I have been reading up on the Suez Crisis, looking for ways to get a more successful end result for Britain and at least prolonging somewhat higher power status. This seems quite hard to achieve, as the lynchpin of any such POD has to involve US support or at least a lack of disapproval.
So, the first major goal must be to get Eisenhower to support the British position. Unless the POD is moved farther back, Britain will be very dependent economically on the US, so we need to get the US to feel that Nasser must be removed somehow. The best way I see for this to happen is if Nasser moves much closer to the Soviets openly. More Soviet arms shipments in addition to the first Czechoslovakian shipment, and/or more Soviet aid funding for domestic Egyptian projects will certainly alarm Eisenhower. If Nasser is viewed as an effective Soviet ally, getting US support in a Suez operation will be much easier.
However, even if Nasser has many more direct links to the Eastern Bloc, I still think that Eisenhower will still want the British to go through several diplomatic options first. This poses a problem, as Britain's legal standing in the nationalization crisis is weak as Egypt hasn't really violated any of the agreements pertaining to the canal by force nationalizing it. The British position is further undermined as they conducted a similar forced buyout with the coal industries under the Atlee government. So, we need more deadlock in the UN and a more confrontational Egypt to have the diplomatic option fall through. This is especcially where I would like people's ideas.
So, if we are able to get US and some international support for the British position in the Suez Crisis, we have several alternatives on the actual military plan. If the US is supporting due to a want to topple Nasser, the larger Musketeer operation that involved landings at Alexandria and other larger centers being implemented. Also, the need for the agreement with Israel will be removed if Eden is not searching for a stronger pretext for the operation. Removing Israeli help will certainly get on Frech nerves a bit if they try to push an agreement with Israel, but it will certainly help preserve British standing among the Arabs a bit more.
So, Israel will probably be off the table, and the French and British will probably be occupying most of Egypt's major population centers in this scenario. The war will certainly be bloodier and more difficult, but I believe that the French and British will be able to win the conventional struggle. Then the British and French are stuck in a quagmire though as any government put in the place of Nasser will probably be viewed as illegitimate by the people due to his popularity and a dislike of Britain and France. Britain and France may very well just topple Nasser and then pull out, maintaing forces around the canal and leaving Egyptians to sort out their own problems.
Anyway, enough of this. If anybody has ideas on how to make the Suez Crisis more successful, I am eager to hear them as the task seems daunting enough.