Obama and the Lessons of "Roosevelt's Erection"

 In referring to conflict and religious wars that have marred relations between Islam and the West over the centuries, President Obama's Cairo speech mentioned the problems of colonialism and great power rivalries in more recent times. “Tension,” Obama said, “has been fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims, and a Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were too often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations.” The reference struck a chord with his Middle East audience, and reminded me of the story of “Roosevelt's erection.”

 

 Arabs are habitually frustrated by Western interference in their affairs. Colonialism, imperialism—call it what you like, but for the last century, Arabs have lived with burdens ranging from outright occupation and control of their countries to meddling in the form of support or opposition, depending on how it suited the West's interests, of the Middle East's autocratic regimes.

 Egypt has been at the center of “The Game of Nations,” as it was aptly described in a 1969 book of that title by former CIA operative Miles Copeland. American meddling in Cairo dates back, ironically, 99 years when Teddy Roosevelt, having just finished his presidency, delivered a speech at the future Cairo University—where Obama spoke Thursday. Roosevelt infuriated Egyptian nationalists by supporting the British occupation of the country and deeming Egyptians unprepared for independence or democracy.

 Flash forward to the 1950s, when Col. Gamal Abdul Nasser decided Egyptians were ready for independence and overthrew the British-backed monarchy and took power in a military coup.  Initially, the Eisenhower administration was inclined to see Nasser as a potential asset in the Cold War.  The problem was that Nasser was more interested in getting British hands off Egypt than he was in fighting the Soviets. For all the follies and disastrous missteps of his rule, Nasser primarily wanted to achieve Egypt's independence and restore dignity after decades of British control. Although he cordially began talks on accepting U.S. military aid, Nasser grew steadily defiant of the West and drew closer to the Soviets after the creation of the anti-Soviet Baghdad Pact. In retaliation, Eisenhower cut off funding for the Aswan Dam, Nasser nationalized the British-controlled Suez Canal, and then Britain, France and Israel invaded Egypt in 1956.

 In the days when the U.S. was trying to woo Nasser to its side in the game of nations, Kermit Roosevelt Jr.—a senior CIA official and Teddy's grandson—arranged for a bribe to be handed over to Nasser in the form of $3 million cash contained in two suitcases and delivered in the dead of night. To illustrate his contempt for the Yankee maneuver, Nasser immediately used the funds to construct the Cairo Tower, a useless structure taller than the Pyramids on the Nile across from the U.S. embassy. Urban legend has it that the tower is meant to symbolize an extended middle finger directed at the American diplomatic mission in Egypt. But Nasser's aides, according to Miles Copeland, who personally handed over the suitcases, took to calling it el wa'ef Rusfel, or “Roosevelt's erection.

 It was not all downhill afterwards, however. Despite Egyptian bitterness over U.S. support for Israel in the 1967 and 1973 Arab-Israeli wars, Richard Nixon enjoyed brief popularity in Egypt at the end of his scandal-plagued presidency. Two months before he resigned in the Watergate affair, Nixon received a tumultuous welcome in Cairo when he toured in the Middle East in pursuit of an Arab-Israeli peace agreement. Nasser's successor, Anwar Sadat, was a hero due to Egypt's partial success in the '73 conflict, and the country was full of hope that Nixon would help return the occupied Sinai Peninsula to Egypt. Some 1 million Egyptians lined the streets when Nixon and Sadat drove past. Nixon suspected it was partly a rent-a-crowd phenomenon, but Sadat told him, “You can bring people out, but you can't make them smile.”

 Egypt eventually got the Sinai back in the Camp David accords negotiated by Jimmy Carter. But Egyptians increasingly soured on the U.S., partly because of America's continuing tilt toward Israel but also because of Washington's automatic backing of authoritarianism in Egypt—first in support of Sadat, then since his assassination in 1981, of Hosni Mubarak.

 Thus, Barack Obama turned a page in U.S.-Egyptian history this week, moving the Game of Nations under Obama's rules instead of the Roosevelts. Of course, the last chapter remains to be written. Yet, Obama acknowledged the West's harmful policies during the colonial and Cold War eras, and proposed a new relationship based on mutual interest and respect—and that includes a committed interest in peace, and a credible respect for human rights. “I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world,” Obama said in Cairo. “We have the power to make the world we seek, but only if we have the courage to make a new beginning.” It was a day neither Teddy nor Kermit could have imagined, and one that Egypt will never forget.

 --By Scott MacLeod/Cairo