Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-08-11
Suez and Prudence

President Eisenhower has acted pru-
IDENTIFY in arranging for tomorrow's ex-
traordinary White House meeting at
which he and Secretary Dulles will discuss
the Suez crisis with the Democratic and
Republican leaders of Congress. How
ever, although it obviously points up the
gravity of the situation, his decision to
hold such a get-together has been an
nounced in calm, matter -of-fact terms,
and there is no present justification for
taking an excessively alarmist view of it.
To say this, of course, is not to sug
geSt that there is any ground for wish
fulness about the possible consequences
of President Nasser'S seizure and nation
alization of the Suez Canal Company.
) Actually, far from minimizing the poten-
tialities of his unilateral action, our
Government views them with the utmost
seriousness. This is so because there is
solid substance behind the fear that
there probably will be war in the~Middle
East-a war that could endanger the
peace of the entire world-if Egypt re-
fuses to cooperate in system of inter
national guarantees insuring that the
vital waterway will be kept open to ship
ping that is of life death Importance
to Britain, France and free Europe as a
whole.
But the threat of war continues
to be, happily, merely a conceivable
rather than an imminent thing Ger
tainly, as Mr.. Eisenhower has declared,
there is still reason to hope that all
parties concerned will display enough
good sense to keep the situation under
control. At any rate, despite the Krem-
Inns pro- Egyptian position and it's con-
ditional acceptance of the invitation to
take part in the Suez conference begin
ming in London next Thursday the
President apparently is convinced that
there is at least fair chance that the
conference will lead to a peaceful Solu-
ton. Meanwhile, although deeply Sympa-
thizing with the Anglo-French view, our
Government has left little room for doubt
that it will hold itself aloof, if possible,
from participating in military action if
such action is forced by breakdown in
negotiations. At the present stage at
least, this course would seem to be best
for our country. especially if there is truth
in the speculation that the Kremlin may
be less than happy with the headlong
nature of Colonel Nasser'S moves and the
risks entailed in those moves.
The congressional leaders will get a
full brief1ng on these and kindred matters
at tomorrow's meeting According to
Mr. Dulles, there is nothing that would
now suggest the need of special session
of Congress" But the situation is subject
to change. Within a matter of days or
weeks, the dark possibilities inherent in
the present state of affairs could become
probabilities, or perhaps even actualities
"a fact that could impel the Senate
and House to reconvene for emergency
action granting the President special
standby powers to protect the vital
interests of the United States
So the impending White House con-
ference represents an altogether sound
and timely decision. AS Mr.. Dulles has
explained, the reason for it is that "the
President feels strongly about sharing
responsibility with Congress, particularly
if there should be any risk of hostilties."
Clearly, even though craftsmanship
should be able to eliminate it, such risk
exists in sufficient degree right now to
warrant the kind of meeting Mr. EiSen-
hover has called.