When my good friend Nasser passed away, I was honored to know that he left me in charge of his position. I had always been a loyal friend to him and it was worth it to see hum return the favor. Although I did respect Nasser’s previous tactics I began to steer away from his policies. In October of 1971 I ventured to Moscow seeking more soldiers to assist in the fight with Israel. I was convinced that would be the year that peace would come to Egypt and Israel and the constant conflicts would stop. I was a little disheartened when Israel and the United States did not accept my offer to reopen the Suez Canal in replacement for limited Israel pullback in the Sinai Canal. 1971 came to an end, my goal of piece was neither reached or put farther out of reality and the war with Israel was not renewed.
My proposal of the “Federation of the Arab Republics” startled the Soviets. They did not like the idea of Syria, Libya, and Egypt working together. The new Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi desired a strong alliance between Egypt and Libya. He admired all of Nasser’s accomplishments and strategies so much that he gave control over his country’s oil wealth to me, Nasser’s successor. Many informed me of their suspicions, that Gadhafi would try to replace me, so I kept an eye on him.
To Moscow’s dismay, I did not agree to their Pro-Commuinist Sudanese Coup of 1971. I was not attracted to their demands of more of their bases locatd on Egytpian soil, especially when they refused to accept high-ranking Egyptian officers into the bases they already possessed. Although the Soviets were very popular in Egypt under Nasser when they decided to facilitate our war efforts, this fondness had vanished five years later. They did not respect Egypt’s wishes to nationalize so I dismissed most Soviet technicians from Egypt on July 7, 1972. Those who chose to stay had to work under Egyptian rules. The Soviets were allowed to keep their Navel bases but the number of their troops in Egypt dropped from 20,000 to less than 1,000. Their accelerated weapons we also withdrawn.
I tried again to approach the West, asking to buy their advanced forms of armory. This request was postponed in 1972 when 11 Israeli athletes were killed by Palestinians in the Munich Olympics and anti-Arab feelings heightened. I did renew our ties with the Soviets, augmented their naval facilities, and continued to purchase weapons from them. In 1973 I stated in an interview, “The Soviets are providing us now with everything that’s possible for them to supply. And I am now quite satisfied.” I was eager to resume war with Israel and hinted to some that Egypt would declare war to occupy the Sinai Peninsula. Israel issued some back up troops but no one took my threat that seriously.
