Father Ibrahim's Plot

Gamal Abdel Nasser declared open war on King Saud last week--the man whom he has often wooed in the past, whose oil moneys have helped fuel Nasser's subversions, whose army only two years ago was nominally put under a joint command headed by an Egyptian.

The declaration was neither a signed document nor a diplomatic ultimatum. But it was clear enough. It came when Nasser stepped onto his Damascus balcony, looked grandly out on the sea of cheering Arabs who have surrounded the guesthouse every day all day since he arrived two weeks ago, and charged that Saudi Arabia's King had plotted to overthrow the new United Arab Republic.

"Brothers," cried Nasser, "in such affairs it is difficult to produce documents, but this time we have them." As Syria's Intelligence Chief Lieut. Colonel Abdel Hamid Serraj hovered at his side, Nasser dramatically yanked a canceled check from a Manila envelope and shouted: "The first million was paid by Check No. 85902, drawn on the Arab Bank in Riyadh Feb. 20, 1958, payable to bearer and cashed at the Arab Bank branch in Damascus." Bearer, roared Nasser, was Serraj, who, as conscientious as he was vigilant, had accepted the check, then hurried to tell Nasser all about it. "We decided to nationalize it," said Nasser, and with a big grin, related how they coaxed Saud's agents into paying $5,600,000 of the promised $60 million in advance, and cashed the "money--oil money, to be used by us here for building heavy industry which will become the first pillar in our new five-year plan."

"The Building." Following Nasser's blast, Serraj met the press to relate a modern Arabian Nights tale, a sort of Scheherazade with photostats. The chunky, blue-chinned colonel, who also discovered a plot last summer when his government was closing an arms deal with Soviet Russia, said that Saud had approached him through one of Saud's fathers-in-law, Syrian-born Assad Ibrahim. According to Ibrahim, said Serraj, Saud considered Nasser's union "Egyptian imperialism," and had sworn "by his father's soul that this union shall not take place." Ibrahim forthwith offered Serraj financial and moral support for the Syrian presidency if Serraj would lead a coup.

Explaining that the code word for the plot was "the building," Serraj produced copies of three cables. The first, addressed by Ibrahim to Umm Emir Khalid, the name of his royal daughter in Riyadh, said: "We arrived safely. We saw the building and completed definite agreement. Send 200 immediately. Am waiting in Damascus at Hotel Bilat Rashid for your prompt answer. Your father Assad Ibrahim." The second said: "Building in perfect condition, but he wants second half of money before transferring building as planned. Necessary repairs will be made after arrival of your remittance. Assad Ibrahim." Serraj handed around photostats of three checks and deposit slips for $5,300,000 to show that the "building" was not without foundation. The third cable, said to have been sent by Ibrahim after he left Damascus for Beirut, was addressed to a former Syrian M.P. who had acted as a Damascus go-between: "Come immediately. Building fraudulent. Refused give us anything. Give money back to original owners. Our situation is dangerous. Umm Khalid is sick and angry and asks our immediate return."

Serraj also showed a letter on Saud's royal stationery saying that after the coup "Shukri [el Kuwatly] and members of the present [Syrian] government should be detained and kept until the situation becomes normal and the republic is proclaimed. After that, they are of no value and can be disposed of." Without supporting evidence, Serraj charged that another Saudi emissary offered him another $5,600,000 to "send a plane after Nasser's plane when he leaves Damascus, and then say a Jewish, American or British plane was responsible for shooting it down." The same man, said Serraj, told him that "the Americans are advised of what is going on."

Westerners were inclined to doubt the whole story. They pointed out that Saud was unlikely to use checks, that the choice of courier was improbable--Assad Ibrahim was reportedly only a simple Syrian farmer until his daughter caught the eye of one of Saud's roving agents and was installed as a favorite in the royal harem (Ibrahim's brother drives a taxicab in Damascus).

Battle Lines. The plot's truth or fiction scarcely mattered. What was important was that Nasser had made the charge at all. In doing so, he had made an open break with Saud, giving up all hope of wooing him to his Arab Republic, heedless of the fact that this must drive Saud toward the Hashemite federation of Iraq and Jordan. Plainly, Nasser was pinning his hopes of uniting the Arab world on an attempt to unseat its Kings--Iraq's Feisal, Jordan's Hussein, and now Saudi Arabia's Saud. It was a dangerous ploy, and as the battle lines hardened, Iraq's Feisal summoned back the redoubtable Nuri asSaid to take over for his 14th tour as Premier.

Real or fictitious, plots are a standard part of every dramatic turn in the Middle East's crises, rousing mass anger or diverting the attention of the streets. Last week plots were busting out all over. Tunisia's Habib Bourguiba charged that Cairo had plotted to have him assassinated. In Egypt, Nasser's intelligence officers charged that five conspirators 'had accepted British and Saudi money in a plot to assassinate Nasser last year. The Nasser-Serraj bombshell successfully diverted Syrians' attention from Nasser's announcement of the new republic's Cabinet--which gives the Egyptians nine of ten U.A.R. ministries, and installs the resourceful Serraj as Interior Minister and strongman of Nasser's Syrian province.

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