20. Editorial Note
On July 14 General Abdul Karim Qassim led a military coup which overthrew the government of King Faisal of Iraq. The King, the Crown Prince, other members of the royal family, and Prime Minister Nuri Said were killed. The new provisional Government of Iraq announced that it was leaving the Arab Union. Documentation on the Iraqi coup and the United States response is printed in the compilation on Iraq.
On July 15 the Eisenhower administration sent 3,500 troops into Lebanon in response to a request from President Chamoun for U.S. and British intervention in Lebanon. Documentation on this decision is in volume XI, pages 107 ff.
On July 17 the British Government airlifted two battalions into Jordan at the request of the Jordanian Government. For the U.S. role in that decision, see ibid., pages 264 ff.