The Other Side of Suez (BBC Documentary)
-
0:11 - 0:14This is a story of how the government of the United Kingdom
-
0:14 - 0:19decided to attack an Arab nation, of how afraid
-
0:20 - 0:20its oil supplies were under threat and
-
0:20 - 0:23embarked on a strategy of regime change.
-
0:24 - 0:27Of how Britain deliberately bypassed the United Nations
-
0:28 - 0:32and of how a power British Prime Minister led
-
0:31 - 0:35the nation to war based on suspect intelligence.
-
0:35 - 0:42But this isn't Iraq 2003,
-
0:44 - 0:49this is Egypt 1956. These are British paratroopers
-
0:49 - 0:51fighting on the orders of British Prime Minister
-
0:51 - 0:55Anthony Eden. He has gambled on a war in a desperate bid to destroy
-
0:56 - 0:59Egypt's new young president Gamal Abdel Nasser.
-
1:00 - 1:03"I'm utterly convinced the action we have taken is right."
-
1:04 - 1:07This is a war over who will run
-
1:07 - 1:11this Egyptian waterway - the Suez Canal - and the vital
-
1:11 - 1:13oil supplies which are transported through it.
-
1:13 - 1:17Suez is a crisis which will push the world to the brink of nuclear
-
1:17 - 1:20catastrophe. "That moment I did think
-
1:20 - 1:21this is really going to be the
-
1:22 - 1:24Third World War."
-
1:24 - 1:27In Britain we know Suez is a war based on a Prime Minister's lie,
-
1:28 - 1:32a lie which destroys him. "MI-6 sexed up their intelligence."
-
1:33 - 1:37But seen from the other side, Suez is a story of how a small
-
1:37 - 1:40poor Arab country defended itself against the Western world
-
1:40 - 1:44and won. "People will defend their country, they will defend their land."
-
2:02 - 2:06July the 26th, 1956. It is a warm evening
-
2:06 - 2:10as Egyptian President Gamal Abdel
Nasser prepares to address his people. -
2:10 - 2:14His country is in ferment. Only seven
days before, -
2:15 - 2:19the young president had suffered a
humiliating blow when the West sabotaged -
2:19 - 2:20his key plan to lift
-
2:20 - 2:25Egypt out of poverty. Now, two hundred
thousand people gathered to hear their -
2:25 - 2:26president's response.
-
2:27 - 2:32But unknown to the crowd, 30 people
stationed on the banks of the Suez Canal -
2:32 - 2:35are listening for a password - a
Frenchman's name hidden -
2:36 - 2:39in Nasser's speech. "They have
-
2:39 - 2:43their radio on to follow the speech
-
2:43 - 2:47waiting for the password "De Lesseps."
-
2:47 - 2:52When they hear this word, their president
has told them to storm the offices of -
2:53 - 2:54the Suez Canal Company.
-
2:54 - 2:57{Segment from speech}
-
2:58 - 3:01As jubilant Egyptians celebrate,
-
3:01 - 3:05Nasser heads to a movie theater to relax.
He doesn't know that in London, -
3:06 - 3:13Anthony Eden has already decided to have
him killed. -
3:18 - 3:21Egypt - cradle of ancient civilizations
-
3:22 - 3:26and in the post-war era, strategically
the most valuable country in the Arab -
3:26 - 3:29world.
-
3:29 - 3:34Thanks to this, the Suez Canal, which
carries oil to the economies of the West. -
3:35 - 3:39The company that runs the canal
-
3:39 - 3:43is largely owned by Egypt's old colonial
masters, Britain and France, -
3:43 - 3:46and is staffed by Europeans. "Reconsider
-
3:47 - 3:53the Suez Canal Company is a country, inside
-
3:53 - 3:59our country, a state inside our state. Egypt sees virtually nothing of
the tens of millions of dollars the -
3:59 - 4:00canal earns each year.
-
4:01 - 4:05Feelings of resentment are growing.
"Imagine -
4:06 - 4:11somebody, a foreigner in your country, and he give
your nothing. -
4:11 - 4:14He take everything and give you nothing. Is
that justice?" -
4:14 - 4:15
-
4:15 - 4:20
-
4:20 - 4:24In February 1955, Egypt's young President
Gamal Abdel Nasser -
4:25 - 4:28meets British Prime Minister Anthony
Eden for the first time. -
4:28 - 4:31The two men dislike one another from the
start. -
4:32 - 4:36"The impression of President Nasser
-
4:36 - 4:39about Anthony Eden
-
4:39 - 4:41was that he was small Cheshire and not a, you know,
-
4:42 - 4:44committed with imposing
-
4:45 - 4:51the British point of view on the other side."
-
4:51 - 4:55For Eden, Egypt remains part of Britain's
sphere of influence in the Middle East. -
4:55 - 4:59Although nominally independent since
1922, Egyptian kings have dutifully done -
5:00 - 5:01what British Prime Minister's
-
5:02 - 5:05have told them to do. "Eden lived in the
-
5:05 - 5:08legend of the empire, but the world was different.
-
5:09 - 5:12Eden didn't realize
-
5:12 - 5:17the change in the balance of power."
-
5:16 - 5:19Anthony Eden is every inch the
conservative Prime Minister. -
5:20 - 5:24Educated at Eton and Oxford, he was
foreign secretary during the war -
5:24 - 5:31and is Winston Churchill's hand-picked
successor. -
5:32 - 5:35But in Nasser, Eden encounters a new kind
of Arab leader. -
5:35 - 5:38He is part of a new generation
of Egyptians determined to secure -
5:39 - 5:42real independence for their country.
-
5:42 - 5:46
-
5:47 - 5:51
-
5:52 - 5:56
-
5:55 - 5:58Nasser is one of a group of officers who
had overthrown the playboy -
5:59 - 6:03King Farouk in 1952. Two years later,
-
6:03 - 6:06Nasser had shown Britain that Egypt would
not be pushed around. -
6:07 - 6:11An aggressive guerrilla campaign forces
the British to evacuate -
6:11 - 6:14eighty-eight thousand soldiers from the
biggest base in the world, -
6:14 - 6:18on the banks of the Suez Canal. "At that
time, -
6:19 - 6:23what was most important is real independence
-
6:23 - 6:26and to get free, really free, by
-
6:26 - 6:30evacuating the troops." "There was an
operation -
6:30 - 6:34against the British troops prior to
the negotiations. -
6:35 - 6:38When the negotiations go in a smooth
way, -
6:38 - 6:42we ease the resistance. When
-
6:43 - 6:46the British delegation became
stubborn, -
6:46 - 6:53we intensify the resistance."
-
6:57 - 6:59By the spring of 1956,
-
6:59 - 7:03Egypt is free of British troops. With
his country moving away from its -
7:03 - 7:04colonial past,
-
7:04 - 7:09Nasser embarks on an ambitious plan to
transform the lives of his people. -
7:10 - 7:13"Egypt was very much backward,
-
7:13 - 7:16half percent of the people were
possessing -
7:16 - 7:20nearly about seventy-five percent of the
fortune. -
7:19 - 7:22"We had one of the lowest standards life,
-
7:23 - 7:26the majority of Egyptians were in
streets with -
7:26 - 7:31naked feet."
-
7:30 - 7:36Nasser's solution is to build a huge dam on
the Nile at Aswan -
7:37 - 7:40which will provide water for agriculture
and electricity. -
7:40 - 7:44It will be the biggest dam in the world
and will lift Egypt out of poverty -
7:44 - 7:47once and for all. "This project of the high dam
-
7:48 - 7:51will provide Egypt with water to double the
-
7:51 - 7:57farms and will give power - electricity to
industrialize Egypt." -
7:57 - 8:00But Nasser needs four hundred million
dollars to realize his dream, -
8:01 - 8:05an enormous sum in the 1950s.
His first port of call -
8:05 - 8:09is the West. "In the beginning, Nasser
-
8:10 - 8:15and all the revolution have no problem
with the Americans. On the contrary, we can get help -
8:16 - 8:20of the Americans." The World Bank, backed by the United
States and Britain, -
8:20 - 8:24agrees to give him a loan. At this point,
Nasser's relations with the Americans -
8:24 - 8:28seem close. "Nasser's favorite film
-
8:28 - 8:32is It's a Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart.
He really loves that -
8:31 - 8:35film and Washington arranges to send out
a special copy of the film -
8:36 - 8:41with Arabic subtitles." By 1956,
-
8:40 - 8:44Egypt's glamorous young president is
confident his plans to develop Egypt -
8:45 - 8:48are on course, but Nasser has another
problem, -
8:48 - 8:55which will destroy his plans.
-
8:56 - 8:59"As the sporadic fighting takes on the
proportions of full-scale war, -
8:59 - 9:03dead and captured arms are the order of
the day, as both Arabs and Israelis put -
9:03 - 9:06their nations on a full mobilization
basis." -
9:06 - 9:10{Explosions}
-
9:11 - 9:15Nassar faught in the Arab armies defeated by
the Israelis in 1948. -
9:15 - 9:19Since then the Middle East's newest
state has fought a border war with its -
9:20 - 9:21Arab neighbors.
-
9:20 - 9:23Israel's very existence is an affront
-
9:24 - 9:28to Nasser. "Nasser was at the time a great
-
9:28 - 9:32danger and enemy. Very soon, it was clear
that he aspires -
9:33 - 9:37to the unify the Arab world." "Nasser
-
9:36 - 9:39made great speeches. He was handsome, he
-
9:40 - 9:43was eloquent. He carried fire with him,
-
9:43 - 9:48there was a catastrophe."
-
9:49 - 9:55The Israelis see themselves surrounded
by enemies, -
9:55 - 9:59fearing attack, they are desperately
trolling the world for arms. -
10:00 - 10:03"The Americans were very strict, they wouldn't supply us arms,
-
10:04 - 10:07so did Great Britain, and I thought
-
10:07 - 10:10the only opening we have is France."
-
10:10 - 10:16France agrees to supply Israel with the
Jewish state's -
10:16 - 10:20first jet fighters. To Nasser,
-
10:20 - 10:23it looks like an increasingly powerful
enemy is at the gates. -
10:24 - 10:28"The French are giving Israel arms, I am
-
10:28 - 10:32confronting the situation that may distract my
country. -
10:31 - 10:35Should I stand still?"
-
10:35 - 10:40So Nasser decides he too will look
abroad for arms. -
10:40 - 10:43As with the loan for his dam, his first
call -
10:44 - 10:47is on the United States. "Nasser, from the first
-
10:47 - 10:50day of revolution, asks the Americans,
-
10:50 - 10:53I need arms, our
-
10:53 - 10:56army needs arms and he asked the British
-
10:57 - 11:00the same question. Neither the British
-
11:01 - 11:08nor the Americans gave a response on that." But
this -
11:09 - 11:13is the 1950s, the depths of
the Cold War, -
11:13 - 11:17the West and the Soviet Union are locked
in a battle for influence across the -
11:17 - 11:18world.
-
11:18 - 11:21Nasser knows that if Washington says no
-
11:21 - 11:28then maybe Nikita Khrushchev in
Moscow will say yes. -
11:30 - 11:34"Egypt flexes its military muscles with
the display of arms newly acquired from -
11:34 - 11:35Russia and its satellites."
-
11:36 - 11:39The first arms from the Soviet bloc
-
11:39 - 11:42land in Alexandria on the 27th of
September, -
11:42 - 11:451955. The deal as a triumph for Khrushchev,
-
11:46 - 11:49who is keen to extend Communist
influence in the region. -
11:49 - 11:52"He didn't expect that countries would
be communist immediately, -
11:53 - 11:56he's willing to wait. Egypt was
the first great success for him. -
11:57 - 12:00This was for Khrushchev a sign.
-
12:00 - 12:03The kind of relationship he could have
with many of the large states in -
12:03 - 12:03developing world.
-
12:04 - 12:07And for the West, this was a very
dramatic achievement." -
12:07 - 12:10But Nasser is not in Khrushchev's pocket,
-
12:11 - 12:16as many in the West fear. "Nasser has
never been a Communist, never, never -
12:16 - 12:19at all." "We are believer. I
am a believer, I believe in God. Nasser -
12:20 - 12:23used to believe in God. Nasser used to
pray. -
12:23 - 12:26The Communists don't believe in God.
-
12:27 - 12:31Nasser was an anti-communist.
-
12:31 - 12:35The soviets knew full well he was an anti-communist.
They knew that he was putting communists -
12:35 - 12:35in jail.
-
12:35 - 12:38He didn't let those communists out of jail
when his relations improved with the -
12:39 - 12:42Soviet Union, but both sides made a
pragmatic -
12:42 - 12:45decision." But in Eden's view,
-
12:45 - 12:49Nasser does look like a communist stooge. The prime minister and the Americans
-
12:50 - 12:52decide to punish him for cutting a deal
with the Soviets. -
12:52 - 12:56Their response is to mount a covert
campaign against Nasser, -
12:57 - 13:01code-named Omega. "Omega includes
propaganda -
13:02 - 13:05to provide information to journalists, to
broadcasters, -
13:05 - 13:09that say, "Nasser really isn't a very good
person, can you please report this?" -
13:09 - 13:11
-
13:12 - 13:15"Omega also includes sanctions against
Egypt. It includes -
13:16 - 13:20locking military aid to Egypt." Then
-
13:20 - 13:24as part of this undeclared war, a secret
decision is taken to slow down financing -
13:25 - 13:26on the Aswan dam.
-
13:26 - 13:30Anthony Eden and the US Secretary of
State, John Foster Dulles, -
13:30 - 13:33are behind the new strategy. "I think
-
13:34 - 13:38Dulles was angry with Nasser for having
-
13:38 - 13:42almost flaunted his independence. I really
think that -
13:42 - 13:46Dulles believed that Nasser's
behavior was -
13:47 - 13:54almost a personal affront him.
-
13:54 - 13:58In London, Eden's mistrust of Nasser is
increased by some mysterious -
13:58 - 14:01intelligence reports which have just
landed on his desk. -
14:02 - 14:06They are from an MI6 contact known as
"Lucky Break". -
14:05 - 14:10Lucky Break tells Eden that Nasser is a
pawn of the Soviet Union -
14:10 - 14:15and the Egyptian people will welcome his
overthrow. "From reading the reports in MI6 -
14:16 - 14:19is giving to British officials and
giving to the Americans, -
14:20 - 14:23I think they're taking a few sources and
their sexing them up. -
14:23 - 14:27No one individual
-
14:28 - 14:34could have provided the information that
Nasser was so close to the Soviets, -
14:33 - 14:37that Nasser was so vulnerable to being
overthrown, -
14:37 - 14:40if not assinated, because that was
-
14:40 - 14:45not true, that simply was not true."
-
14:46 - 14:49But "Lucky Break" is telling the British
Prime Minister -
14:50 - 14:55what he wants to hear them. The firm attitude that the
government have adopted is not (quote fades) -
14:55 - 14:56Foreign Office Minister Anthony Nutting
-
14:57 - 15:00is one of the first to realize just how
far the Prime Minister -
15:00 - 15:03is now prepared to go. "Over an open line,
-
15:05 - 15:08having just said, 'it's me,' we started
a violent argument on the telephone, and he -
15:09 - 15:09was really violent
-
15:10 - 15:12in our conversation
-
15:12 - 15:16and ended up by shouting at me, 'I don't
want Nasser neutralized, I want him -
15:17 - 15:17destroyed'."
-
15:17 - 15:20There were two-two people [unintelligible] in conversation:
-
15:21 - 15:24Eden and Nutting. Nutting said subsequently that Eden had said murder.
-
15:24 - 15:28
-
15:28 - 15:29Operatives within MI6
-
15:30 - 15:34take the Prime Minister at his word. "What
you have is Thomas of Becket situation -
15:35 - 15:36were Eden says will someone not
-
15:36 - 15:41make me rid of this turbulent Nasser." "I'm not
exaggerating. -
15:42 - 15:45Nearly every month, nearly
-
15:46 - 15:49every month, there was an attempt against Nasser.
-
15:49 - 15:52From the West, either French
-
15:52 - 15:56or British, or Israelis, nearly every month.
-
15:57 - 16:01As Nasser was making a public speech in
Alexandria, -
16:01 - 16:05a young man fired eight bullets at him.
All missed the Premier, but two of his aids -
16:06 - 16:06were wounded.
-
16:06 - 16:09"The plans just are are wildly out of
control, -
16:09 - 16:12putting nerve gas into the ventilation
system of -
16:13 - 16:17Nasser's headquarters, trying to put poison
into Nasser's coffee, -
16:17 - 16:24trying at some point to possibly shoot
Nasser. -
16:27 - 16:31If Lucky Break did not exist in 1956, he would
have had to be created -
16:32 - 16:39to justify their extravagant plans to
get rid of Nasser. -
16:49 - 16:53On the 19th of July, 1956, the Egyptian
ambassador to the USA -
16:54 - 16:58is called into the state department. He is
informed that the financing up the Aswan -
16:58 - 17:00dam is cancelled.
-
17:01 - 17:05If the West can't assassinate Nasser,
then they will destroy his dreams to -
17:05 - 17:06develop Egypt.
-
17:06 - 17:11To add insult to injury, president Nasser
only learns of the decision from the -
17:11 - 17:12radio news.
-
17:12 - 17:17I was surprised by the insultive attitude
-
17:17 - 17:21which the refusal was declared,
-
17:21 - 17:24not by the refusal itself, but the
-
17:24 - 17:30insultive attitude and- which
meant humiliation. Now -
17:31 - 17:35Nasser has two choices, he can meekly except
the West's punishment, -
17:35 - 17:38or he can fight. Three days later,
-
17:39 - 17:44he gathers his most trusted lieutenants
together. "President Nasser -
17:44 - 17:51ordered me to bring him the file on the
Suez Canal. -
17:53 - 17:58And he told me 'what about nationalizing this canal?'"
-
17:59 - 18:03I got surprised
-
18:04 - 18:07but internally
-
18:08 - 18:12in myself, I got proud to think about
-
18:12 - 18:15this action at that time.
-
18:16 - 18:19I felt proud."
-
18:19 - 18:22Nasser calculates that the Aswan dam
can still be built, -
18:22 - 18:26if the tolls have ships transiting the
Suez Canal come to Egypt -
18:26 - 18:29and not the British and French
controlled Suez Canal Company. -
18:30 - 18:34But Nasser knows that nationalization is a
huge risk, -
18:34 - 18:38he will have to physically seize control
of the canal itself. -
18:38 - 18:43The next day he is scheduled to make his
first speech since his humiliation at -
18:43 - 18:46the hands of the West. All Egypt
waits for his response. -
18:47 - 18:51
-
18:51 - 18:54The speech is an anti-climax. "It was all
rhetoric. -
18:55 - 18:59The reaction of Egyptians was 'Oh, that
he hasn't got the balls -
18:59 - 19:03to really stand up to the United States. But
afterwards -
19:04 - 19:07Nasser orders an old military colleague,
Mahmoud Eunice, -
19:07 - 19:11to mastermind the dangerous job taking
physical control of the canal. -
19:11 - 19:15Eunice selects 30 man he can trust.
-
19:14 - 19:17Eunice emphasized that, if
-
19:18 - 19:21this peace of news
-
19:21 - 19:24is released then
-
19:24 - 19:27it will surely
-
19:27 - 19:31not succeed. Three days later,
-
19:32 - 19:36Nasser is scheduled to speak publicly
again. The men know their queue for -
19:36 - 19:39action is a password hidden in the
President's speech, -
19:39 - 19:42which will be carried on Egyptian radio.
The password -
19:43 - 19:47is the name of the man who designed the
canal, Ferdinand de Lesseps. -
19:47 - 19:51As they wait, they still don't know if
their President has definitely decided -
19:52 - 19:53to take the gamble.
-
19:53 - 19:56"My feelings were combination
-
19:57 - 20:00of first, fear,
-
20:01 - 20:05and of course the sense of
-
20:05 - 20:08responsibility. This
-
20:09 - 20:16is tremendous.
-
20:19 - 20:24In the stifling July heat, Nasser makes his
way to Alexandria's Mansheya Square, -
20:25 - 20:30where he is to deliver his speech. Once
again his people wait to hear if he -
20:30 - 20:31will respond to the West's
-
20:31 - 20:35denial of funding for the Aswan dam.
At 9pm, -
20:36 - 20:41Nasser climbs the podium. The speech is long.
-
20:41 - 20:46Nasser catalogs the centuries of
humiliations the Egyptians have suffered -
20:46 - 20:50at the hands of the West.
-
20:51 - 20:55It is an attitude of such arrogance towards other peoples. We will not be manipulated.
-
20:55 - 20:56
-
20:55 - 20:57His tone is measured but angry.
-
20:58 - 21:01Today we are going to get rid of what happened in the past.
-
21:02 - 21:07
-
21:08 - 21:11On the canal, Esset and his men are in
position, -
21:11 - 21:14ready for the signal, but after two hours,
-
21:14 - 21:17it still hasn't come.
-
21:18 - 21:25"Every year the Company earn 35 million pounds sterling. This money should be ours.
-
21:26 - 21:29Then the moment of truth
-
21:29 - 21:33"I imagined I had seen Ferdinand De Lesseps."
-
21:34 - 21:38At the signal, Eunice, Esset and their
men, simultaneously break into the -
21:38 - 21:40four main offices ot the Suez Canal
Company. -
21:41 - 21:45In Alexandria, Nasser leaves nothing to
chance. -
21:45 - 21:48He repeats the password a total of 14
times. -
21:49 - 21:52
-
21:52 - 21:54
-
21:55 - 21:59In the Canal Company headquarters, Eunice
informs the European employees that the -
22:00 - 22:01company has been nationalized.
-
22:02 - 22:03He is polite,
-
22:03 - 22:07but he is also armed. Attempts sabotage
or obstruction by the employees -
22:08 - 22:11will not be tolerated. "They were very
-
22:12 - 22:16astonished and afraid.
-
22:16 - 22:19We tried to calmed them down and
-
22:19 - 22:23asked them to continue work
-
22:24 - 22:27as if nothing has happened."
-
22:26 - 22:30Back in Alexandria, Nasser now reveals to
the world -
22:31 - 22:38what the employees at the Suez Canal
Company have just discovered. -
22:43 - 22:46"Some of your fellow citizens have just taken over the Canal." Across Egypt, there is pandemonium. "It was a.
-
22:47 - 22:51bombshell, of course, absolute bombshell. We
listen to this thing -
22:51 - 22:55nobody expected." "People were rioting
-
22:56 - 22:59in the street.
-
22:59 - 23:02I celebrated with all Egyptians."
-
23:02 - 23:04The Suez Canal Company shall be nationalized. All Company assets shall be transferred to the state. The Company is under new management.
-
23:04 - 23:11
-
23:13 - 23:19
-
23:19 - 23:21The employees at the newly nationalized
company -
23:22 - 23:25do not join in the celebrations. "I
remember that -
23:26 - 23:29some of them said, 'You do not
-
23:29 - 23:32to realize the impact
-
23:33 - 23:36and the reactions from the West.
-
23:36 - 23:39Because the West cannot leave
-
23:39 - 23:42this international waterway
-
23:42 - 23:45in incapable hands.
-
23:46 - 23:50In London,
-
23:51 - 23:55Eden is enjoying post-dinner brandys
with military and diplomatic top brass -
23:55 - 23:56at No. 10.
-
23:56 - 23:59When news of Nasser's actions comes
through, -
23:59 - 24:02he is furious. "We all know this is how
-
24:03 - 24:07fascist governments behave and we all
remember, -
24:07 - 24:10only too well, what the cost can be
-
24:11 - 24:15in giving in to Fascism." The former commanding
officer -
24:16 - 24:20of our battalion described, in his usual blunt way
to me, he said that -
24:20 - 24:24the moment you mentioned the name Nasser,
Eden practically -
24:25 - 24:30got down and chewed the carpet.
-
24:30 - 24:34But in the United States, initial
reaction is less belligerent. -
24:34 - 24:38Eisenhower dispatches John Foster Dulles
to London, -
24:38 - 24:43to calm me Eden down. Dulles carries with him
a letter from the President. -
24:43 - 24:46"The letter said that, under no circumstances,
within -
24:46 - 24:50American public opinion or the american
government support use of force in the -
24:50 - 24:55Middle East." But Eden has already made
his decision. -
24:54 - 24:57The next morning, Eisenhower had a
-
24:58 - 25:02cable from Eden,
-
25:01 - 25:05stating the explicitly that the
government had decided that they were -
25:06 - 25:07going to get rid of Nasser,
-
25:08 - 25:12that this is the only alternative, that
there was a firm decision, they were -
25:13 - 25:14going to change it,
-
25:14 - 25:18and that was that."
-
25:18 - 25:21"Essentially, the British and French reaction
-
25:20 - 25:25to the Suez Crisis, captivated
two principles, -
25:26 - 25:29about which we have heard quite a lot
recently. -
25:30 - 25:33One was regime change, feeling that Nasser must go.
-
25:33 - 25:36The other was preemptive
-
25:36 - 25:40self-defense. Eden's justification for
this -
25:39 - 25:43is the belief that Nasser is a Soviet
puppet, a direct threat -
25:43 - 25:47to British interests. Lucky Break's
intelligence has told him so. -
25:48 - 25:52But the intelligence is wrong. In moscow,
-
25:52 - 25:55Nikita Kruschev knows nothing of Nasser's
plans. -
25:55 - 26:01"When he nationalized the canal, it was
a surprise for the Soviet Union also. -
26:00 - 26:04He didn't take their permission or anything."
-
26:04 - 26:08"Even once he had made this decision, a few days before
the announcement, he didn't tell the Soviets. -
26:09 - 26:13And he didn't tell them for an obvious
reason, he knew what their reaction -
26:12 - 26:17would be. Moscow would tell him, "Don't do
it." The West -
26:18 - 26:24saw Moscow as the ginger man in the
story, as provoking Nasser to be more and -
26:24 - 26:24more aggressive.
-
26:25 - 26:29In fact, Moscow was doing the opposite."
Meanwhile, -
26:30 - 26:33in the newly nationalized canal, the
atmosphere is tense. -
26:33 - 26:38Nasser knows that Edan does not expect
the Egyptians will be able to run the -
26:38 - 26:38canal.
-
26:38 - 26:41Critical to its running, are the three
hundred pilots, -
26:41 - 26:45nearly all European, who guide each ship
from one end to the other. -
26:46 - 26:49"Without these pilots, the traffic will
-
26:49 - 26:52will never start, canal will stop."
-
26:52 - 26:55"We noticed that after
-
26:56 - 26:59the summer leave is over, some
-
27:00 - 27:04did not come back. We also notice
-
27:04 - 27:07that some are selling their cars."
-
27:07 - 27:11"In fourteenth of September,
-
27:11 - 27:14at twelve o'clock, they declared
-
27:15 - 27:20we stop work." Seven weeks after nationalization,
-
27:19 - 27:23the British Prime Minister has secretly
instructed the pilots to abandon the -
27:24 - 27:24canal.
-
27:24 - 27:28"It was now an exam, in
-
27:27 - 27:30which if we failed, then soon,
-
27:31 - 27:37then soon the Suez Canal would be lost.
Egypt's hopes rest on the shoulders of the -
27:37 - 27:4026-year-old trainee pilot Ali Nasri,
-
27:41 - 27:45who, with only a fortnight's training, has
to take a ship through the canal. -
27:45 - 27:50"My first vessel was German and the
captain came and say, -
27:50 - 27:55'You are from the new pilots?', I said, 'Yes
and this is my first time. -
27:55 - 27:59I have to take a ship alone'."
-
27:59 - 28:04The potential for disaster is huge. The
canal is little over a hundred meters -
28:05 - 28:06wide at points.
-
28:06 - 28:10Ali Nasri fears a miscalculation could
send his tanker into the bank's -
28:11 - 28:14blocking the whole canal and proving
Eden right. -
28:14 - 28:19"The feeling of responsibility makes me losing
some confidence. -
28:20 - 28:24I couldn't see the buoys. You see the
green boys and red buoys. -
28:23 - 28:27I couldn't see any.
-
28:28 - 28:32But by time, they [unintelligible], and they start to give orders.
-
28:33 - 28:35
-
28:35 - 28:42Slowly his ship moves off down the canal.
-
28:45 - 28:51"My orders, I executed immediately.
-
28:51 - 28:53You keep the vessel in the middle, straight.
-
28:54 - 28:57So I start to feel happy, relax.
-
28:57 - 29:00I can see the way, the vessel was moving.
-
29:01 - 29:07So I start to feel easy-easy." Nasri's
progress is followed with baited breath -
29:07 - 29:10on the banks of the canal. I saw somebody
-
29:10 - 29:13in the road, somebody calling, "Pilot, Pilot."
-
29:14 - 29:18Yes, I look by the glass, and found him,
Mahmoud Younis himself. -
29:18 - 29:22The Chairman standing in the road saying,
-
29:23 - 29:26'Good luck, go ahead."
-
29:26 - 29:3014 hours later, a ship piloted by an
Egyptian has passed successfully through -
29:31 - 29:31the canal.
-
29:32 - 29:35Once again, there are celebrations in the
streets. -
29:35 - 29:38"It is beyond any imagination
-
29:39 - 29:42that gave the confidence
-
29:42 - 29:45to the Egyptian state that they can do
-
29:46 - 29:49what the whole world thought
-
29:49 - 29:56that they cannot.
-
29:56 - 30:00But in London, Eden is still determined
to build a case for intervention. -
30:00 - 30:04Removing the pilots is only his opening
gambit. -
30:03 - 30:07Now he decides to overwhelm the
inexperienced Egyptians -
30:08 - 30:13by forcing a gigantic fleet of tankers
through the canal. -
30:13 - 30:17"Now the British had planned a nice
little scheme which would demonstrate to -
30:18 - 30:19the world Egyptians were incompetent at
-
30:19 - 30:23running the canal and they would have lots of
ships, just poised and ready, -
30:24 - 30:27to go through the canal once the pilot's have been withdrawn."
-
30:26 - 30:30"Then instead of receiving, say 20 vessels at
-
30:31 - 30:36Port Said, you receive 30, to make it more difficult
-
30:37 - 30:44for any group to carry on as [unintelligible].
-
30:43 - 30:46Exhausted, the 36 Egyptian pilots
-
30:46 - 30:49and whatever foreign recruits they can
muster, work day and night -
30:50 - 30:53to deny Eden his wish and to keep the
canal running. -
30:53 - 30:56We were working continuously.
-
30:57 - 31:00President Nasser, at that time,
-
31:01 - 31:04was on the phone, on the wireless,
-
31:04 - 31:08hour by hour."
-
31:09 - 31:13The Egyptians succeed in keeping the
canal open, despite Eden's best efforts -
31:13 - 31:13at sabotage.
-
31:14 - 31:17For a second time, the Prime Minister has
been foiled. -
31:18 - 31:21The whole world was
-
31:21 - 31:24not expect, at all, that
-
31:25 - 31:29Egypt would succeed in this severe
-
31:29 - 31:32exam. And some of the Western
-
31:33 - 31:36papers sugguested that the Egyptians
-
31:36 - 31:39cultivate the Suez Canal area with
-
31:40 - 31:43potatoes, instead of running
-
31:43 - 31:47the Suez Canal." Eden is frustrated,
-
31:48 - 31:53but Nasser feels vindicated. It is now
almost three months since nationalization -
31:53 - 31:58and the canal is still open for business.
It seems Aiden's plans to overthrow Nasser -
31:59 - 32:04and wrestle back control of the canal,
have failed. The world can see no reason -
32:05 - 32:10for war. Then,
-
32:10 - 32:14on the 14th of October, two visitors from
the French Ministry of Defence -
32:15 - 32:18arrive to see a gloomy Prime Minister
at his country retreat, -
32:18 - 32:21Checkers. "The French had invented the
following -
32:22 - 32:25senario, that Israel should attack
-
32:26 - 32:29Egypt. There upon, Britain and France, who
-
32:29 - 32:34had forces in the neighborhood, should say,
'We cannot allow this kind of war because -
32:34 - 32:37it will interfere with the Suez Canal, and therefore.
-
32:38 - 32:41we are going to intervene and hold the two
countries apart. -
32:42 - 32:43"I happened to be in Paris,
-
32:46 - 32:48so the Minister of Defense called me in
-
32:49 - 32:54and says, 'You ever thought about storming over Sinai?'
-
32:55 - 33:01
-
33:02 - 33:05And that's how it started."
-
33:05 - 33:07Eden is enthusiastic about this
French plan, -
33:08 - 33:12not only will he be able to seize the
canal, he sees a way to bring about -
33:13 - 33:14Nassar's downfall.
-
33:14 - 33:17"To bomb Egypt, you
-
33:18 - 33:22create panic within the country, you link
this -
33:22 - 33:26to an invasion - Israeli invasion, and
the new government will emerge -
33:26 - 33:30and Nasser will be no more. As Eden is
plotting in Britain, -
33:31 - 33:34the rest of the world is trying to
broker a peace deal at the United -
33:34 - 33:34Nations.
-
33:35 - 33:38Eden has reluctantly sent his foreign
secretary, -
33:38 - 33:41Selwyn Lloyd, to meet with the French and
Egyptians in New York. -
33:41 - 33:44To Lloyd's surprise, the talks are going
well. -
33:45 - 33:48"He desperately hoped he would be able to
make -
33:48 - 33:51real progress in these talks in the United
Nations -
33:51 - 33:55and was encouraged by the Egyptian Foreign
Minister, Fawzi's, -
33:56 - 34:01willingness to talk over the subject." But
just as it seems progress is being made -
34:02 - 34:05the atmosphere changes, the attitude
-
34:05 - 34:09of Pireau, the French Foreign Minister,
was very ambiguous. -
34:09 - 34:13From the beginning, he seemed to be
prepared -
34:14 - 34:19to get down to real negotiations, but
then halfway through, -
34:19 - 34:23he seemed to lose interest intirely and
we wondered -
34:23 - 34:26what was going on and why. Eden,
-
34:27 - 34:31anxious that no deal is struck in New
York, telephones Lloyd and orders him to -
34:32 - 34:33abandon the talks immediately.
-
34:34 - 34:37The Foreign Secretary, feeling he might
be close to a solution, -
34:37 - 34:40is exasperated. Selwyn Lloyd
-
34:41 - 34:44probably thought that it was worthwhile
continuing with these discussions. -
34:45 - 34:48You might say like Hans Blix thought that he
could do with a couple more months -
34:48 - 34:52of time to decide something very definite
about the weapons of mass destruction -
34:53 - 34:57but Eden wasn't having any of it."
-
34:58 - 35:02Eden has another agenda and instructs
Lloyd and Logan to travel, -
35:02 - 35:05in secret, to a Parisian suburb called
Se, -
35:06 - 35:09to finalize the plot with the French and
Israelis. -
35:09 - 35:13Lloyd was desperately disappointed, but felt,
-
35:13 - 35:17out of loyalty, that he had to do it but it
turned his stomach to do it -
35:18 - 35:22and he hated it all the way through. The
document agreed on here, -
35:22 - 35:26known as the Sev protocol, puts down in
black and white the covert plan to -
35:27 - 35:28invade Egypt
-
35:28 - 35:32and fool the world. At the end, copies of
the protocol are presented for -
35:33 - 35:33signatures.
-
35:34 - 35:38Patrick Dean, a Foreign Office official,
signs on behalf of the British. -
35:38 - 35:41But Eden does not expect his desire
for war -
35:42 - 35:45to be confirmed in writing. "We returned late
that night and took the -
35:46 - 35:50document to him in No. 10 and his immediate reaction
-
35:51 - 35:56was, 'Oh my god, I never expected it to be signed'." When this document finally emerged,
-
35:56 - 35:59forty years later, it confirmed how a
British Prime Minister -
36:00 - 36:03had deceived the world and deliberately
engineered a war -
36:04 - 36:06in the Middle East.
-
36:07 - 36:13
-
36:13 - 36:17On October the 29th, the Israelis land a
parachute brigade -
36:16 - 36:21deep in the Sinai, as agreed at Sev. Nasser
is awoken at 4am -
36:21 - 36:24and told the news. "You can take that he
was surprised -
36:25 - 36:30and not surprised. We were predicting
-
36:30 - 36:34that there would be an action against Egypt, but
we have -
36:34 - 36:40no information from Israel." But the
Israeli advance towards the canal -
36:40 - 36:41is a fake,
-
36:41 - 36:44designed purely to convince the world
that the canal is threatened. -
36:45 - 36:48"It was about 40 kilometers from the canal or
45 kilometers. -
36:48 - 36:51But when you look at big maps then you can say
-
36:52 - 36:56the drop was not far from the canal. There
was enough to fulfill the needs of the -
36:56 - 36:56British to say
-
36:57 - 37:01the canal is threatened."
-
37:01 - 37:04"We didn't go into the motives and
consideration of -
37:05 - 37:08France and England because our aims were clear."
-
37:09 - 37:14The Israeli forces concentrate instead
-
37:14 - 37:18on destroying the Egyptian army in Sinai
which they have long seen as a threat -
37:18 - 37:22to Israel's security. The attack takes
Nasser's commanders by surprise. -
37:23 - 37:26They are quickly overwhelmed and forced
to retreat. -
37:26 - 37:29The following day, Britain and France
-
37:30 - 37:35issue their ultimatum as planned at Sev,
Israel and Egypt are to cease fighting -
37:35 - 37:39or the two Western powers will intervene.
Eden knows -
37:40 - 37:43this is an ultimatum that Nasser cannot
accept. -
37:43 - 37:47On the evening of the 30th of October,
the ultimatum expires. -
37:47 - 37:54
-
37:57 - 38:02Shortly afterwards, Nasser hears planes in
the skies above Cairo. -
38:02 - 38:07"I was with the Indonesian ambassador and there
were the air warning -
38:08 - 38:10and then
-
38:11 - 38:15came the blackout. I listened
-
38:15 - 38:21and there was the jet airplanes and I said to
the Indonesian -
38:20 - 38:24ambassador these are British."
-
38:24 - 38:28Now Nasser realizes just how much Eden is
prepared to gamble. -
38:29 - 38:32"I hadn't thought at all that Britain would do
-
38:32 - 38:35any attack against us because it was clear
-
38:35 - 38:38that any attack against us would effect
-
38:38 - 38:41the British position all over the Arab countries.
-
38:42 - 38:45And would mean the end of the British relations and
-
38:46 - 38:50influence in the Middle East.
-
38:50 - 38:53As the bombs fall, a frightened
Egyptian population -
38:53 - 38:56rush to join civilian militias. "Most of
us, -
38:57 - 39:00the young people, decided that we're going to
defend the country." -
39:01 - 39:05"We really didn't know what we're gonna
do because our training was very cursory. -
39:05 - 39:09It included one clip of live ammunition.
When we joined, -
39:09 - 39:13first thing they did was they give us
those cases of Kalashnikov rifles -
39:13 - 39:18right out of the boxes with Greece,
and they said, 'Okay, here is your rifle.'" -
39:18 - 39:21This makeshift civilian army
-
39:21 - 39:24now waits for the arrival of British
paratroopers. -
39:24 - 39:27"You hear a lot of fire, people flying
-
39:27 - 39:30rifles and firing in the air. We don't-
-
39:31 - 39:35you know, everybody is a parachutist, you know.
Any noise you think somebody had just -
39:35 - 39:38come from sky. So it was a very very
-
39:39 - 39:43tense moment and we were scared."
-
39:43 - 39:46But Cairo, where Talaat Badrawi and
other volunteers are waiting -
39:47 - 39:51is not the target for the British
paratroopers assault. Port Said, -
39:51 - 39:55at the mouth of the canal, is where
Britain will begin the reconquest -
39:56 - 40:03of Egypt.
-
40:03 - 40:09After five days of aerial bombardment,
668 British paratroopers land in Port Said. -
40:10 - 40:16The city quickly finds itself under
occupation, -
40:16 - 40:20but its population is determined not to
give Eden the easy victory -
40:20 - 40:24he has anticipated. "And then they landed,
-
40:25 - 40:28the British landed
in Port Said. -
40:28 - 40:31So of course we wanted to wipe them
out." -
40:31 - 40:34"All the people have
-
40:34 - 40:38arms and guns and machine guns. They shoot at the airplanes
-
40:38 - 40:41and every Egyptian people are ready to
sacrifice himself -
40:42 - 40:46in order to- to defend his country."
As the resistance mobilizes, -
40:47 - 40:50the British Prime Minister is insisting
to the world -
40:50 - 40:53that his actions are right, legal, and
morally sound. -
40:54 - 41:00"All my life, I've been a man a man of peace.
-
41:00 - 41:03Working for peace, striving for peace,
-
41:04 - 41:07negotiating for peace
-
41:07 - 41:12and I'm still the same, with the same
conviction, -
41:13 - 41:16same diversion to peace.
-
41:16 - 41:19But I'm utterly
-
41:19 - 41:24convinced the action we have taken is
right." -
41:25 - 41:26As Eden is speaking,
-
41:26 - 41:29Port Said is burning.
-
41:29 - 41:32"There were two streets
-
41:33 - 41:36I'm Abbas Street and Adadi
-
41:36 - 41:39Street. These were mainly slums of wooden huts.
-
41:40 - 41:43So they shot powder
-
41:43 - 41:47at this homes and they were all set
ablaze. One would see so many -
41:48 - 41:51homes burned, from the start to the end
of the street. -
41:52 - 41:56This homes were all burned.
-
41:56 - 41:59I saw corpses down the streets that
nobody -
41:59 - 42:02could bury and they brought small
wagons, -
42:02 - 42:05usually used to sell vegetables, and put
six -
42:05 - 42:09or seven corpses on every wagon to
take them to the graveyard, -
42:09 - 42:12in order to be buried there and I saw two corpses
-
42:13 - 42:16which were flattened to the ground all
together. -
42:16 - 42:21They were crushed by tanks."
-
42:21 - 42:26The war is barely a week old, hundreds of
Egyptian civilians have already been -
42:26 - 42:27killed in the bombing campaign
-
42:28 - 42:34and more die in the street fighting that
follows. -
42:34 - 42:36
-
42:37 - 42:41it is at this point that Eden hopes a
terrified Egyptian population -
42:41 - 42:46will rise up to overthrow Nasser. "They do
not understand what Egypt -
42:46 - 42:51is. They were completely wrong. The
Egyptians were- all of them- were -
42:51 - 42:58where at one heart behind Nasser."
-
42:59 - 43:02"When they feel a foreign threat,
-
43:03 - 43:06people come together and that's what happened exactly."
-
43:05 - 43:11The Egyptian Armed Forces may be
hopelessly outgunned, -
43:12 - 43:15but Nasser and his government remain in
Cairo. -
43:14 - 43:17Plans are made to begin a guerrilla war,
-
43:17 - 43:20should the army be overwhelmed. "A popular
army -
43:21 - 43:24to fight in the canals, in the streets, in the countryside, in the ports."
-
43:24 - 43:28"We were hiding
-
43:29 - 43:32arms all over the villages, everywhere in
Egypt; -
43:31 - 43:35So even if the troops, they
came to invade Egypt, we will fight- we -
43:36 - 43:38will resist."
-
43:38 - 43:41And to prevent the British taking the
canal, -
43:42 - 43:45Nassar orders ships to be sunk and the
canal blocked. -
43:45 - 43:49Eden's invasion has succeeded in
obstructing the very waterway -
43:49 - 43:54is trying to save and that is in the
Prime Minister's only miscalculation. -
43:53 - 43:56The Suez Crisis suddenly increases the
temperature -
43:56 - 43:59of the Cold War. "Burning buildings and
bitter street fighting, -
44:00 - 44:05signal the release of long, pent-up resentment."
-
44:05 - 44:072,000 kilometers away, in Budapest,
-
44:08 - 44:12the Soviet Union's empire in Europe is
threatened by a popular uprising. -
44:13 - 44:17"The red star has been ripped, the hated symbol of communism is effaced
-
44:17 - 44:20where ever found." Nikita Kruschev
-
44:20 - 44:23sees his ally Nasser coming under attack
in Cairo -
44:24 - 44:27and realizes that Soviet prestige
appears to be crumbling -
44:27 - 44:30on two continents. "He feels
-
44:31 - 44:35that the West is taking advantage of him
when he is down, -
44:36 - 44:39that that British and the French are
watching his troubles in eastern Europe -
44:39 - 44:42and see that they have an opportunity to
deal with one of his allies now because -
44:43 - 44:44he is distracted.
-
44:44 - 44:47His reaction was the reaction of
political leader -
44:48 - 44:52who is fearful, surprised, and
-
44:52 - 44:56angry at the same time. Kruschev
-
44:57 - 45:01uses the city of Budapest to send a
bloody message to the West, -
45:01 - 45:08as recent research has uncovered.
-
45:08 - 45:11"We have the Politburo minutes and it makes clear
-
45:11 - 45:16what's going on here. He wants to send a
signal to them that no, Soviet Union is as -
45:17 - 45:17powerful as ever.
-
45:18 - 45:21You cannot mess with me, either in the
Middle East -
45:21 - 45:26or in Eastern Europe." Then
-
45:27 - 45:31Kruschev ups the stakes. Lacking
conventional forces in the Middle East -
45:32 - 45:34to help, Egypt against the British and
French -
45:33 - 45:37he threatens the West with the doomsday
option. "He -
45:38 - 45:42said to the world that, don't be
surprised -
45:42 - 45:46if the consequences of your actions is
that nuclear weapons will fall on -
45:47 - 45:53London and Paris.
-
45:54 - 45:56This was the first time they had
-
45:57 - 45:59ever made a nuclear threat." Suddenly,
-
45:59 - 46:03it looks like Eden's adventure in Egypt
is going to end in Armageddon. -
46:04 - 46:09"Somebody had a radio and we heard of
that- -
46:09 - 46:12that the Russians were threatening
-
46:13 - 46:17to drop bombs on London, and the Chinese might
be about to join in -
46:17 - 46:22too. And that moment I did think, this
is really going to be -
46:23 - 46:28the third world war.
-
46:28 - 46:31The threat of nuclear war
-
46:32 - 46:36concentrates minds in Washington, where
President Eisenhower is already furious -
46:36 - 46:37with the Prime Minister.
-
46:38 - 46:41"United States was not consulted in any
way about -
46:41 - 46:44any phase of these actions. Nor were we informed of
them -
46:45 - 46:48in advance." "He was so angry with the
British, -
46:49 - 46:53I mean, he was really angry with the
British. they'd gone -
46:53 - 46:58around his back and colluded with these
other guys." -
46:59 - 47:02
-
47:02 - 47:05In front of the world, the American
Secretary of State -
47:05 - 47:08condemns his country's oldest ally. "I
doubt that any -
47:09 - 47:14delegate ever spoke from this forum with as
heavy a heart -
47:14 - 47:17as I have brought here tonight."
-
47:18 - 47:21"Eden had the
-
47:21 - 47:24awful realization
-
47:25 - 47:30that he had totally misjudged the
American aspect of the affair." -
47:30 - 47:34Eden's plans are unraveling fast. He is
not anticipated this level of hostility -
47:35 - 47:36from the Americans,
-
47:37 - 47:41nor from his own people. "If he is sincere in what he is saying, then he is too stupid to be a prime minister."
-
47:42 - 47:46
-
47:46 - 47:50"There was demonstrations in London as big as
demonstrations in Egypt." -
47:50 - 47:56"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!"
-
47:56 - 47:58
-
47:59 - 48:04
-
48:05 - 48:08The world sees photographs which show in
grisly detail -
48:08 - 48:13the effects of the war on the Egyptian
people. As opposition across the world -
48:13 - 48:13mounts,
-
48:14 - 48:18moral in Port Said soars. "People
around the world we're backing -
48:19 - 48:23you. In the West, we had the public
opinion with Egyptians." -
48:23 - 48:28And Eden realizes he has fatally
miscalculated the reaction -
48:29 - 48:32of the Egyptian population to invasion.
"If you ask me, -
48:32 - 48:38where they afraid? Yes, we were all
afraid, because nobody likes to die. -
48:39 - 48:44We used to live a daily natural life, but with
little commodities. -
48:45 - 48:48Limited food but people would stay
-
48:49 - 48:52at cafes, listening to the radio, encouraging people to resist -
-
48:53 - 48:58very special atmosphere."
-
48:58 - 49:02Nasser refuses to go into hiding. He
determines instead to rally his people -
49:02 - 49:04after Friday prayers at Cairo's
-
49:04 - 49:08ancient Al Azar mosque.
-
49:09 - 49:13"We will fight from house to house, from village to village. We will fight and never surrender.
-
49:13 - 49:18We will fight rather than live humiliated. We will fight to the last drop of blood. We're building our country, our history, our future.
-
49:18 - 49:21
-
49:22 - 49:27
-
49:27 - 49:34
-
49:39 - 49:44In London, Eden is feeling the strain. He
has failed to win the hearts and minds -
49:44 - 49:46of the Egyptian people.
-
49:45 - 49:50Nasser is more popular than ever and now
comes the decisive blow. -
49:50 - 49:54Britain's currency reserves have been
hemorrhaging since the bombing campaign -
49:55 - 49:55began,
-
49:55 - 49:59as dealers all over the world dump
sterling. "In those days, -
49:59 - 50:04Britain was the banker of the sterling
area. Britain saw -
50:04 - 50:11immediate danger over the bottom falling
out of that." -
50:10 - 50:12When Eden appeals to the Americans for
financial help, -
50:13 - 50:17President Eisenhower makes sure there
will be no room for misunderstanding -
50:18 - 50:23this time. "Eisenhower's was quite firm, he said as soon as you agree to get out
-
50:23 - 50:25and really are getting out, we willl help you,
but not a minute before." -
50:27 - 50:29On the 6th of November,
-
50:30 - 50:33after nine days of war, Eden has no
choice. -
50:34 - 50:38With British troops having advanced
little over 10 miles down the canal, -
50:38 - 50:43the Prime Minister reluctantly calls a
cease-fire. If the United Nations will take over -
50:44 - 50:45this police action,
-
50:45 - 50:49we shall welcome, indeed we prefer
-
50:50 - 50:56that cause to them."
-
50:56 - 51:03The arrival of United
Nations contingents at Port Said -
51:08 - 51:12causes a sensation that nearly develops into a
riot by excitable Egyptians. -
51:12 - 51:15"Of
course, -
51:15 - 51:19I was jumping with joy. When the last
British soldier left, -
51:20 - 51:26we used to say, "Go to hell." Plans
are made for United Nations troops to -
51:26 - 51:28replace the British and French on the
ground. -
51:28 - 51:31The cease-fire is a humiliating
climbdown for Eden -
51:32 - 51:35and his commanders. "I have to say
-
51:36 - 51:40that most of the offices in the regiment
-
51:40 - 51:44took it as a mortal blow. I think it was
-
51:44 - 51:47very, very hard all professional soldiers
who'd gone into this -
51:48 - 51:52enterprise in good faith, thought that
this was going to be the final -
51:52 - 51:56roar of the British lion and suddenly found it
it was just a sort of a -
51:56 - 52:01mingy little squeak that achieved nothing." For
the prime minister, -
52:02 - 52:07the pressure of failure is unbearable.
With Britain facing a winter fuel crisis -
52:07 - 52:08because of the closure of the canal,
-
52:09 - 52:12he leaves the country for Jamaica, his
health and career -
52:12 - 52:15crumbling. So anthony, at the moment of departure may we ask you how you're feeling?"
-
52:16 - 52:19"The main thing I'm feeling
-
52:20 - 52:23is that I'm deeply sorry to have to leave
-
52:23 - 52:27the country at this time."
-
52:27 - 52:33Five weeks later, he is back but not for
long. -
52:34 - 52:38Eden never returned to frontline politics
and his reputation never recovered from -
52:39 - 52:41taking Britain to war in the Middle East
-
52:41 - 52:45under false pretenses. Britain's
reputation was equally damaged. -
52:46 - 52:49"Well it was a total utter disaster
-
52:50 - 52:53and it took us twenty years
-
52:53 - 52:57to recover our rightful position as someone
who was not -
52:58 - 53:01lord and master in that area, but a
friend -
53:02 - 53:06to those states which will emerge after
many centuries when we and the French -
53:06 - 53:09had ruled the roost." In Egypt,
-
53:10 - 53:15the Suez Crisis was the making of Nasser.
"The 23rd of December, -
53:16 - 53:191956 [unintelligible].
-
53:19 - 53:22It was the first day of the liberation of Port Said
-
53:23 - 53:28and the whole city was out to celebrate victory."
-
53:28 - 53:31"At that time, he was, you know, he was
God, I have to tell you." -
53:31 - 53:34"President Nasser is a
historic hero." -
53:35 - 53:39In the aftermath of the Suez Crisis,
-
53:40 - 53:44Nasser was fated all over the Arab world.
Here at last was a leader who could -
53:44 - 53:45stand up to the West
-
53:46 - 53:49and win. "And the Arabs at that time
-
53:49 - 53:53started to realize that Nasser was hero,
-
53:53 - 53:56who was sent by god
-
53:57 - 54:00to retrieve the Arabs from
-
54:00 - 54:04many years of subordination." "Nasser,
-
54:04 - 54:08in a sense, was a big winner but with a
win which set him up -
54:09 - 54:14to be an awfully big loser because Nasser
eventually came to believe his own -
54:14 - 54:14propaganda that
-
54:15 - 54:19he had won a great battle." A little over 10
years later, -
54:19 - 54:23Nasser decides that he is strong enough to
settle old scores with the Israeli -
54:23 - 54:25invaders of 1956.
-
54:25 - 54:28"In 1967, he said, 'Last time,
-
54:29 - 54:32we were fighting Israel, Britain, and
France. We won then, -
54:33 - 54:38this time, Israel is alone."
-
54:38 - 54:41It is an appalling misjudgment. "In the
Sinai desert, -
54:42 - 54:45in the wake of Egypt catastrophic
retreat, line Nasser's -
54:45 - 54:50wrecked tanks. The whole world hopes, that from
great victory and utter defeat, wisdom -
54:51 - 54:52will emerge and bring lasting peace
-
54:52 - 54:55to this part of the world."
-
54:56 - 54:59But instead of peace coming to the
Middle East, -
55:00 - 55:03the unresolved issues at the 1967 war,
-
55:03 - 55:07the West Bank, and Gaza Strip, still
poison the region today. -
55:07 - 55:11
-
55:12 - 55:16The end of the Suez Crisis was also the
moment a new power decided to take -
55:16 - 55:16center stage
-
55:17 - 55:21in the Middle East. Within weeks at
the end of the war, -
55:21 - 55:24President Eisenhower, convinced that the
British and French could no longer be -
55:25 - 55:28trusted to protect Western interests in
the region, -
55:28 - 55:31announces a fight for change in American
policy. -
55:31 - 55:36He concludes that what the Middle East
needs is more American involvement -
55:36 - 55:41not less. The Eisenhower doctrine said
we're going to safeguard any country -
55:42 - 55:45which is threatened by Communism within
the Middle East. That's the old idea of -
55:46 - 55:50you're either with us in Washington or with
us in Moscow and cuts out a third way -
55:50 - 55:50for Arab Nationalism.
-
55:50 - 55:54The very factors which lead the Americans
keep their distance -
55:54 - 55:57from Britain's in moving to aggressively
against Nasser in 1956, -
55:58 - 56:01they lose sight of those." "The occasion
-
56:01 - 56:04has come for us, to show our deep respect
for the rights -
56:05 - 56:08and independence of every nation, however
great, -
56:08 - 56:11however small. We seek not violence, but peace.
-
56:12 - 56:15
-
56:15 - 56:17It is a policy which echoes from Suez
-
56:18 - 56:21to today. "States like these
-
56:21 - 56:24and their terrorist allies constitute
an -
56:24 - 56:29axis of evil. I will now wait on a bench
while dangers gather. -
56:29 - 56:32The United States of America will not
permit -
56:32 - 56:35the world's most dangerous regimes to
threaten us -
56:35 - 56:42with the world's most destructive
weapons." -
56:42 - 56:48"This is not the time to falter, this is the
time for this house to give a lead, -
56:47 - 56:50to show that we wil,l stand up for what
we know to be right -
56:51 - 56:54to show that we will confront the
tyrannies -
56:54 - 57:01and dictatorships and terrorists who put
our way of life at risk." -
57:02 - 57:03"The fact of the matter is
-
57:03 - 57:07that Iraq could turn out in the long run
to be a Suez fifty years later. -
57:07 - 57:11But where as that will take years to find
out with Iraq, with Suez, -
57:12 - 57:17we found it out within a matter of weeks."
-
57:17 - 57:21Ordinary Egyptians have drawn their own
lessons from the Suez Crisis. -
57:21 - 57:25"There is a great difference between
resistance -
57:26 - 57:29and terroism.
-
57:29 - 57:36I was a patriot, defending my country.
-
57:36 - 57:39The spirit of resistance is deeply rooted
-
57:39 - 57:44in our country and in the area."
-
57:45 - 57:48"When the US and Britain went into Iraq
-
57:48 - 57:53with the idea of being accepted with open arms and
so on, -
57:53 - 57:57that was a very stupid idea. I mean
-
57:57 - 58:00where did they ever come up with that idea. I don't know. They could have looked at the
-
58:01 - 58:04history books; they could have looked at the Suez
Crisis, you know. -
58:04 - 58:07Which is after all, it's only fifty years
ago and they -
58:08 - 58:11could have learned that this will never happen, it will
never happen. -
58:11 - 58:15You know, people will defend the country
they would defend their land." -
58:16 - 58:19"I am a human being, I have dignity. I don't
-
58:20 - 58:24except any foreigner to dominate me or
at else, -
58:24 - 58:31I am a slave. Right or wrong?"
-
58:39 - 58:42
-
58:43 - 58:46
- Title:
- The Other Side of Suez (BBC Documentary)
- Description:
-
"This is a story of how the government of the United Kingdom decided to attack an Arab nation; of how, afraid its oil supplies were under threat, it embarked on a strategy of regime change; of how Britian deliberately bypassed the United Nations, and of how a British prime minister led the nation to war based on suspect intelligence.
"But this isn't Iraq, 2003. This is Egypt, 1956." - Narrator
(not available for purchase legally)
- Video Language:
- English
- Duration:
- 58:59
mtimms edited English subtitles for The Other Side of Suez (BBC Documentary) | ||
mtimms edited English subtitles for The Other Side of Suez (BBC Documentary) | ||
andrew.corey edited English subtitles for The Other Side of Suez (BBC Documentary) | ||
andrew.corey edited English subtitles for The Other Side of Suez (BBC Documentary) | ||
mtimms edited English subtitles for The Other Side of Suez (BBC Documentary) | ||
andrew.corey edited English subtitles for The Other Side of Suez (BBC Documentary) | ||
mtimms edited English subtitles for The Other Side of Suez (BBC Documentary) | ||
andrew.corey edited English subtitles for The Other Side of Suez (BBC Documentary) |