SUEZ - The Twice-Fought War

New York: McGraw-Hill. Near Fine in Near Fine dust jacket. 1969. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. Autograph; xxv, (3), 767 pages; Contents clean and secure in original black binding in very good dustjacket with a short closed tear at top of front and rear panel (now in protective mylar cover. Inscribed and Signed by the author on halftitle "13 Oct '90 / Dear Kim -- / To paraphrase / (- amplify) a quotation on page / 207 of Countercoup, & having just / re-read it: Much as I have disagreed / about the consequences , I would have / loved nothing better than to have served / under your command in [that] great / venture! Some sources, indeed, / say I did. / all best wishes / Ken" An important association copy inscribed to Kermit "Kim" Roosevelt, Jr. who was very much involved in U.S. activity in Middle East from the 1950s, which Kennett Love covered as a foreign correspondent at the time. In 1980 a reporter unearthed Love's thesis and suggested Love had been involved with Roosevelt's efforts to undermine Mosaddegh in Iran. Love vehemently denied the accusation; hence the amused reference in his inscription "would have loved... to have served under your command." Kermit "Kim" Roosevelt, Jr. (1916 - 2000) was the grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt. He was a career intelligence officer who served in the Office of Strategic Services and was the mastermind of the Central Intelligence Agency's Operation Ajax, which orchestrated the coup against Iran's democratically-elected Mohammed Mossadegh administration, and returned Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, to Iran's Peacock Throne in August 1953 for the purpose of returning Western control of Middle Eastern oil supplies. Assigned to Egypt, Roosevelt impressed his colleagues with Project FF, which encouraged the Free Officers Movement to carry out a coup d'état in 1952, and Roosevelt developed close CIA links to the new leader, Gamal Abdel Nasser. In Egypt under Allen Dulles, Kim Roosevelt supervised the CIA's operation to undermine the popular General Neguib and encourage the rise to power of Gamul Abdul Nasser. Even before his decisive victory, Nasser was communicating through Roosevelt to make a settlement with Great Britain. These back channel negotiations eventually produced the treaty signed in October 1954. Nasser ascended and for the next decade Egypt's relations with the West moved along a sometimes rocky road. By 1965 relations had significantly deteriorated and Nasser was quite worried the CIA was plotting to assassinate him. After the Odell-Amin case broke, the CIA began to look for "more West friendly" Egyptian elements. Their attention landed on the Muslim Brotherhood, which according to Talcott Seelye, "We thought of Islam as a counterweight to communism. We saw it as a moderate force, and a positive one." In fact the CIA was spending millions of dollars on anti-Nasser operations, including an extensive propaganda campaign. Hugh Wilford: "[Roosevelt Jr.] had this notion of America forming an alliance with the Arab countries as they emerged from under the sway of Britain and France. He was very concerned with backing Arab nationalists in the region. He saw that as the best way of keeping it within the American orbit, as the Cold War was gathering momentum...." The Eisenhower administration, including Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, was initially quite sympathetic towards the Arabist agenda of Roosevelt's and his colleagues and willing to oppose Middle Eastern regimes seen "as backing the Soviet Union rather than the U.S." In discussing Roosevelt's role, Wilford describes him as being among "the most important intelligence officers of their generation in the Middle East." ; Signed by Author .