OMEGA Memorandum

Last updated

The 'OMEGA' Memorandum [1] of March 28, 1956, was a secret U.S. informal policy memorandum drafted by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles for President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The goal of the policy was to reduce the influence in the Middle East of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser because he seemed to be leaning in favor of the Soviet Union and he failed to provide the leadership that Dulles and Eisenhower had desired toward settling the Arab-Israeli conflict. Eisenhower approved the memorandum. Around the same time, the |British government formulated a similar strategy. The United States and the United Kingdom intended to coordinate activities between them to implement the new strategies in successive stages.

Contents

Background

In 1953, the Eisenhower administration formulated a foreign policy called the “New Look.” In addition to continuing the prior administration’s goal of containing the Soviet threat, the New Look sought to liberate those suffering under communism and to support emerging nations in the Third World. [2] In regard to the Middle East, Eisenhower and Dulles saw Egypt, the most populous and largest Arab country, as key to achieving their goals of ending the conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors, protecting the region’s oil supplies and bringing stability across the Middle East. [3] In hope of gaining influence over Nasser’s actions, the Eisenhower administration adopted a strategy of offering Egypt technical, economic and military assistance. [4] As part of this strategy, discussions were held about possible funding for a High Dam project at Aswan. [5] Nasser viewed the proposed project, which would offer benefits of increasing arable land and providing cheap electrical energy to the Egyptian people, as a high priority. [6] [7]

The New Look proved ineffective in influencing Nasser to take favorable action toward Western goals. Nasser’s actions frustrated and disappointed the United States and its allies in a number of ways, including: (1) On September 27, 1955, Nasser announced the purchase of a huge supply of arms ostensibly from Czechoslovakia but actually supplied by the Soviet Union. [8] That shocked the U.S. administration and created fear that Egypt was moving closer to the Soviets and away from Western influence. (2) Nasser endorsed a rebellion in Algeria against France, resulting in complaints by the French about American and British assistance to Egypt. [9] (3) Nasser refused to join the Baghdad Pact. The project consisted of a proposed regional defense agreement among Turkey, Pakistan, Iraq, and Iran designed to protect the region from potential Soviet threat. [10] (4) Finally, Nasser refused to cooperate with a joint American-British secret peace plan named Alpha, which aimed to convince Egyptian and Israeli leaders to end hostilities through mutual concessions. [11]

In light of Nasser’s continued refusal to cooperate with U.S. interests in the region, in late March 1956 Eisenhower and Dulles reversed their strategy toward Egypt. [12] Instead of its hitherto-friendly policy of appeasement and aid, the administration formulated a set of measures, drawn up by the State Department, that sought to undermine Nasser and reduce Egypt’s influence in the region. The new initiative, code-named OMEGA, was approved on March 28, 1956, by Eisenhower and top State and Defense Department policymakers. [13]

Provisions

The secret OMEGA Memorandum included three stages to be implemented in succession as needed to achieve its aims. The overarching purpose was to effect a reorientation of Nasser’s policies toward cooperation with the West while diminishing what were seen as his harmful attempts to influence other Middle East countries. [14] Pertaining to measures directed at Egypt, the provisions included a delay by the United States and Britain in concluding negotiations on financing the Aswan Dam, a continued delay on pending Egyptian requests for grains and oil, suspension of a decision on a CARE program of economic aid, denial of export licenses covering arms shipments to Egypt by the United States and the United Kingdom and an offer of expanded radio facilities to Iraq to block Egyptian broadcasts. [15] State Department analysis, produced on the same day as the presentation of the OMEGA Memorandum, clarified that the first phase of the plan was designed to warn Nasser that he was in danger of earning the hostility of the Western powers while still allowing for the possibility that he could return “to the fold without too much loss of face.” [16] These measures were to be implemented immediately and last until approximately the end of April 1956. [17] Additionally, the United States would work to improve relations with other countries of the Middle East at the expense of Egypt and use the United Nations to reduce the possibility of war between the Arab countries and Israel. [18] The plans also included bolstering anti-Egyptian Arab conservative forces by fostering cooperation between Iraq and Jordan, providing support for Iraq’s government and offering economic aid to pro-Western elements in Lebanon. [19]

The second phase of OMEGA was estimated to last approximately to the end of July 1956 and intensify the phase one measures as well as build up support for the Baghdad Pact. [20] During this phase, efforts would be made to support an alternate Arab leader to replace Nasser, with King Saud of Saudi Arabia considered a favorite contender for this role by Eisenhower. [21] Another goal was to seek arms suppliers for Israel as direct supply of arms by the United States was advised against by Dulles as being too antagonistic to the Arab region. [22]

In the third phase of OMEGA, all measures of the earlier stages would be continued, with the addition of a focus on Egypt’s internal affairs. This phase called for the permanent shelving of funding for the Aswan Dam and initiation of a covert action program to interfere in Egypt’s domestic affairs. [23]

Impact

Instead of forcing Nasser to comply with Western aims, the OMEGA plan yielded his defiance. In response to the American-British effort to isolate him, he expanded his military, economic and political ties to the Soviets and to China. [24] Nasser’s public recognition of Communist China in May 1956 was an example. This action shocked and angered the West. [25]

America’s opposition to Nasser became public on July 19, 1956, when Dulles informed the Egyptian ambassador that the United States would not support the Aswan Dam project. [26] Nasser was enraged and considered this decision an attack on his regime and an encouragement to the Egyptian people to tear it down. [27] In retaliation, on July 26, 1956, Nasser gave a speech in which, using the pre-arranged code name “de Lesseps,” he ordered assault teams to seize offices of the Suez Maritime Canal Company. At the conclusion of the speech, he astonished the world by announcing that Egypt had just nationalized the Suez Canal. [28]

According to Gerges, [29] “It would be no exaggeration to argue that the immediate origins of the Suez Crisis lay in the Czech arms deal and the subsequent hostile shift of policy adopted by the U.S. and British governments.” The ramifications of the ensuing Suez Crisis were immense. Nasser was ultimately seen as a victor. “The big losers of the Suez adventure were the United Kingdom and France. Both had to abandon their dreams of restoring their colonial glory,” and the United States realized that it could not make Egypt do its bidding. [30]

The Eisenhower administration, despite the failure of the OMEGA plan up to that time to control Nasser, continued to pursue the plan’s strategies. In August 1956, the administration sent former Undersecretary of Defense Robert Anderson to meet with the Saudi regime in an attempt to secure an alternate to Nasser as leader of the Arab world. The mission was unsuccessful. It was again clear that the OMEGA plan had failed to produce desired results. [31] The Suez Crisis reached a climax on October 29, 1956, when Israel, the United Kingdom, and France attacked Egypt. Further implementation of the OMEGA plan was shelved in the wake of the war. [32] A new strategy known as the Eisenhower Doctrine, which was designed to shield pro-Western governments from Soviet influence, was adopted. [33]

Notes

  1. ↑ "Foreign relations of the United States - Collection - UWDC - UW-Madison Libraries".
  2. ↑ Holland 1996, p. 39.
  3. ↑ Holland 1996, p. 40.
  4. ↑ Holland 1996, p. 41.
  5. ↑ Hahn 1991, p. 194.
  6. ↑ Hahn 1991, p. 54.
  7. ↑ Pierre 2004, pp. 58-59.
  8. ↑ Takeyh 2000, p. 82.
  9. ↑ Hahn 1991, pp. 184, 203.
  10. ↑ Holland 1996, p. 62.
  11. ↑ Takeyh 2000, p. 66.
  12. ↑ Hahn 1991, p. 200.
  13. ↑ Hahn 1991, pp. 200-201.
  14. ↑ Takeyh 2000, p. 110.
  15. ↑ Yesilbursa 2018, p. 24.
  16. ↑ Vaughan 2015, p. 207.
  17. ↑ Takeyh 2000, p. 111.
  18. ↑ Holland 1996, p. 85.
  19. ↑ Gerges 1994, p. 52.
  20. ↑ Takeyh 2000, p. 113.
  21. ↑ Takeyh 2000, p. 113.
  22. ↑ Takeyh 2000, p. 114.
  23. ↑ Takeyh 2000, p. 114.
  24. ↑ Gerges 1994, p. 53.
  25. ↑ Cohen 2009, p. 45.
  26. ↑ Cormier 2009, pp. 234-235.
  27. ↑ Gerges 1994, p. 56.
  28. ↑ Holland 1996, p. 104.
  29. ↑ Gerges 1994, p. 52.
  30. ↑ Lahav 2015, p. 1305.
  31. ↑ Takeyh 2000, pp. 130-131.
  32. ↑ Takeyh 2000, p. 140.
  33. ↑ Hahn 1991, p. 241.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gamal Abdel Nasser</span> Egyptian politician (1918–1970)

Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was an Egyptian military officer and politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-reaching land reforms the following year. Following a 1954 attempt on his life by a Muslim Brotherhood member, he cracked down on the organization, put President Mohamed Naguib under house arrest and assumed executive office. He was formally elected president in June 1956.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suez Crisis</span> 1956 British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt

The Suez Crisis also known as the Second Arab–Israeli War, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and as the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, having done so with the primary objective of re-opening the Straits of Tiran and the Gulf of Aqaba as the recent tightening of the eight-year-long Egyptian blockade further prevented Israeli passage. After issuing a joint ultimatum for a ceasefire, the United Kingdom and France joined the Israelis on 5 November, seeking to depose Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser and regain control of the Suez Canal, which Nasser had earlier nationalised by transferring administrative control from the foreign-owned Suez Canal Company to Egypt's new government-owned Suez Canal Authority. Shortly after the invasion began, the three countries came under heavy political pressure from both the United States and the Soviet Union, as well as from the United Nations, eventually prompting their withdrawal from Egypt. Israel's four-month-long occupation of the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula enabled it to attain freedom of navigation through the Straits of Tiran, but the Suez Canal was closed from October 1956 to March 1957.

The Eisenhower Doctrine was a policy enunciated by Dwight D. Eisenhower on January 5, 1957, within a "Special Message to the Congress on the Situation in the Middle East". Under the Eisenhower Doctrine, a Middle Eastern country could request American economic assistance or aid from U.S. military forces if it was being threatened by armed aggression. Eisenhower singled out the Soviet threat in his doctrine by authorizing the commitment of U.S. forces "to secure and protect the territorial integrity and political independence of such nations, requesting such aid against overt armed aggression from any nation controlled by international communism." The phrase "international communism" made the doctrine much broader than simply responding to Soviet military action. A danger that could be linked to communists of any nation could conceivably invoke the doctrine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aswan Dam</span> Dam in Aswan, Egypt

The Aswan Dam, or Aswan High Dam, is one of the world's largest embankment dams, which was built across the Nile in Aswan, Egypt, between 1960 and 1970. When it was completed, it was the tallest earthen dam in the world, surpassing the Chatuge Dam in the United States. The dam, which created the Lake Nasser reservoir, was built 7 km (4.3 mi) upstream of the Aswan Low Dam, which had been completed in 1902 and was already at its maximum utilization. Construction of the High Dam became a key objective of the military regime that took power following the 1952 Egyptian Revolution. With its ability to better control flooding, provide increased water storage for irrigation and generate hydroelectricity, the dam was seen as pivotal to Egypt's planned industrialization. Like the earlier implementation, the High Dam has had a significant effect on the economy and culture of Egypt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1958 Lebanon crisis</span> Lebanese political crisis

The 1958 Lebanon crisis was a political crisis in Lebanon caused by political and religious tensions in the country that included an American military intervention, which lasted for around three months until President Camille Chamoun, who had requested the assistance, completed his term as president of Lebanon. American and Lebanese government forces occupied the Port of Beirut and Beirut International Airport. With the crisis over, the United States withdrew.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kermit Roosevelt Jr.</span> American intelligence officer (1916–2000)

Kermit "Kim" Roosevelt Jr. was an American intelligence officer who served in the Office of Strategic Services during and following World War II. A grandson of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, Roosevelt went on to establish American Friends of the Middle East and then played a lead role in the CIA's efforts to overthrow Mohammad Mosaddegh, the democratically elected Majlis-appointed prime minister of Iran, in August 1953.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohamed Hassanein Heikal</span> Egyptian journalist (1923-2016)

Mohamed Hassanein Heikal was an Egyptian journalist. For 17 years (1957–1974), he was editor-in-chief of the Cairo newspaper Al-Ahram and was a commentator on Arab affairs for more than 50 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States foreign policy in the Middle East</span> Activities and objectives of the United States in the Middle East

United States foreign policy in the Middle East has its roots in the early 19th-century Tripolitan War that occurred shortly after the 1776 establishment of the United States as an independent sovereign state, but became much more expansive in the aftermath of World War II. With the goal of preventing the Soviet Union from gaining influence in the region during the Cold War, American foreign policy saw the deliverance of extensive support in various forms to anti-communist and anti-Soviet regimes; among the top priorities for the U.S. with regards to this goal was its support for the State of Israel against its Soviet-backed neighbouring Arab countries during the peak of the Arab–Israeli conflict. The U.S. also came to replace the United Kingdom as the main security patron for Saudi Arabia as well as the other Arab states of the Persian Gulf in the 1960s and 1970s in order to ensure, among other goals, a stable flow of oil from the Persian Gulf. As of 2023, the U.S. has diplomatic relations with every country in the Middle East except for Iran, with whom relations were severed after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and Syria, with whom relations were suspended in 2012 following the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">14 July Revolution</span> Iraqi military coup in 1958

The 14 July Revolution, also known as the 1958 Iraqi military coup, was a coup d'état that took place on 14 July 1958 in Iraq which resulted in the toppling of King Faisal II and the overthrow of the Hashemite-led Kingdom of Iraq. The Iraqi Republic established in its wake ended the Hashemite Arab Federation between Iraq and Jordan that had been established just six months earlier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Egypt–United States relations</span> Bilateral relations

Egypt and the United States formally began relations in 1922 after Egypt gained nominal independence from the United Kingdom. Relations between both countries have largely been dictated by regional issues in the Middle East such as the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and Counterterrorism. But also domestic issues in Egypt regarding the country's human rights record and American support for the regimes of Hosni Mubarak and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi which the United States had come under controversy for in the aftermath of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, and with many dissents of the current regime describing Sisi's rule as tyrannical.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Egypt–United Kingdom relations</span> Bilateral relations

Egypt–United Kingdom relations are the diplomatic, economic, and cultural relationships between Egypt and the United Kingdom. Relations are longstanding. They involve politics, defence, trade and education, and especially issues regarding the Suez Canal.

The Arab Cold War was a political rivalry in the Arab world from the early 1950s to the late 1970s and a part of the wider Cold War. It is generally accepted that the beginning of the Arab Cold War is marked by the Egyptian revolution of 1952, which led to Gamal Abdel Nasser becoming president of Egypt in 1956. Thereafter, newly formed Arab republics, inspired by revolutionary secular nationalism and Nasser's Egypt, engaged in political rivalries with conservative traditionalist Arab monarchies, influenced by Saudi Arabia. The Iranian Revolution of 1979, and the ascension of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as leader of Iran, is widely seen as the end of this period of internal conflicts and rivalry. A new era of Arab-Iranian tensions followed, overshadowing the bitterness of intra-Arab strife.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raymond A. Hare</span> American diplomat

Raymond Arthur Hare was a United States diplomat who was Director General of the United States Foreign Service from 1954 to 1956 and Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs from 1965 to 1966.

The Six-Day War was fought between June 5 and June 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. The origins of the war include both longstanding and immediate issues. At the time of the war, the earlier foundation of Israel, the resulting Palestinian refugee issue, and Israel's participation in the invasion of Egypt during the Suez crisis of 1956 continued to be significant grievances for the Arab world. Arab nationalists, led by Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, continued to be hostile to Israel's existence and made grave threats against its Jewish population. By the mid-1960s, relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors had deteriorated to the extent that a number of border clashes had taken place.

The history of Egypt under Gamal Abdel Nasser covers the period of Egyptian history from the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, of which Gamal Abdel Nasser was one of the two principal leaders, spanning Nasser's presidency of Egypt from 1956 to his death in 1970. Nasser's tenure as Egypt's leader heralded a new period of modernisation and socialist reform in Egypt, along with a staunch advocacy of pan-Arab nationalism, and developing world solidarity. His prestige in Egypt and throughout the Arab World soared in the wake of his nationalisation of the Suez Canal Company in 1956, and Egypt's political victory in the subsequent Suez Crisis, but was damaged badly by Israel's victory in the Six-Day War.

The Egyptian-Czechoslovak arms deal was an agreement between the USSR and Egypt led by Gamal Abdel Nasser, announced in September 1955, to supply Egypt with more than $83 million worth of modern Soviet weaponry, through Czechoslovakia. The deal was a major turning point in the Cold War and greatly impacted the Arab–Israeli conflict.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Syrian Crisis of 1957</span> Period of severe diplomatic confrontations during the Cold War

The Syrian Crisis of 1957 was a period of severe diplomatic confrontations during the Cold War that involved Syria and the Soviet Union on one hand, and the United States and its allies, including Turkey and the Baghdad Pact, on the other.

The United States foreign policy of the Dwight D. Eisenhower administration, from 1953 to 1961, focused on the Cold War with the Soviet Union and its satellites. The United States built up a stockpile of nuclear weapons and nuclear delivery systems to deter military threats and save money while cutting back on expensive Army combat units. A major uprising broke out in Hungary in 1956; the Eisenhower administration did not become directly involved, but condemned the military invasion by the Soviet Union. Eisenhower sought to reach a nuclear test ban treaty with the Soviet Union, but following the 1960 U-2 incident the Kremlin canceled a scheduled summit in Paris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Closure of the Suez Canal (1956–1957)</span> Part of the 1956 Suez Crisis

The closure of the Suez Canal from November 1956 to April 1957 was caused by the Second Arab–Israeli war also known as the Suez Crisis in 1956. On 26 July 1956 Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal from British and French investors who owned the Suez Canal Company, causing Britain and France to devise a military operation with the help of Israel to invade the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula and have British and French paratroopers drop in to protect the Suez Canal, but the objective was to take the canal back. The United States and Soviet Union condemned the invasion and de-escalated the situation by early 1957.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Republic of Egypt (1953–1958)</span> Republic in North Africa, 1953–1958

The Republic of Egypt was a state created in 1953 under the rule of Mohammed Naguib following the Egyptian revolution of 1952 in which the Kingdom of Egypt's Muhammad Ali dynasty came to an end. It was superseded in 1958 with the creation of the United Arab Republic.

References

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.