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"Tony Blair and the Ghost of Suez"

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair at the Iraq Inquiry in London, Jan. 29, 2010. He was asked when he committed the UK to war and whether he manipulated intelligence about Iraq's supposed WMD.
AP Photo

"Tony Blair and the Ghost of Suez"

Op-Ed, The Huffington Post

September 14, 2010

Author: Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program

Belfer Center Programs or Projects: International Security

 

"It is a commonplace that Britain and France drew contrasting lessons from their misadventure in the Suez affair of 1956, in which they sought to overthrow the Egyptian strongman, Gamal Abdal Nasser, without telling the United States. This ill-fated expedition, which was aborted by pressures coming from two directions, from the U.S. and the Soviet Union, cost Britain the permanent loss of its great power status and further discredited the French Fourth Republic, leading to the return of Charles de Galle to power two years later.

The lesson the British drew from the Suez affair was never again to let distance come between them and the Americans...."

Continue reading: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-charles-g-cogan/tony-blair-and-the-ghost_b_717048.html

 

For more information about this publication please contact the Belfer Center Communications Office at 617-495-9858.

Full text of this publication is available at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-charles-g-cogan/tony-blair-and-the-ghost_b_7170
48.html

For Academic Citation:

Cogan, Dr. Charles G. "Tony Blair and the Ghost of Suez." The Huffington Post, September 14, 2010.

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