Jamil M. Baroody on CIA "Terrorism", "Mischief"

During the climactic period of the Yom Kippur War in 1973 [between Arab states Egypt and Syria against Israel], the United Nations Security Council convened in New York on October 23rd to address the situation. Representatives of 19 countries were present [Australia, Austria, China, Egypt, France, Guinea, India, Indonesia, Israel, Kenya, Nigeria, Panama, Peru, Sudan, Syria, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States, USSR and Yugoslavia].

The meeting led to some very heated exchanges between the outspoken Lebanon-born Saudi Ambassador Jamil Murad Baroody and Israeli Ambassador Yosef Tekoah (Tekoah labelled him an anti-semite, Baroody responded that he should "shut up"]. TIME magazine wrote of Jamil Baroody in December 1971:

"Baroody is a mass of conflicting nationalities and interests. His family is half-Christian and half-Moslem; though he represents the most orthodox Moslem country in the world, he is a Christian. He can deliver anti-Western diatribes with as much vigor and vitriol as a 1950s Pravda editorial, yet he has an American wife and his four children received U.S. educations. A product of the American University in Beirut, Baroody has been a friend of King Feisal since their youth. He supervised the education abroad of the King's seven sons, and is reputedly adviser on the royal investments in the U.S."

During his UN testimony, Baroody referenced the 1953 coup against Prime Minister Mossadegh, and CIA man Kermit Roosevelt, both of whom he had met:

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"We Arab people stand against the manipulation of outside forces. We are not imposing our will on others and we refuse that others should impose their will upon us, whether they be super-powers or any power for that matter. After all, we have occupied the area for centuries, from the Atlantic to the Gulf, the confines of Iran, and from Syria to the Sudan. We will survive all these conflicts, as we have done in the past, even before some of us were Arabized. Because Arabism is not something of blood or race. It is a culture, a way of life, a common interest and a common language. Above all, common interests.

And don't think, United States, you can intimidate us, as you have done in our area. I am talking of the CIA role in Iran. I witnessed what happened. There was a gentleman who is the grandson of Theodore Roosevelt. His name is Mr. Kermit Roosevelt. When I met him at receptions I would say, "How are you, Mr. Roosevelt? " He was a member of the government of the United States. He always was sympathetic and receptive to certain remarks I made about this sad conflict between us and the Zionists. One day I said, "How are you doing? " He said, "I am no longer with the government." I said, "Why? There is a tradition among the Roosevelts, not only your grandfather but President Franklin Roosevelt too, of service to the people of the United States." He said, "Well, I took a job with one of the oil companies." "Ah, they pay better." "Yes," he said, "they pay better." After all, he is human, looking after his interests.

Then when Mossadegh came on the scene and I met Mossadegh, we found that Mr. Kermit Roosevelt was sent to Iran, and he began to negotiate for what was later known as the oil consortium. And all of a sudden Mr. Mossadegh fled from Iran. Later we heard that this oil man was a CIA man. We are not impressed by the CIA and the terrorism they use and the coups d'etat they resort to. I am talking about the CIA, Mr. Malik, not about the KGB. They won't tell you anything, the KGB. The Americans like to write books after they leave the CIA. [Indeed, 6 years after Baroody's statements, Kermit Roosevelt did write a book about his crimes, Countercoup.].

I was talking about Kermit Roosevelt who left the Government because perhaps they did not pay enough of a salary and joined the oil consortium and went to negotiate with Mr. Mossadegh, you remember, who nationalized the oil. He was the precursor of nationalization of resources in our area. Incidentally, I saw Mr. Kermit Roosevelt in Saudi Arabia at the airport. I said, "Why are you coming? " He said, "I am a public relations man." I said, "Are you sure? " That is all I said.

Look at the budget of the CIA. It is legitimate for any intelligence agency to gather information from other states, states which they think might have hostile designs upon them. That was the classical role of intelligence agencies. What are the big intelligence agencies doing now but resorting to terrorism, coups d'etat, bribery. But now the CIA and other intelligence agencies will not succeed because they cannot subdue the peoples of the world who rise against them. By your CIA you have alienated many peoples of the world. So don't try any mischief again.

You may buy some people here and there, but you will not succeed because you have alienated yourself—the Government of the United States from our people. We did not alienate ourselves, you alienated yourself from us."