Nasser’s+Reaction+to+the+Baghdad+Pact

Kent Bueche // Nasser’s Reaction to the Baghdad Pact //

As it bypassed the Arab League, Nasser felt threatened by the pact as he was being recognized more and more as a dominant Arab leader. He responded angrily against the British and U.S. and against Nuri al-Said, the Iraq Prime Minister who was eager for the pact as a protection against the Soviet Union. Nasser believed that the Arab world had to become self-reliant and completely emancipated from foreign control and influence; that the defense of Arab countries had to rest upon the Arabs themselves, not their association with any European power; and that it was legitimate to encourage the masses in countries still under foreign control to topple the regimes in power. This did not jive with Western interests, who did not supply him with arms unless there was some sort of collective security pact. Nasser’s reaction was to turn to the Soviet bloc and promptly announced an arms purchase with Czechoslovakia. The Baghdad Pact was supposed to be a collective security pact, but it ultimately polarized the Arab world between Iraq and Egypt, led to destabilization in many countries in the region, and Nasser’s angry and pan-Arabism reaction to this was partly responsible for bringing the Soviet Union into the Middle East.