Project FF

For the strategic bomber commonly referred to as the Big Ugly Fat Fucker, see Boeing B-52 Stratofortress.

Project FF or Fat Fucker was a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) project aimed at pressuring King Farouk of Egypt to make political reforms that would lessen the likelihood of violent political change in the country contrary to American interests. The government of the United States was concerned that the ever-increasing political instability in Egypt, much of it linked to the perceived corruption and incompetence of both the royal court and the traditional political establishment, would inevitably result in the toppling of the Egyptian government if not remedied. In particular, they feared the prospect of a partial or full communist takeover. The project was masterminded by CIA Director Allen Dulles, Secretary of State Dean Acheson, CIA operative Kermit "Kim" Roosevelt Jr., and CIA Station Chief in Cairo Miles Copeland, Jr.[1][2][page needed][3]

The historian Matthew F. Holland wrote, "Kim's idea was to orchestrate 'peaceful revolution' in Egypt to replace the corrupt political system in Egypt with a progressive dictatorship under the king that would be more amenable to American control. Copeland had unofficially named the operation 'Project FF', the 'FF' unflatteringly standing for 'fat Fucker'." [4]

However, the unwillingness of Farouk to change eventually caused the project to move to support his overthrow. Roosevelt secretly met with the Free Officers Movement,[4] a group of nationalist revolutionaries in the army of Egypt and Sudan that was opposed to the monarchy and to the United Kingdom's continuing military presence in the country.[5] The Free Officers, led by Mohamed Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser, had already been planning to overthrow Farouk, and launched their revolution with a coup d'etat against the King on 23 July 1952.[6][7] Miles Copeland stated that the US[8] provided support for the revolutionary government to be "coup proof" and helped in establishing the new General Intelligence Agency (Al-Mukhabarat el Aam), modelled after the American Central Intelligence Agency, as well as German advisors who had served in Nazi Germany military intelligence, including the Abwehr, to create the new security apparatus.[9]

Project FF was used as a blueprint for the following year's Operation Ajax, the CIA role in the coup backed by the Americans and the British in Iran against the democratically-elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh.[citation needed]

  1. ^ Wilford, Hugh (2013). America's great game: the CIA's secret Arabists and the shaping of the modern Middle East. New York: Basic Books. pp. 133–150. ISBN 9780465019656.
  2. ^ Geoffrey Wawro, Quicksand: America's Pursuit of Power in the Middle East. The Penguin Press, 2010.[page needed]
  3. ^ Prados, John. Safe for Democracy: The Secret Wars of the CIA. Page 98. Retrieved on 27 June, 2024
  4. ^ a b Holland, Matthew F. (July 11, 1996). America and Egypt: From Roosevelt to Eisenhower. Praeger. p. 27. ISBN 978-0275954741.
  5. ^ "Our Secret Agents, CIA report" (PDF). CIA.gov. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 24, 2017.
  6. ^ "The Egyptian Military's Long Con Is Almost Complete". Vice News. Vice. March 26, 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  7. ^ "Mubarak Lay Dying". The New Yorker. June 20, 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  8. ^ "The Mysterious Doings of CIA" (PDF). cia.gov. 6 November 1954. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 23, 2017.
  9. ^ Copeland Jr., Miles Axe (1969). The Game of Nations. New York: Simon and Schuster. pp. 97–104. ISBN 9780297764168.