Evening star., 1953-08-16

d4C AVG AAASN HOAAA@SA HooNo AAA
Northwest Africa. The planes
have staging fields in Crete,
far in the east end of the
Mediterranean, in Turkey, and
in Bahrein on the Persian
Gulf.
New Stoying Power
The feet and the big bomb
ers contribute to the security
of one another in the Mediter-
ranean but more particularly
they represent the new stay
ing power which has been
lacking since the British began
their withdrawal from their
once dominating position in
the Middle East.
The British took over on the
heels of the abrupt collapse of
Turkish control IN the Middle
East and Arabia during and
after the First World War. To
back up it's position. Britain
drew on the vast manpower
resources of India to recruit
e. low-coSt soldiers for garrisons
throughout the Middle East.
But India got her freedom
in 1947 and slowly the Indian
troops which had helped en-
force the British guidance Of
the Middle East were. with
drawn. Among the last to pull
out were those guarding the
British oil refinery at Abadan,
in Iran. Not long after, Mos
sadegh moved in.
In this same period the
British withdrew troops from
Palestine to leave Israel with
"a pYecarious independence.
British protection also was
pulled out of Greece, and
America had to move in to
help beat down the Commu-
mist guerrillas.
Now negotiations are under
way for British withdrawal
from the Suez Canal zone.
This will create another gap
which the North Atlantic trea-
ty powers are trying to fill by
inducing Egypt to join a Mid
die East command. But the
British got a new foothold the
other day, signing a treaty
with Libya for air and land
bases.
The Importance of the Medi-
terranean swelled to mammoth
proportions for America and
Europe with the discovery OF
oil in the Middle East and
Arabia. The sea now is the
pipe line" by which these vast
resources are carried to the
West.
The need to protect this
great new resource contributed
to the arguments for bringing
Turkey and Greece into NATO,
despite the fact it spread the
defense line thousands of miles
farther and committed the
United States and her NATO
allies to a defense of the Middle
East.
Addition of Turkey brought
in 19 small but tough divisions
made up of men who tradition
ally distrust Russia and who
have a deep national interest
in keeping her out of the Mid
die East, oil or no oil. Turkey.
plus the vast and sandy dis
tances of the Middle East, are
part of NATO's strength in this
area.
FIonk Movement Doubted
It is possible for Russia to
invade the Middle East by COM
ing through Iran, thus out
f1anking Turkey to the east.
But top military experts at the
NATO Southern Command
Headquarters in Naples think
it would be a costly job, not
likely to be undertaken if Rus
sia were heavily engaged in
Europe.
When Alexander the Great
marched his armies across
that great stretch to invade
India three centuries before
Christ, Mesopotamia was one
of the garden spots of the
world. His armies lived off
the land. Today much of it
is desert and the Russian
Army would find scant pick
ings. Even one of Alexander'S
armies perished trying to
make its way back from India
along the east coast of the
Persian Gulf. Only rocks
grow there.
More danger to the Medi-
terranean pipelines lies in
other places, such as the Bos-
porus and Dardanelles Straits
connecting the Black Sea
through Turkey with the
Mediterranean, and the land
passage from Austria and
Hungary into Northern Italy
narrow but feasible.
Of the straits, Maj Gen.
Clovis Byers, chief of staff in
the southern command, said
the forces now available there
the Turks, the 9Th Fleet
and the big African bombers
can deny this area to the
Russians"
On a recent tour of this
area, correspondents covering
NATO discovered that each
country had its own ideas of
how the 9Th Fleet would be
used when and If the big blow
came.
The Italians would send it