CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00975A001900230001-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 6, 2002
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: March 11, 1955
• Content Type: REPORT

(Reldase 2( 6?)r/ ,' $'T9T0 A
11 March 1955 10
Copy No.
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO.
NO CHANGE IN CLASS
0 DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE: "
AU 1W HR 70.2
DATE: T 59 REVIEWER:
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
State Dept. review completed
z
25X1 4
se 2W19/;8E49M'fiM9T0
 25X1A
Approved For elease 2002/10/21 : CIA-RDP79T009751900230001-5
SUMMARY
FAR EAST
2. Chinese Communist leaders' comment on nuclear weapons
reported (page 3).
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
4. Britain and Iraq hope to conclude new defense arrangements by
2 May (page 5).
5. Syrian president considers asking Iraq to send troops to Damascus
(page 6).
LATIN AMERICA
6,. Political crisis seen in Chile (page 6).
25X1A
11 Mar 55 CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 2
25X1A
Approved For Releas
 25X1
25X1A
Approved Fore ase 1oo!io!71Z. - 975 01900230001-5
FAR EAST
25X1A 2.
Chinese Communist leaders' comment on nuclear weapons reported:
Mao Tse-tung and Chou En-lai have both
expressed confidence in the Orbit's capa-
bilities for retaliation and survival in the
event that nuclear weapons are used against
China,
25X1
11 Mar 55 ? CURRENT: INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 3
Approved For ReleasR$J0 10/21 : CIA-RDP79T00975A001900230001-5
 25X1A
25X1
Approved Fo.- Release 2002H OM . e1A RE)P:79:FO09:75AOOq 9002;3000+-5
25X1
25X1
25X1
was interpreted by some observers as implying confidence in Soviet
retaliation against the United States.
Mao said publicly, on the 14 February anniversary
of the Sino-Soviet treaty, that if the "imperialists start a war of
aggression, we, together with the people of the whole world, will
certainly wipe them from the face of the earth." This statement
Peiping's current propaganda on nuclear
weapons has been greatly expanded in recent weeks It expresses
the view that a predominantly agrarian country like China would be
less vulnerable to such weapons than would the United States and
United Kingdom. At the same time Peiping has indicated some ap-
prehension, and its line has apparently been designed in large part
to mobilize international pressure to deter the United States from
using nuclear weapons
li Mar 55 CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 4
Ap15i~ e1For Releas 2002/10/21 0 - AO01900230001-5
 25X1A
Approved For le ease 2002/10/21 : CIA-RDP79T00975 01900230001-5
25X1
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
4. Britain and Iraq hope to conclude new defense arrangements by
2May?.
Britain is making every effort to meet
Iraq's target date of 2 May for the termi-
nation of the present Anglo-Iraqi treaty
and the completion of new defense ar-
rangements
according to the Foreign Office.
Iraqi's premier Nuri Said has proposed
that the new arrangements provide for joint training of military
forces, reciprocal staging rights, British technicians at Iraqi
airfields, and flying of the Iraqi flag over the fields. He has
suggested that these arrangements be effected by British acces-
sion to the Turkish-Iraqi pact, signature of a brief new agree-
ment containing nothing which might antagonize extreme national-
ists in Iraq, and an exchange of secret notes containing those
provisions most likely to-disturb the nationalists.
Comment: The new arrangements will
probably also include a provis on Tor stationing British planes at
Iraqi airfields. Currently Britain has three fighter squadrons and
a photo reconnaissance squadron at two fields in Iraq.
11 Mar 55 CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 5
25X1A
Approved For Releas - 001900230001-5
 25X1A
the military arrangements now being discussed by Defense Minis-
ter Azm with Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Egyptian troops might be
stationed in Syria, ostensibly to protect, but in reality to control,
the country. Atasi declared that if the time has come for Syria
to align itself with another country, that country should be Iraq
bec.use of their common boundary, common cultural backgrounds
and complementary economies.
The president's son, stressing his father's
preference for Iraqi over Egyptian troops in Syria, said that their
entrance into the country, while hard to defend legally, could be
regularized after the fact.
Comment.- The Syrian conservatives, led
by. Atasi, are desperately looking or a means .to overthrow the
leftist government of Premier Asali in order to regain power.
A move to bring Iraqi troops into Syria
would have serious repercussions in the Near East. None of the
other Arab states is in a position to counter such a move with ef-
fective military force. Israel is bitterly opposed to an Iraqi-Syrian
union, but would hesitate to resort to war over it.
LATIN AMERICA
6. Political crisis seen in Chile-
25X1 A -
25X1A I
Approved For . ase 2002/1 21 GIA RDP70 097%001900230001-5
5. Syrian president considers asking Iraq to send troops to Damascus,
Syrian president Atasi appears prepared
to cask Iraq to send troops to Damascus in
order to frustrate the establishment of
Egyptian military control over Syria, ac-
cording to Ambassador Moose
Atasi told Moose on 7 March that under
Chilean president Ibanez' sudden return
from vacation to the capital on 9 March
leads the American embassy in. Santiago
to believe that a political crisis has arisen.
On 5 March Ibanez had commented "in anger" on the increasingly
vehement public attacks against him, and he has undoubtedly re-
turned to Santiago "in an angry mood:"
11 Mar 55 CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 6
Approved For Relea@6)p,2/10/21 : CIA-RDP79T00975AO01900230001-5
 25X1A L- - - CIA-R
Approved ForQ~l 9701900230001-5 -ass 2002110191 -
A close friend of the president, former
interior minister Olavarria, asked American ambassador Beaulac
on 8 March how the United States would regard a "government of
force."
Comment: The chronic instability in
Chile since Ibanez' inauguration n November 1952 has given rise
to frequent reports that he would assume dictatorial control of
the country. Ibanez himself stated last year that if Congress did
not grant his request for special powers, he might dissolve it and
rule by decree. He did not carry out this threat, however, and
is believed still reluctant to abandon constitutional procedures.
Any "government of .forcers would almost
certainly require army support, which in the early stages would
probably be forthcoming. The current commander in chief of the
army, General Enrique Franco Hidalgo, has not shown any per-
sonal political ambition, but is popular within. Chile and is friendly
to the United States.
11 Mar 55 CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 7
25X1A
Approved For Release 2002/10/21 : CIA-RDP79T00975AO01900230001-5