Nasser Book Report

A Report on a Previously Read Book Entitled:

Nasser; The Last Arab

Written by Said K. Aburish

I chose a book titled "Nasser; The Last Arab" written by Said K. Aburish. This

book is a bibliography written about a former Egyptian president named Gamal Abdel

Nasser. Many refer to Nasser as the most powerful and brilliant political leader who

achieved unprecedented popularity in both Egypt and the Arab world. He was said to be

the most influential leader of the Arab world. Nasser was born in Alexandria on January

15th, 1918 as the son of a postman. After his secondary schooling in Cairo, Egypt, he

joined the Royal Military Academy. Later he would graduate the academy in 1938.

Throughout his time in the Royal Military Academy Nasser started a secret revolutionary

society called "The Free Officers." At this point in time Egypt was ruled by a small

landowning class that owned 30% of the land and totally consumed the parliament. At

that time the British presence was omnipresent and the King Faruk I was described as an

irresponsible philanderer. As the leader of the Free Officers, Nasser focused on getting

rid of British rule, as well as the King of Egypt. Soon after on July 23, 1952 the Free

Officers staged a maneuver to overthrow King Faruk. Nasser at this point remained in the

background, and was not very forthcoming with his involvement with the Free Officers.

Said K. Aburish does a wonderful job of describing many important points in Nasser's

life, that in turn made him the leader he is thought of today.

Aburish considered Nasser as the "towering Arab leader of the twentieth century."

He describes him as a pro-West Egyptian colonel since 1952, whom had a vast

knowledge of the CIA and who would later would be involved in the clash between the

West and theArabs. He believes that what separated other leaders and Nasser, was the

fact that other leaders were dependent upon Western support, and in turn disregarded

their very own people.

One of the most memorable happenings in Nasser's time was the building

of the Aswan Dam on the Nile River in Egypt. Nasser managed to build this important

feature in spite of his extreme opposition to Israel, and outspoken aspersion to the

Western civilization, which would have earned him the U.S. and European support for

the dam. Because of his actions towards the West, Nasser was forced to turn to the

Soviets for aid. It is said that the Suez Canal was nationalized for the single purpose of

raising enough capital to build the Aswan Dam. The soon to follow "Suez Crisis" was

said to have propelled him to the front of the Arab Nationalist movement. Pan Arab unity

was the most important theme in the Arab World from the late 1950's to 1967. At

this time Nasser would become the main promoter and delegate. In 1958 the most

important display of Pan-Arabism took place when Egypt and Syria united to form the

United Arabic Republic. But interests between the two countries never fit to combine,

because Nasser was essentially an Egyptian Nationalist. Therefore the union effectively

came to nothing.

Many believed that Nasser's Pan-Arabism was all show before Egypt entered the

Yemeni Civil war against the dictatorship of the leftist guerrillas, which only further

diverted Saudi Arabia and the west. While this was happening Nasser was focused on

strengthening Egyptian ties to the Soviet Union. Nasser needed the communists for

their technological and military assistance to fight the Israeli army, who at the time was

assisted by the United States. You can see Nasser's devotion to alienating himself from

the west, in fact he fully supported the formation of the Palestinian Liberation

Organization.

Nasser knew that he would never successfully develop Egypt without large

contributions of foreign aid. He also knew that the west was the largest and most reliable

source of obtaining this aid. Nasser realized he needed the aid from the west, he also

realized that the more anti-Western he portrayed himself to be, the more foreign aid he

was offered by the western countries.