right."

0:41:24.819,0:41:26.440
As Eden is speaking,

0:41:26.044,0:41:29.092
Port Said is burning.

0:41:29.092,0:41:32.098
"There were two streets

0:41:33.052,0:41:36.064
I'm Abbas Street and Adadi

0:41:36.064,0:41:39.115
Street. These were mainly slums of wooden huts.

0:41:40.015,0:41:43.059
So they shot powder

0:41:43.059,0:41:47.148
at this homes and they were all set[br]ablaze. One would see so many

0:41:48.048,0:41:51.107
homes burned, from the start to the end[br]of the street.

0:41:52.007,0:41:56.010
This homes were all burned.

0:41:56.001,0:41:59.019
I saw corpses down the streets that[br]nobody

0:41:59.028,0:42:02.030
could bury and they brought small[br]wagons,

0:42:02.003,0:42:05.031
usually used to sell vegetables, and put[br]six

0:42:05.058,0:42:09.086
or seven corpses on every wagon to[br]take them to the graveyard,

0:42:09.086,0:42:12.144
in order to be buried there and I saw two corpses

0:42:13.044,0:42:16.046
which were flattened to the ground all[br]together.

0:42:16.046,0:42:21.078
They were crushed by tanks."

0:42:21.078,0:42:26.093
The war is barely a week old, hundreds of[br]Egyptian civilians have already been

0:42:26.093,0:42:27.169
killed in the bombing campaign

0:42:28.069,0:42:34.091
and more die in the street fighting that[br]follows.

0:42:34.091,0:42:36.139


0:42:37.039,0:42:41.053
it is at this point that Eden hopes a[br]terrified Egyptian population

0:42:41.053,0:42:46.074
will rise up to overthrow Nasser. "They do[br]not understand what Egypt

0:42:46.074,0:42:51.095
is. They were completely wrong. The[br]Egyptians were- all of them- were

0:42:51.095,0:42:58.095
where at one heart behind Nasser."

0:42:59.089,0:43:01.748
"When they feel a foreign threat,

0:43:02.549,0:43:05.690
people come together and that's what happened exactly."

0:43:05.069,0:43:10.978
The Egyptian Armed Forces may be[br]hopelessly outgunned,

0:43:11.599,0:43:14.660
but Nasser and his government remain in[br]Cairo.

0:43:14.066,0:43:17.073
Plans are made to begin a guerrilla war,

0:43:17.073,0:43:20.100
should the army be overwhelmed. "A popular[br]army

0:43:21.000,0:43:24.046
to fight in the canals, in the streets, in the countryside, in the ports."

0:43:24.046,0:43:28.165
"We were hiding

0:43:28.579,0:43:31.770
arms all over the villages, everywhere in[br]Egypt;

0:43:31.077,0:43:35.164
So even if the troops, they[br]came to invade Egypt, we will fight- we

0:43:36.064,0:43:37.523
will resist."

0:43:38.099,0:43:41.173
And to prevent the British taking the[br]canal,

0:43:41.839,0:43:45.130
Nassar orders ships to be sunk and the[br]canal blocked.

0:43:45.013,0:43:49.202
Eden's invasion has succeeded in[br]obstructing the very waterway

0:43:49.319,0:43:53.530
is trying to save and that is in the[br]Prime Minister's only miscalculation.

0:43:53.053,0:43:56.092
The Suez Crisis suddenly increases the[br]temperature

0:43:56.092,0:43:59.097
of the Cold War. "Burning buildings and[br]bitter street fighting,

0:44:00.042,0:44:05.099
signal the release of long, pent-up resentment."

0:44:05.099,0:44:07.162
2,000 kilometers away, in Budapest,

0:44:08.062,0:44:12.104
the Soviet Union's empire in Europe is[br]threatened by a popular uprising.

0:44:13.004,0:44:17.006
"The red star has been ripped, the hated symbol of communism is effaced

0:44:17.024,0:44:20.082
where ever found." Nikita Kruschev

0:44:20.082,0:44:23.100
sees his ally Nasser coming under attack[br]in Cairo

0:44:24.000,0:44:27.071
and realizes that Soviet prestige[br]appears to be crumbling

0:44:27.071,0:44:30.152
on two continents. "He feels

0:44:31.052,0:44:35.106
that the West is taking advantage of him[br]when he is down,

0:44:36.006,0:44:39.044
that that British and the French are[br]watching his troubles in eastern Europe

0:44:39.044,0:44:42.127
and see that they have an opportunity to[br]deal with one of his allies now because

0:44:43.027,0:44:44.058
he is distracted.

0:44:44.058,0:44:47.132
His reaction was the reaction of[br]political leader

0:44:48.032,0:44:52.063
who is fearful, surprised, and

0:44:52.063,0:44:56.107
angry at the same time. Kruschev

0:44:57.007,0:45:01.053
uses the city of Budapest to send a[br]bloody message to the West,

0:45:01.053,0:45:08.053
as recent research has uncovered.

0:45:08.089,0:45:11.094
"We have the Politburo minutes and it makes clear

0:45:11.094,0:45:15.973
what's going on here. He wants to send a[br]signal to them that no, Soviet Union is as

0:45:16.819,0:45:16.916
powerful as ever.

0:45:17.789,0:45:20.835
You cannot mess with me, either in the[br]Middle East

0:45:21.249,0:45:26.327
or in Eastern Europe." Then

0:45:27.029,0:45:31.112
Kruschev ups the stakes. Lacking[br]conventional forces in the Middle East

0:45:31.859,0:45:33.970
to help, Egypt against the British and[br]French

0:45:33.097,0:45:37.144
he threatens the West with the doomsday[br]option. "He

0:45:38.044,0:45:42.098
said to the world that, don't be[br]surprised

0:45:42.098,0:45:46.143
if the consequences of your actions is[br]that nuclear weapons will fall on

0:45:47.043,0:45:53.127
London and Paris.

0:45:54.027,0:45:55.705
This was the first time they had

0:45:57.383,0:45:59.061
ever made a nuclear threat." Suddenly,

0:45:59.079,0:46:03.082
it looks like Eden's adventure in Egypt[br]is going to end in Armageddon.

0:46:04.009,0:46:09.053
"Somebody had a radio and we heard of[br]that-

0:46:09.053,0:46:12.142
that the Russians were threatening

0:46:13.042,0:46:17.073
to drop bombs on London, and the Chinese might[br]be about to join in

0:46:17.073,0:46:22.106
too. And that moment I did think, this[br]is really going to be

0:46:23.006,0:46:28.063
the third world war.

0:46:28.063,0:46:31.070
The threat of nuclear war

0:46:32.033,0:46:36.072
concentrates minds in Washington, where[br]President Eisenhower is already furious

0:46:36.072,0:46:37.113
with the Prime Minister.

0:46:38.013,0:46:41.017
"United States was not consulted in any[br]way about

0:46:41.053,0:46:44.149
any phase of these actions. Nor were we informed of[br]them

0:46:45.049,0:46:48.121
in advance." "He was so angry with the[br]British,

0:46:49.021,0:46:53.066
I mean, he was really angry with the[br]British. they'd gone

0:46:53.066,0:46:58.117
around his back and colluded with these[br]other guys."

0:46:59.017,0:47:02.023


0:47:02.023,0:47:05.030
In front of the world, the American[br]Secretary of State

0:47:05.003,0:47:08.010
condemns his country's oldest ally. "I[br]doubt that any

0:47:09.000,0:47:14.003
delegate ever spoke from this forum with as[br]heavy a heart

0:47:14.003,0:47:17.080
as I have brought here tonight."

0:47:18.007,0:47:21.054
"Eden had the

0:47:21.054,0:47:24.105
awful realization

0:47:25.005,0:47:30.079
that he had totally misjudged the[br]American aspect of the affair."

0:47:30.079,0:47:34.155
Eden's plans are unraveling fast. He is[br]not anticipated this level of hostility

0:47:35.055,0:47:36.116
from the Americans,

0:47:37.016,0:47:41.107
nor from his own people. "If he is sincere in what he is saying, then he is too stupid to be a prime minister."

0:47:42.007,0:47:46.072


0:47:46.072,0:47:50.072
"There was demonstrations in London as big as[br]demonstrations in Egypt."

0:47:50.072,0:47:56.095
"And there is only one way in which that they can even begin to restore that tarnished reputation. And that is to get out, get out, get out!"

0:47:56.095,0:47:58.144


0:47:59.044,0:48:04.383


0:48:04.779,0:48:08.140
The world sees photographs which show in[br]grisly detail

0:48:08.014,0:48:12.793
the effects of the war on the Egyptian[br]people. As opposition across the world

0:48:12.919,0:48:12.986
mounts,

0:48:13.589,0:48:17.683
moral in Port Said soars. "People[br]around the world we're backing

0:48:18.529,0:48:22.584
you. In the West, we had the public[br]opinion with Egyptians."

0:48:23.079,0:48:28.151
And Eden realizes he has fatally[br]miscalculated the reaction

0:48:28.799,0:48:31.853
of the Egyptian population to invasion.[br]"If you ask me,

0:48:32.339,0:48:38.344
where they afraid? Yes, we were all[br]afraid, because nobody likes to die.

0:48:38.839,0:48:43.928
We used to live a daily natural life, but with[br]little commodities.

0:48:44.729,0:48:47.811
Limited food but people would stay

0:48:48.549,0:48:51.645
at cafes, listening to the radio, encouraging people to resist -

0:48:52.509,0:48:58.160
very special atmosphere."

0:48:58.016,0:49:02.089
Nasser refuses to go into hiding. He[br]determines instead to rally his people

0:49:02.089,0:49:04.090
after Friday prayers at Cairo's

0:49:04.009,0:49:08.050
ancient Al Azar mosque.

0:49:09.031,0:49:13.088
"We will fight from house to house, from village to village. We will fight and never surrender.

0:49:13.088,0:49:18.093
We will fight rather than live humiliated. We will fight to the last drop of blood. We're building our country, our history, our future.

0:49:18.093,0:49:21.106


0:49:22.006,0:49:27.047


0:49:27.047,0:49:34.047


0:49:39.068,0:49:43.507
In London, Eden is feeling the strain. He[br]has failed to win the hearts and minds

0:49:44.119,0:49:45.670
of the Egyptian people.

0:49:45.067,0:49:49.686
Nasser is more popular than ever and now[br]comes the decisive blow.

0:49:50.289,0:49:54.292
Britain's currency reserves have been[br]hemorrhaging since the bombing campaign

0:49:54.589,0:49:54.656
began,

0:49:55.259,0:49:59.283
as dealers all over the world dump[br]sterling. "In those days,

0:49:59.499,0:50:03.546
Britain was the banker of the sterling[br]area. Britain saw

0:50:03.969,0:50:10.640
immediate danger over the bottom falling[br]out of that."

0:50:10.064,0:50:12.151
When Eden appeals to the Americans for[br]financial help,

0:50:13.051,0:50:17.110
President Eisenhower makes sure there[br]will be no room for misunderstanding

0:50:18.001,0:50:23.001
this time. "Eisenhower's was quite firm, he said as soon as you agree to get out

0:50:23.001,0:50:25.062
and really are getting out, we willl help you,[br]but not a minute before."

0:50:27.123,0:50:29.184
On the 6th of November,

0:50:30.084,0:50:33.130
after nine days of war, Eden has no[br]choice.

0:50:34.003,0:50:38.046
With British troops having advanced[br]little over 10 miles down the canal,

0:50:38.073,0:50:43.462
the Prime Minister reluctantly calls a[br]cease-fire. If the United Nations will take over

0:50:44.119,0:50:45.420
this police action,

0:50:45.042,0:50:49.124
we shall welcome, indeed we prefer

0:50:50.024,0:50:56.056
that cause to them."

0:50:56.056,0:51:03.056
The arrival of United[br]Nations contingents at Port Said

0:51:08.019,0:51:12.023
causes a sensation that nearly develops into a[br]riot by excitable Egyptians.

0:51:12.059,0:51:15.068
"Of[br]course,

0:51:15.068,0:51:19.113
I was jumping with joy. When the last[br]British soldier left,

0:51:20.013,0:51:26.072
we used to say, "Go to hell." Plans[br]are made for United Nations troops to

0:51:26.072,0:51:28.091
replace the British and French on the[br]ground.

0:51:28.091,0:51:31.157
The cease-fire is a humiliating[br]climbdown for Eden

0:51:32.057,0:51:35.144
and his commanders. "I have to say

0:51:36.044,0:51:40.044
that most of the offices in the regiment

0:51:40.044,0:51:44.047
took it as a mortal blow. I think it was

0:51:44.047,0:51:47.142
very, very hard all professional soldiers[br]who'd gone into this

0:51:48.042,0:51:52.090
enterprise in good faith, thought that[br]this was going to be the final

0:51:52.009,0:51:56.013
roar of the British lion and suddenly found it[br]it was just a sort of a

0:51:56.094,0:52:01.137
mingy little squeak that achieved nothing." For[br]the prime minister,

0:52:02.037,0:52:07.043
the pressure of failure is unbearable.[br]With Britain facing a winter fuel crisis

0:52:07.043,0:52:08.121
because of the closure of the canal,

0:52:09.021,0:52:12.094
he leaves the country for Jamaica, his[br]health and career

0:52:12.094,0:52:15.121
crumbling. So anthony, at the moment of departure may we ask you how you're feeling?"

0:52:16.021,0:52:19.112
"The main thing I'm feeling

0:52:20.012,0:52:23.045
is that I'm deeply sorry to have to leave

0:52:23.045,0:52:27.090
the country at this time."

0:52:27.009,0:52:33.448
Five weeks later, he is back but not for[br]long.

0:52:34.339,0:52:38.368
Eden never returned to frontline politics[br]and his reputation never recovered from

0:52:38.629,0:52:40.657
taking Britain to war in the Middle East

0:52:40.909,0:52:45.001
under false pretenses. Britain's[br]reputation was equally damaged.

0:52:45.829,0:52:48.916
"Well it was a total utter disaster

0:52:49.699,0:52:52.734
and it took us twenty years

0:52:53.049,0:52:57.116
to recover our rightful position as someone[br]who was not

0:52:57.719,0:53:00.802
lord and master in that area, but a[br]friend

0:53:01.549,0:53:05.603
to those states which will emerge after[br]many centuries when we and the French

0:53:06.089,0:53:09.146
had ruled the roost." In Egypt,

0:53:09.659,0:53:14.754
the Suez Crisis was the making of Nasser.[br]"The 23rd of December,

0:53:15.609,0:53:18.664
1956 [unintelligible].

0:53:19.159,0:53:22.232
It was the first day of the liberation of Port Said

0:53:22.889,0:53:28.260
and the whole city was out to celebrate victory."

0:53:28.026,0:53:31.075
"At that time, he was, you know, he was[br]God, I have to tell you."

0:53:31.075,0:53:34.158
"President Nasser is a[br]historic hero."

0:53:35.058,0:53:39.141
In the aftermath of the Suez Crisis,

0:53:40.041,0:53:44.098
Nasser was fated all over the Arab world.[br]Here at last was a leader who could

0:53:44.098,0:53:45.130
stand up to the West

0:53:46.003,0:53:49.030
and win. "And the Arabs at that time

0:53:49.057,0:53:53.099
started to realize that Nasser was hero,

0:53:53.099,0:53:56.111
who was sent by god

0:53:57.011,0:54:00.040
to retrieve the Arabs from

0:54:00.004,0:54:04.004
many years of subordination." "Nasser,

0:54:04.004,0:54:08.077
in a sense, was a big winner but with a[br]win which set him up

0:54:09.013,0:54:14.058
to be an awfully big loser because Nasser[br]eventually came to believe his own

0:54:14.058,0:54:14.135
propaganda that

0:54:15.035,0:54:19.064
he had won a great battle." A little over 10[br]years later,

0:54:19.064,0:54:23.088
Nasser decides that he is strong enough to[br]settle old scores with the Israeli

0:54:23.088,0:54:25.089
invaders of 1956.

0:54:25.098,0:54:28.141
"In 1967, he said, 'Last time,

0:54:29.041,0:54:32.116
we were fighting Israel, Britain, and[br]France. We won then,

0:54:33.016,0:54:38.068
this time, Israel is alone."

0:54:38.068,0:54:41.147
It is an appalling misjudgment. "In the[br]Sinai desert,

0:54:42.047,0:54:45.075
in the wake of Egypt catastrophic[br]retreat, line Nasser's

0:54:45.075,0:54:50.121
wrecked tanks. The whole world hopes, that from[br]great victory and utter defeat, wisdom

0:54:51.021,0:54:52.093
will emerge and bring lasting peace

0:54:52.093,0:54:55.170
to this part of the world."

0:54:56.007,0:54:59.051
But instead of peace coming to the[br]Middle East,

0:55:00.014,0:55:03.045
the unresolved issues at the 1967 war,

0:55:03.045,0:55:07.076
the West Bank, and Gaza Strip, still[br]poison the region today.

0:55:07.076,0:55:11.080


0:55:12.016,0:55:16.045
The end of the Suez Crisis was also the[br]moment a new power decided to take

0:55:16.189,0:55:16.287
center stage

0:55:17.169,0:55:21.400
in the Middle East. Within weeks at[br]the end of the war,

0:55:21.004,0:55:24.080
President Eisenhower, convinced that the[br]British and French could no longer be

0:55:25.016,0:55:27.665
trusted to protect Western interests in[br]the region,

0:55:27.809,0:55:30.855
announces a fight for change in American[br]policy.

0:55:31.269,0:55:36.272
He concludes that what the Middle East[br]needs is more American involvement

0:55:36.299,0:55:41.367
not less. The Eisenhower doctrine said[br]we're going to safeguard any country

0:55:41.979,0:55:45.032
which is threatened by Communism within[br]the Middle East. That's the old idea of

0:55:45.509,0:55:49.510
you're either with us in Washington or with[br]us in Moscow and cuts out a third way

0:55:49.519,0:55:49.614
for Arab Nationalism.

0:55:50.469,0:55:53.502
The very factors which lead the Americans[br]keep their distance

0:55:53.799,0:55:56.890
from Britain's in moving to aggressively[br]against Nasser in 1956,

0:55:57.709,0:56:00.772
they lose sight of those." "The occasion

0:56:01.339,0:56:04.417
has come for us, to show our deep respect[br]for the rights

0:56:05.119,0:56:08.125
and independence of every nation, however[br]great,

0:56:08.179,0:56:11.185
however small. We seek not violence, but peace.

0:56:11.779,0:56:15.480


0:56:15.048,0:56:17.100
It is a policy which echoes from Suez

0:56:18.000,0:56:21.014
to today. "States like these

0:56:21.014,0:56:24.048
and their terrorist allies constitute[br]an

0:56:24.048,0:56:28.617
axis of evil. I will now wait on a bench[br]while dangers gather.

0:56:29.049,0:56:32.049
The United States of America will not[br]permit

0:56:32.049,0:56:35.390
the world's most dangerous regimes to[br]threaten us

0:56:35.039,0:56:41.748
with the world's most destructive[br]weapons."

0:56:42.099,0:56:47.760
"This is not the time to falter, this is the[br]time for this house to give a lead,

0:56:47.076,0:56:50.115
to show that we wil,l stand up for what[br]we know to be right

0:56:51.015,0:56:54.016
to show that we will confront the[br]tyrannies

0:56:54.016,0:57:01.016
and dictatorships and terrorists who put[br]our way of life at risk."

0:57:02.021,0:57:03.025
"The fact of the matter is

0:57:03.025,0:57:07.091
that Iraq could turn out in the long run[br]to be a Suez fifty years later.

0:57:07.091,0:57:10.800
But where as that will take years to find[br]out with Iraq, with Suez,

0:57:11.619,0:57:17.270
we found it out within a matter of weeks."[br]

0:57:17.027,0:57:21.052
Ordinary Egyptians have drawn their own[br]lessons from the Suez Crisis.

0:57:21.052,0:57:25.057
"There is a great difference between[br]resistance

0:57:26.002,0:57:29.015
and terroism.

0:57:29.015,0:57:36.015
I was a patriot, defending my country.

0:57:36.026,0:57:39.068
The spirit of resistance is deeply rooted

0:57:39.068,0:57:44.114
in our country and in the area."

0:57:45.014,0:57:48.040
"When the US and Britain went into Iraq

0:57:48.004,0:57:52.963
with the idea of being accepted with open arms and[br]so on,

0:57:53.359,0:57:57.260
that was a very stupid idea. I mean

0:57:57.026,0:58:00.035
where did they ever come up with that idea. I don't know. They could have looked at the

0:58:01.016,0:58:04.063
history books; they could have looked at the Suez[br]Crisis, you know.

0:58:04.063,0:58:07.100
Which is after all, it's only fifty years[br]ago and they

0:58:08.000,0:58:11.088
could have learned that this will never happen, it will[br]never happen.

0:58:11.088,0:58:15.165
You know, people will defend the country[br]they would defend their land."

0:58:16.065,0:58:19.133
"I am a human being, I have dignity. I don't

0:58:20.033,0:58:24.089
except any foreigner to dominate me or[br]at else,

0:58:24.089,0:58:31.089
I am a slave. Right or wrong?"

0:58:39.008,0:58:42.046


0:58:43.018,0:58:46.027