Assistant Secretary of State William Rountree returned today from his mission to the Arab countries where he especially studied the mood in Iraq, reportedly strongly pro-Soviet and anti-American.
Washington officials make no secret of the fact that Mr. Rountree’s mission was not entirely successful. It has been noted in the State Department that there is an upsurge of anti-American and anti-Israel propaganda in Iraq and that this propaganda has the support of the new Iraqi regime.
Baghdad broadcasts and newspapers have reflected a Communist-like line in violent propaganda barrages seeking to link the United States with Israel. Such propaganda had been much less evident in Baghdad since the new regime seized power last Summer. But now the anti-Israel and anti-American attacks may even exceed in intensity those currently voiced by the United Arab Republic in Cairo.
Commenting on a recent meeting of Israel Ambassador Abba Eban with Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, the Baghdad Radio accused the two of “plotting” against the Arabs. The broadcast alleged that “American imperialist circles” were “using” Israel “as an economic, political, and military bridgehead against the Arab peoples.” The Baghdad broadcast said: “It would be stupid for anybody to imagine that Ben Gurion, the criminal puppet, could stir up a single aggressive activity against the Arabs were it not for his American masters and their imperialist partners.”
Another broadcast over Radio Baghdad stated that while “the imperialists are using every means to force the Palestinian refugees into abandoning their right to repatriation and compel the Arab states to settle them where they are now, the United States does not hesitate to spend tens and hundreds of millions of dollars on its puppet, Israel, in order to instigate further aggressive activities.
“The imperialists were not satisfied with rendering one million Arab refugees homeless, or with instigating Israel to attack sisterly Egypt in 1956, or with the 1.5 billion dollars which they presented to the rulers of Israel. They continue to prepare Israel for new crimes in other parts of the region,” the Iraqi broadcast declared.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
