Project FF: CIA Coup in Egypt - COLD WAR DOCUMENTARY

on the evening of March 18th 1965 at the exclusive restaurant ile-de-france in Rome a large man in his 40s was feasting a lamb and oysters sitting next to an attractive Italian opera singer the street outside crawled with paparazzi waiting for the man to walk out the wait was in vain however and just before midnight the man collapsed never to wake up again he was not a famous actor or a movie producer he was a deposed monarch King Farouk of Egypt and one of our main protagonists for today's episode this is the story of the plot that eventually led to his overthrow and paved the way to the Suez Crisis of 1956 I'm your host David and this is King Farouk of Egypt was at the center of a little-known CIA operation in 1952 its code name is too rude to be mentioned without risking upsetting the YouTube censors and the potential for advertisers this set isn't free you know anyway let's just say that it rhymes with project fat Fletcher I could also paraphrase it as project corpulent copulate er but I will use project double F from now on factor the operation was masterminded by CIA agent Kermit Kim Roosevelt grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt its aim was to pressure the king of Egypt into accepting some progressive reforms for his country to help ensure Egypt remained in the Western world or at least that was the intended aim before the plan took an unexpected turn now at the beginning of the 1950s President Truman's administration needed a stable ally in the Middle East to protect US oil supplies Egypt was considered to be the keystone of the region but by the end of the 1940s and beginning of the 1950s the country was in turmoil King Farouk Oh once beloved boy King was now at the nadir of popularity he was opposed by the popular wacht party by the local communists and by them with some Brotherhood for his perceived subservience to the British he was despised by young officer cadres who believed he was responsible for the 1948 defeat against Israel and he was generally criticized for his excessive and decadent lifestyle he was rumored to have had numerous affairs and to feast on 600 holsters a day nice gig if you can get it I guess by late 1951 American ambassador to Cairo Jeffrey Caffrey clearly stated his concerns to his superior Secretary of State Dean Acheson Egypt was gradually descending into chaos torn by rival factions and under the chaotic leadership of the King it was felt that such position of weakness would give the USSR a window of opportunity to extend its influence into the region adjacent ASP CIA officer Kermit Roosevelt to study the problem and find a solution to either stabilize the country bring it into the Western sphere of influence or both Kim was Teddy Roosevelt's grandson and was considered a prized asset to the CIA at the age of 26 he had entered the Office of Strategic Services the forerunner of the CIA and had been one of the planners for the invasion of Italy in 1943 after the war he had left intelligence work to represent American companies in the Middle East and Lobby Washington on behalf of Middle Eastern governments during these years he had accumulated vital contacts in the region thanks to his talent for befriending kings tribal leaders and heads of state in 1950 Kim returned to the fold joining the CIA considering his experiences it was only natural that his tasks involve damaging the Soviet sphere of influence in the Middle East throughout January of 1952 British forces stationed at Suez were targeted by guerrilla attacks of escalating intensity these attacks were encouraged by the waft ruling party carried out by both Muslim Brotherhood and local communists with training and weapons sometimes provided by the three officers this was a secret organization composed of young nationalist officers led by two heroes of the war of 1948 general Mohamed Naguib and the real power behind the curtain Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser the violence reached its peak on the 25th of January with the Battle of a smiley ax in which British forces clashed with Egyptian police causing at least 50 casualties the following day riots erupted in Cairo in what became known as Black Saturday mobs burnt down 475 buildings all owned by foreign nationals that same afternoon ambassador Caffery telephoned King Farouk advising that he bring in the army immediately to quell the riots Farouk took action only two hours later but he did take the opportunity to dismiss the anti-british locked cabinet move bade to appease London and prevent a possible invasion the events of Black Saturday also sparked action back in the US over Sunday tea at Georgetown deputy director of the CIA Allen Dulles met with Kim Roosevelt and agreed it was about time they intervened to save Farooq Kim and CIA colleague miles Copeland had been working on such a plan since late 1951 at at Justin's request their plan was to replace the corrupt political system in Egypt with a progressive dictatorship under King Farouk one that would be amenable to American control this progressive dictatorship would have restored stability to the country first of all by preventing a total revolt and then by preventing the king himself from installing his own despotic autocratic rule one that would have led to well guess what a total revolt the outcome of that of course would have been to throw Egypt into the open arms of Moscow miles Copeland came up with the unofficial name of project double death as you can likely guess the king was a big man in February of 1952 Kim traveled to Cairo and met with Farooq using his already tested skills in schmoozing Middle Eastern elites Kim proposed a series of reforms which could have helped the king consolidate his power and put an end to political chaos but the king proved either unwilling or simply incapable of carrying out such reforms there were only two pieces of advice which he carried through first the king had bribed the Muslim Brotherhood to get them to or at the monarchy then Farouk had requested military assistance from the US via ambassador Caffery more precisely became one of the u.s. to assist in the creation of three armored police divisions in Cairo and Alexandria the official reason was to stop communism but the real reason was to create a Praetorian Guard that would ensure forwards rule even without the support of the army by March of 1952 it became apparent to Kim and the CIA that their project was turning into a complete fudge-up Farouk was dismissing prime ministers at the rate of one a month effectively wound by decree Kim's fears were materializing as the king was becoming a despot the CIA and State Department needed to find a new ally within Egypt to ensure stability and keep the Soviets at bay the only two choices powerful enough were at the Muslim Brotherhood and the army the Brotherhood would likely never cooperate with a non-muslim foreign power so the military was the only choice so as I mentioned earlier dissent was growing within the army spearheaded by the Free Officers discontent was particularly rife amongst junior officers who resented some of the senior officers who had been handpicked by Farouk these high-ranking officers were suspected of embezzlement during the 1948 war to the extent that their corruption had contributed to Egypt's defeat Caffery had heard rumors of an imminent coup from a reliable source the Indian military attache Colonel DK pallette who had met several times with Nasser and the Free Officers the Ambassador reported the rumors to Roosevelt who in the meantime had returned to Washington Kim then dispatched Copeland to Cairo to meet with the scheming officers their goal was to identify a potential new leader to replace Farrokh a charismatic non-aligned ruler in the mold of Nehru or Tito who could keep Egypt away from Soviet influence when Copeland arrived in Cairo he was in for a couple of surprises he was expecting to discuss a coup ha but he came across some cadet they after him remember when Kim had told the King to bribe the Brotherhood well it turns out that Farouk had also schemed with the Brotherhood to plan his own coup d'etat with whether hood support the King would have become the undisputed leader of a new fundamentalist state he had even gotten himself recognized as a descendant of the Prophet Mohammed but now for twist number 2 the Brotherhood while acting next to the King had gone behind his back and given the Kings bribe money to disgruntled army officers their plan was to forge an alliance to overthrow Farouk for good it was clear that nobody wanted for it to stay and that the military were going to lead the charge in late March lose about was back in Cairo to meet Colonel Nasser the two hit it off and agreed on some core principles for the upcoming and now inevitable coup 1 a military takeover was the only course of action to avoid a popular revolt led either by the Brotherhood or the Communists to the US would not interfere with the Free Officers plot and if needed they would deter the British from intervening and three a newly formed military government would pay at least lip service to democracy to appease US public opinion Kim returned to Washington and briefed secretary Patterson who agreed with the new course that double-f had taken now back in February Aitchison had been convinced by Roosevelt to fund an armed Farouk's own Praetorians an order that now needed to be quickly cancelled so this now takes us forward to April the 24th 1952 on this date the CIA and State Department's involvement in the Egyptian coup was sanctioned by the Truman administration and the National Security Council their policy 120 9/1 purged the u.s. to influence the process of political change into channels that will affect the least compromised of Western interests and will offer the maximum promise of stable non-communist regimes over in Cairo the situation reached a boiling point on the 20th of July the fifth government in less than a year had just resigned this time / King Farooq's refusal to appoint General Mohamed Naguib as defense minister that was the spark that set the free officers in motion on the night of the 22nd while the king was at his summer residence in Alexandria rebel officers took control of all major power centers in Cairo both swiftly and without bloodshed at 8:00 a.m. on the 23rd US ambassador Caffery received a panicked phone call from King Farouk desperate for external help to quell the rebellion I count on you to pass this message to the right people the right people being the British unbeknownst to Farouk however Caffery had already spoken to the three officers that same night they had reassured him that US British and in general foreign interests would be safeguarded by the new leadership but that any British intervention from Suez would be met with force Caffrey informed his boss Hutchison who immediately contacted London's Foreign Office warning them that any intervention against the three officers would be disastrous keep in mind in the event of a British intervention the new military leaders would have put up a fight but more importantly removing the military government would have given free rein to the Muslim Brotherhood and the Communists both who were much more hostile to British interests with little involvement and I dare say quite elegantly that Team America of Roosevelt Copland Hodgson and Caffrey had achieved their goal of removing King Farouk and installed a stable anti communist regime fudgie ow King Farouk officially abdicated on the 26th of July Caffrey broke into the Alexandria docks from where he departed for his exile in Rome the King lived extravagantly in the Italian capital enjoying the attention of the paparazzi as the new king of the nightlife and well you all know how that ended even with the King gone Egypt remained a monarchy as Farooq's infant son succeeded him as fool on the second but clearly the executive power laid with a twig and behind the glib that was NASA NASA as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior worked hard to consolidate his own power first he had several notable members of the waft party incarcerated then in January of 1953 he dissolved all political parties in June of that year he and the Queen dethroned may be flawed and in acquits words the world's oldest monarchy had now become the world's youngest Republic in April of 1954 the colonel became prime minister with Naguib still in charge as the president of that Republic but when in October a Muslim Brotherhood plot tried to assassinate Nasser he took the opportunity to get rid of that glib you see the former general had alleged ties to the Brotherhood which made him a suspect in the assassination attempt Nasser removed him from office and placed him under house arrest Gamal Abdel Nasser had now performed the last act of his power play and his rise to the top was complete what lay ahead for him would be a dam a canal and a crisis but that's another story for another day we hope 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Channel: The Cold War

Views: 76,528

Keywords: Tito, Stalin, Cold War, josip broz tito, soviet union, stalin documentary, kings and generals, operation unthinkable, the cold war, soviet, world war II, USSR, US, America, capitalism, west, east, us, ussr, un, reconstruction, pows, hungary, china, vietnam, vietnam war, marshal plan, stalin, france, nato, de gaulle, united states, denazification, uk, malenkov, khrushchev, dulles, eisenhower, Miles Copeland, King Farouk, Egypt, Project FF, Allen Dulles, Dean Acheson, Kermit Roosevelt, CIA, suez crisis

Id: 4EbsbJm5SXg

Length: 15min 40sec (940 seconds)

Published: Sat May 16 2020