Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, The Near and Middle East, Volume IX, Part 2

641.74/10–2553: Telegram

No. 1238
The Ambassador in Egypt (Caffery) to the Department of State¹

secret
priority

Cairo, October 25, 1953—2 p.m.

502. I feel it necessary make following observations re London’s 1789.

1. Complacency of London Foreign Office disturbs me.

2. Paragraph 3 of London’s 1789 impels me to remark that concessions made up to date by Egyptians have been obtained 90 odd percent by me. Also as has been said before even in Egypt it is impossible to continue indefinitely making bricks without straw.

3. Egyptians did not say they gave counterproposals on availability to British. Fawzi produced proposal as final Egyptian offer under pressure from me.

4. There is no point in engaging in debate with UK over desirability of “precise definition of Egyptian obligation” or “reasonableness. of UK offer re uniforms as there is no prospect of Egyptians accepting British position these two issues.

Caffery

1. Repeated to London as telegram 204.