120.3 Conferences/12–1049
The Ambassador in Saudi Arabia (Childs) to the Secretary of State
No. 249
Sir: I have the honor to refer to my telegram 702 of December 5, 1949,1 noon, and to report that I called on the Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs, Shaikh Yusuf Yassin on December 5, 1949, at which time I communicated to him not only the special assurances which I had been authorized to make to His Majesty but gave him at the same time an account of the conclusions which the Istanbul Conference had reached.2
Shaikh Yusuf made no comments himself as he obviously preferred to discuss them with His Majesty. I have already reported in my two telegrams 707, December 6, 1949, 2 p. m. and 717, December 10, 2 p. m.,3 the gratification with which His Majesty received the special assurances. In a call at the Foreign Office this morning Shaikh Yusuf stated he had two questions to raise with me regarding the Istanbul Conference based on the account which I had given him of it. He said he was not quite clear in his own mind concerning the viewpoint expressed that it would be premature for the United States to consider associating itself with any possible regional grouping in this area. The other inquiry he made was concerned with our attitude toward the proposed Iraq-Syrian union.
I sketched at some length the historical position of the United States toward foreign entangling alliances and recalled that this [Page 1628] attitude had been responsible for the fact that in the first World War we were not an allied nation but an associated power with the other allies. I then pointed out how great a departure it had been for us to adhere to the Atlantic Pact and that in the light of our history our reluctance should be readily understood not to involve ourselves in formal commitments too extensively at this time.
As regards the attitude of the Conference toward the union of Arab states, I said that it was quite understandable that we could not oppose such a merger if it should be in accordance with the fully expressed wishes of the people concerned and not as a result of force or outside intervention. Shaikh Yusuf said that our formula appeared to open the way wide open for a union of two or more Arab states but the qualifying clause had the effect of leaving the door not so wide open. I said I did not see how any possible objection could be raised by any Arab state to the formula which we had agreed upon at the Conference. He seemed to be entirely satisfied by my explanation.
Respectfully yours,