The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project ARTHUR L. LOWRIE Interviewed by: Patricia Lessard and Theodore Lowrie Initial interview date: December 23, 1989 Co yright 1998 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background arly interest in Foreign Service Army service in Korean War Foreign Service exam Aleppo, Syria 1957-1959 Vice Consul ,oy Atherton as Consul -eneral Formation of .nited Arab ,epublic 0asser1s crackdo2n on communism Beirut 1931 Arabic language training Situation in 4iddle ast Khartoum 1932-1934 Political Officer Arabi7ation in the Sudan Declared P0- shortly before Abboud overthro2 Tunis 1934-1937 Political89abor Officer Ambassador ,ussell Impression of labor movement in Tunisia Assignment to Armed Forces Staff College I0,8Algerian Desk 1938-1972 Analy7ing the Sudanese guerilla force Algerian natural gas contract Dealing 2ith corporate America Baghdad 1972-1975 1 Chargé d1Affaires ,eopening the .S post in Baghdad Assessment of Belgian representation 0ationali7ation of Iraq Petroleum Company Kurdish struggle against government Improvement in ..S.-Iraqi relations Impression of Saddam Hussein Police state atmosphere in Iraq 0 A Chief of 4ission meeting Commercial relations 2ith Iraq Cairo 1975-1978 Political Counselor Sadat1s November 1977 trip to Jerusalem Briefing Israeli diplomats Impression of Sadat .nited Nations 1978-1979 4iddle ast Officer Camp David Accords Problems 2ith negotiations ..S. 4ission to uropean Communities 1979-1983 0ATO Defense College Differences bet2een urope and 4iddle ast posts PO9AD to Central Command 1983-1983 Working 2ith military Development of the ,apid Deployment Joint Task Force Difficulty gaining 4iddle ast cooperation Problem of support for Israel Conclusion -reatest achievement8disappointment ,easons for retiring INTERVIEW $: Mr. Lowrie how did you get interested in the Foreign Service, and then how did you subse)uently enter the Foreign Service* 9OW,I A 4ine 2as a typical American Foreign Service story. As a young man I had the 2anderlust of the small-to2n American upbringing. I left college in the middle of my 2 junior year and enlisted in the Air Force, primarily because I didnBt kno2 2hat I 2anted to do 2ith my life. I didnBt even kno2 2hat I 2anted to major in. I 2as majoring in nglish literature at the time. That 2as during the Korean War and I spent four years in the Air Force as an enlisted man. I served eighteen months in 9ibya--my first experience 2ith anything remotely connected to the 4iddle ast. I also 2as able to take t2o trips to urope and learn a little bit about living abroad. While I 2as in Tripoli I started going to the .niversity of 4aryland night school taking Italian and International ,elations. I decided shortly thereafter that a Foreign Service career 2as going to be my goal. When I got out of the Air Force I returned to Allegheny College and picked up enough credits so that I could finish in one year. I also 2on a fello2ship for a graduating senior interested in pursuing a career in foreign affairs. So 2ith that fello2ship, plus my -I Bill, I 2as off to urope, spent three months in France in Tours then I 2ent to the -raduate Institute of International Studies in -eneva for one year 2here I studied under Jacques Freymond and other uropean professors. On my 2ay to France back in July of 1955, I had taken the Foreign Service exam at the mbassy in 9ondon. The Foreign Service 2as really opening up at that time and the 2ritten and the oral exams 2ere being given at selected embassies abroad. I learned during the academic year that I had squeaked through the 2ritten exam and that the oral panel 2ould be in the mbassy in ,ome. I 2ent to ,ome in the Spring of 1953 and took my oral exam. At the end of the Summer I learned that I had been accepted into the Foreign Service and I dropped any idea of further graduate study and 2ent right into the Service in September 1953. $: Would you tal, about your early posts and your career at that time and anything of historical interest. 9OW,I A 4y first post 2as really an ideal one. Aleppo, Syria. I got there the day of the opening January 2, 1957. T2o officers to begin 2ith, ,oy Atherton the Consul -eneral, 2ho 2ent on to become a very distinguished Ambassador, Assistant Secretary and Director -eneral of the Foreign Service. He taught me a great deal. It 2as an ideal post, not only because of ,oy Atherton, but I had an opportunity to do all those things that young FSOs should, consular 2ork primarily but also commercial 2ork, protection and 2elfare and even a bit of political 2ork. I learned that I definitely 2anted to be a political officer. It 2as also my first contact 2ith the Arabic language, except for the Air Force service in 9ibya, and I began studying Arabic part-time. The highlights of that tour 2ere the formation of the .nited Arab ,epublic in February 1958C the visit to Aleppo of -amal Abdel Nasser in 4arch of 1958 2hich 2as a tumultuous affair, hundreds of thousands of people, tremendous enthusiasm for Nasser personallyC and my first real experience 2ith an Arab mob, 2hich can be frightening even 2hen theyBre happy. Another highlight 2as one of my fe2 scoops. On Ne2 DearBs Day 1959 I called on the Director -eneral of -2, 4ar2an Sibai, as a courtesy call the 2ay 2e did on all the religious and civil dignitaries on major holidays. 4ar2an Sibai informed me that he had been up all night arresting communists and it 2asnBt just true of the 3 northern region of the .A, or Aleppo, it 2as throughout the .nited Arab ,epublic including gypt. On Ne2 DearBs Day the late John Wheelock--a great guy--2ho 2as then Acting Consul -eneral, and I got out the old one-time pads and sent an immediate message to Washington about NasserBs crackdo2n on the communist party. I 2as then sent back to the Department Ethat 2as the practice then, the first t2o years in the Department, next t2o years in the field, or vice versaF 2here I spent t2o years in I0, 2riting the old NIS for -reece, Turkey and Iran. I think I did industry and mining for Iran and Turkey. A very painstaking and laborious 2ork considered very dull by most officers, including me, but of enormous benefit to my later career because it taught me the need for thoroughness and accuracy. Follo2ing I0, I requested and 2as granted Arabic language and area training at the Foreign Service School in the mbassy in Beirut, 2here I spent the next 20 months doing my best to learn to read and 2rite Arabic and more about the 4iddle ast. Those 2ere very exciting years for a young officer interested in the 4iddle astC coups dBetat, border closings, riots, etc. I might just say a 2ord about 2hat the Foreign Service 2as like at that time among FSOs in the 4iddle ast. There 2as an esprit de corps that I as a young ne2comer 2ithout any previous contacts among other members of the Foreign Service really found quite incredible. Whenever 2e visited other posts 2e 2ere immediately taken in by our counterparts, everyone 2as treated as a member of the family and given the 2armest possible hospitality. IBm not sure 2hen 2e lost that but I kno2 it doesnBt exist anymore to the extent it used to. After Beirut I 2as assigned as Political Officer to the mbassy in Khartoum 2here I had the great pleasure of 2orking 2ith Ambassador William ,ountree and his DC4 Tom 4c lhiney. Both of these gentlemen represented the very best of the professionalism of the Foreign Service, objective, thorough, sticklers for accuracy and good 2riting and telling Washington like it is. It 2as a very exciting period in the Sudan. As a young Second Secretary I 2as one of the 2ork horses and spent most of my time on the opposition to the -eneral Abboud government and the perennial North-South problem that had been going on since 1955. It 2as the attempts of the north then, as no2, to enforce an Islami7ation and an Arabi7ation on the Christian8pagan tribes of the South that 2as creating armed resistance. During my tour, the foreign missionaries got caught up in it and quite unjustly 2ere expelled in toto. This included a large number of Americans, some of 2hom had been there their 2hole adult lives 2orking 2ith some of the more primitive tribes of Africa. And I had the unique experience of visiting some of them in their tribal situation and I came to have the greatest respect for the perseverance and the good 2orks that these missionaries performed, particularly in medical care and education, t2o areas that both the British and the early Sudanese government had been 2illing to give them responsibility. 4y tour in the Sudan ended very abruptly in October 1934 2hen I 2as declared P0- by the Sudanese government. The .nder Secretary of the Foreign 4inistry called in Ambassador ,ountree on a Friday and informed him of this. Ambassador ,ountree, true 4 to character, said he 2as quite a2are of my activities, I had done nothing improper and that he 2as not going to send me out until he heard the reasons from the Foreign 4inister Ahmed Khair. Ambassador ,ountree sent a cable to that effect to Washington, but a 0IACT I44 DIAT came back from the Department telling the Ambassador to send me out of the country at once 2ithout 2aiting for any explanation. I later found out from friends in the Department that Secretary ,usk himself had made that decisionC the reason being that the Abboud government 2as being very helpful in preventing arms and other assistance from getting to the Congolese rebels by air or by land from gypt or the Soviet .nion.