Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-09-16

association idea was sent to is ma
tons, and other nations were to be
invited to Join later. This broaden
ing OF the international base was
apparently made at the behest Of
the United States, where the official
announcement confirming Ameri-
can concurrence in the plan was
later modified to make plain that
1t did not envisage a strictly Big
Three proposition.
Mr.. Dulles, at his press con-
ference on Thursday. pointed out
that only five nations have a ma
Jor stake in the Suez Canal in
point OF actual flag shipping pass
ing through. But many other ma
tons. said the Secretary, have
important interests in the func-.
tioning of the canal in terms of
their national economies.
President Nasser did not play
with words when he sent Ambas-
sador Ahmed Hussein to call on
Mr.. Dulles Thursday. DR.. Hussein
conveyed Col. Nasser's reaction
precisely: THE scheme which Sir
Anthony Eden wants to impose on
Egypt is an open and fragrant
aggression Of Egyptian sovereignty,
and its implementation means
war"
Col. NaSser in a speech to Egyp-
ton air force cadets Yesterday
called the users association plan "a
declaration of war;" and he de-
scribed the United States role in
the proposal as "puzzling."
But Mr.. Dulles had talked with
the Egyptian envoy just before his
news conference, and after the
conference had concluded re-
porterS were assured by Lincoln
White, State Department press off,
Ger, that Mr., Dulles had explained
the United States position fully in
his prepared remarks to the news
men and in his replies to their ques-
tions.
An Honest Effort -
Mr.. Dulles viewed the initial re-
action of the Egyptian government
as evidence that the users associa-
ton plan lis not yet sufficiently
understood we hope they will
recognize that it is an honest effort
to try to achieve on a practical day
to-day working basis solution Of
the problem of getting ships
through the canal" The Secretary
again and again emphasized the
point he had made two weeks ago
in discussing the Suez crisis-that
the aim of all concerned should be
to remove the argument from the
lofty realms of high-level diplomats
and Understanding concepts, such
as sovereignty" dignity" and
East versus West"
To Mr.. Dulles. the problems were
receivable only "if you break them
down to concrete things. such as
who are going to be the pilots;
where are they going to be; are
they qualified pilots; do we have
a right to pilots of our own choosing
If they are qualified or has Egypt
the right to impose upon our YES
sells pilots Of its own choosing; what
is the pattern of traffic?"
Then Mr.. Dulles delivered the
coup de grace to the notion that
the association" proposal was de-
signed to provoke Egypt into some
overt act justifying armed inter-
vention: 1.-THE idea that this is
a program which is designed to inn
pose some regime upon Egypt is fan
tastic. That is not at all the con-
cept."
BY all available indications, Mr..
Dulles certainly knew what the
program implied, or at least what
he means it to imply. While he did
not confirm authorship in so many
words. neither did he deny that
the users association project was
Washington-born, probably his own
creation.
Whatever the ultimate fate of the
users association idea, it appeared
yesterday that the Secretary sue
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