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Egypt
The Baghdad Pact met with opposition from Egypt under President Gemal Abdel Nasser, who saw in the Pact both a means to Western colonialism and a hindrance to Arab unity, hence a conflict with Nasser's foreign policy agenda which among others included a regional collective security arrangement, a policy of “neutralism” with regards to the rivalry of the great powers and Egypt’s leadership in the Arab world. Thus, following the ratification of the Baghdad Pact on 16 February 1955, Egypt publicly denounced the move both for violating the principles of the Arab League and for Iraq’s unilateralism. Given the prominent role played by Baghdad in the Pact, it also challenged Egypt's leadership role in the Arab world in favor of the pro-British regime of Nuri al-Said.

Anti-colonialism
Nasser argued that through the Pact, Western colonialism which was forced to exit through the door, was seeking to return through the window. The Pact, as he pointed out to US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, would compromise Egypt’s sovereignty: “Small nations included in the circles of pacts cannot compete on equal footing with big powers. They cannot discuss matters on an equal basis.” As a regional collective security arrangement already existed in the form of the Arab League Collective Security Pact (ACSP) (1952), the creation of a separate security arrangement would thus split the Arab world into rival groups and pave the way towards Western colonialism.

Arab neutralism
Cairo’s criticism of the Baghdad Pact was also shaped by a policy of “neutralism” towards the great powers as alignment would hinder the pursuit of Arab aspirations. As the pact sought to prevent Soviet incursion into the Middle East, supported by the US and included Britain, it represented a shift in this policy towards the West. Thus, Egypt countered the Pact with an arms deal with the Soviet-aligned Czechoslovakia—justified to the public as “a purely commercial transaction with no strings attached to it”—and defence pacts with Syria and Saudi Arabia. Egypt also successfully dissuaded other Arab states--Lebanon, Syria and Jordan--from joining the Pact.

Arab leadership (struggle with Iraq)
At the same time, the pact gave a prominent role to Iraq, at a time of rivalry between Iraq and Egypt for leadership in the Arab world. Yet while Iraq evinced pro-Washington tendencies, Cairo insisted on Arab autonomy and independence.

See also: History of Egypt under Gamal Abdel Nasser