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

611.87/10–1154

No. 1420
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Officer in Charge of Arabian Peninsula-Iraq Affairs (Fritzlan)

secret

[Washington,] October 11, 1954.

Participants:

• Dr. Moussa Al-Shabandar, Iraqi Ambassador
• The Secretary
• NE—Mr.Fritzlan

The Ambassador called to say good-bye to the Secretary before his departure on October 14 to take up his post as Iraqi Foreign Minister. He expressed his appreciation for the friendly reception he had received here and said we could count upon him to continue the Iraqi Government’s policy of friendship for the United States and the West. Mr. Dulles expressed pleasure that the Ambassador was about to assume the post of Foreign Minister and said he looked forward to continuation of cordial relations.

The Secretary alluded to the “northern tier” regional defense arrangement and said we hoped Iraq would take steps in the near future to associate herself to the Turkish-Pakistan pact which we believed could develop into an effective defense arrangement. Dr. Shabandar said he personally strongly favored Iraqi adherence to the pact and believed the Government felt likewise. However, opposition had developed from other Arab states, especially Egypt, primarily on the question of timing. Nevertheless, he believed Iraq should and would proceed alone if necessary to join in efforts to achieve an effective “northern tier” defense plan. He stated, however, that it was often difficult to move as fast as the Government would like because of the question of Israel and our support for this state.

The Secretary said he was not asking Iraq to make public declarations of solidarity with the United States. The question of Iraq’s foreign policy was a matter for Iraq itself to decide. However, he should know that we had a great deal of confidence in the “northern tier” plan and felt Iraq’s interests would be suited better by joining such an arrangement than by campaigning for federation among Arab states. He mentioned his conversation in July on this subject with Dr. Jamali and reiterated his feeling that Iraq should adhere to the Turkish-Pakistan pact before directing its attention toward federation with Syria or other Arab states. The Secretary added that our military assistance to Iraq was based largely upon the belief that Iraq would adhere to the pact.

On the matter of Israel, the Secretary said he felt he should repeat what he had told Mr. Eban, i.e., that the United States had no intention of assuming an unfriendly attitude toward the Arab states in order to become ingratiated with Israel. Likewise, he said, the United States had no intention of being unfriendly toward Israel in order to please the Arab states. A policy of fair impartiality had been instituted when he became Secretary of State and it was our intention to continue this policy even at the expense of losing votes in political elections.

The Ambassador expressed satisfaction over the Secretary’s remarks.

In conclusion Dr. Shabandar raised several questions regarding the military assistance program and asked that we do everything possible to expedite the initial shipments. This would strengthen the Government’s hand in foreign policy matters as well as in dealing with internal subversive activities. He was informed that our MAAG had arrived in Baghdad approximately a month ago and the Department understood that sizeable shipments of equipment are expected to be made shortly and should arrive in Iraq before the end of the year.