322. Despatch From the Embassy in Syria to the Department of State1
SUBJECT
- NIE 30–4–55:2 The Outlook for US Interests in the Middle East, Embassy Comments on
Summary
The Embassy’s comments with respect to Syria on NIE 30–4–55 may be summarized as follows: A US decision to increase, maintain or decrease support for the Baghdad Pact is not likely to have any important effect on the US position in Syria. The basic deterrent to an improvement in US relations with Syria is the Syrian belief that the US follows a pro-Israeli, and therefore anti-Arab, policy. A change in US policy towards the Arab-Israeli dispute is, therefore, prerequisite to improved relations with Syria. The Embassy questions the assumption that Iraq has any clearly-thought-out plans for Syria. The Embassy doubts, given known Soviet objectives in the Middle East, that any “neutralization” agreement with the USSR would assure the US position in the area. Finally, the Embassy believes that the assumption that increased support for the Baghdad Pact would create threats and dangers to the US position in the Middle East requires modification. Some of those threats and dangers are, in fact, already existent. They are probably an inescapable product of the effort to assure US interests in the Middle East and are, for the most part, related not to US association with the Baghdad Pact but to previous US actions and decisions in the area.
[Here follows the remainder of the despatch.]