2 Friday,-: Uptake
THE IATRINTeLlEWISif NEWS =
Purely Commentary
The `No Bargain' AWACS Proposal
and the Urgency of Continuing
Nationwide Effort to Prevent It
Whatever the efforts. to pacify opponents of the sale of
the threatening-to-peace•AWACS jets, to reduce the dan-
gers manipulatively, the "bargain" spells doom and should
be fought to the very last to prevent the sale.
It's a great pity that the Reagan forces do not recognize
the need of calling a halt to the devastating proposals that
could affect not only the Middle East but the peace of the
world.
Offering deadly weapons to the Saudis could mean
their falling into the bands of the very people against whom
the military hardware is intended. Therefore, President
Reagan could do much better by challenging the Saudis
claims rather than submitting entirely to oil pressures.
Proof that the AWACS deal is not worth being treated
with the respect given it by the Administration is provided
by Stephen D. Goose, senior research analyst at the non-
profit Center for Defense Information, Washington, who
stated in a New York Times Op-Ed Page article:
While some people may see the sale as evidence
that the United States is a reliable arms supplier,
it is certainly not evidence that the United States
is a consistent, trustworthy foreign policy part-
ner. President Carter gave Congress explicit as-
surances in 1978 that the United States would not
at any time provide the Saudis with equipment to
enhance the offensive capability of the F-15. Our
reputation for honoring our word will be ques-
tioned if Mr. Reagan is allowed to ignore the
promises of his predecessor.
The military benefits of the sale are few and the
risks are high for both Saudi Arabia and the
United States. The proposed sale is not necessary
to meet any new Saudi military need. As
Stansfield Turner, former director of central in-
telligence, has pointed out, the sale is not even in
Saudi Arabia's best interests. It would divert at-
tention from its more urgent threat of domestic
insurrection and internal disorder.
The majority opinion in both the U:S. Senate and the
House of Representatives thus far registered in opposition
to the sale augurs well for the present. It will hopefully
remain a powerful critic of anything approaching the
threatening possibilities stemming from the projected sale.
Congressional opinion was echoed in editorials in lead-
ing newspapers, including the Detroit Free Press and the
Philadelphia Enquirer.
To the New York Times goes the credit for a most
definitive editorial (Aug. 27), declaring, "The AWACS Deal
Is No Bargain." Here is its full text:
The Reagan Administration, which prides itself
on driving hard bargains abroad, has now for-
mally proposed what looks like a sweetheart deal
with the Saudis. They would get AWACS radar
planes as part of an $8.5 billion package brimming
with the most advanced arms. What would
America get in return? On present evidence, too
little. It's good that Congress has.until Oct. 30 to
examine the fine print, for unless Mr. Reagan can
make a better case for it, this deal is no bargain.
The deal, to begin with, involves much more
than electronic spy planes. The five AWACS
planes would complement F-15 fighters America
has already agreed to supply. And these would be
given extended range and armed with Sidewinder
missiles.
All that muscle is relevant to one supposed
benefit of the deal: it would deter possible attack
on vital Saudi oil fields. By whom? Southern
Yemen or Ethiopia, the Administration says. But
these backward Soviet clients pose a meager
threat indeed, hardly enough to justify selling
such advanced arms to one side in the volatile
Middle East.
Is there, then, some other security benefit? Well,
it is hinted in Washington, Saudi air power could
deter a Soviet advance into the Persian Gulf. Yet if
there were any such thrust, everyone knows
America would respond directly. Besides, the
Saudis shrug off the Soviet peril and say they
need to deter a quite different adversary—Israel.
There is yet another supposed benefit of the
sale: it.would ingratiate America with the House
of Saud. But why is that necessary? True, the
Saudis have been a restraining force within
OPEC — but that suits their own interests. Their
moderation has already been rewarded with the
flock of F-15s. If Congress vetoes the new arms
deal, would the Saudis turn to the godless East for
their defense needs? Not even the Administration
claims that.
For this tricky arms deal to become attractive,
more is required from the Saudis. If they are to get
the most advanced weapons system, they should
Authoritative Analysts' Conclusions Point to A Bad Bargain
for U.S. in AWACS Sale ... Reagan Administration Confronted
With Bipartisan Admonitions Not to Yield to Saudi Pressures
also be active peacemaking partners in the Mid-
dle East. The prize sought by successive Adminis-
trations is open acknowledgment of Israel's right
to exist. Yet even now, the Saudis' Prince Fand
outlines a "peace" plan that again asks the im-,
possible and again scorns the attainable, a com-
promise tettlement rooted in the Camp David ac-
cords.
That may be double talk meant to mollify Arab
radicals. The Saudis did, after all, work quietly
with the United States and Israel in bringing
about a cease-fire in Lebanon. Still, Israelis can be
excused for fearing otherwise should the Saudis
acquire a real offensive capacity.
Could American weapons be used against Is-
rael? The Administration has not yet showed this
to be impossible. It says no, but knows perfectly
well that arms sale promises can be as insubstan-
tial as the rings of Saturn. Israel, too, was bound
by a weapons pledge — and yet loosed
American-built planes on Baghdad and Beirut.
For that matter, how much are American prom-
ises worth? Just three years ago, Congress ap-
proved selling 62 F-15s to Saudi Arabia on the
express condition that their offensive range
would not be extended. Now the Administration
wants to untie the string.
Neither Ronald Reagan nor Jimmy Carter have
seriously pressed for Saudi concessions when
their leverage was strongest — before delivering
sophisticated weapons. Until and unless it is
shown that the new Sauid package really is a bar-
gain, Congress ought to say no.
Thus exposed, the battle against the sale goes on. The
appeal to the opponents of the projected sale is not to yield
to unrealistic concessions. The request addressed to the
President is to be realistic and to admit an error in time to
avert calamities.
Indeed, the battle against the sale of the AWACS must
continue in anticipation of success, averting injustice as
well as political blunders.
it Is a Non-Partisan Issue
and the Opposition Must Carry on
on the Basis of a Just Principle
Hopefully, the forces in Congress opposing the
AWACS sale to the Saudis will grow rather than diminish.
This would not be to the discredit of the Reagan Adminis-
tration. On the contrary, it would give emphasis to the
importance of non-partisanship in a just effort to prevent a
national blunder.
Emphasis on the non-partisan character of the or-
ganized opposition to the AWACS sale is in the manner in
which leading Republicans have reacted to the proposal. A
typical case is that of Congressman William S. Broomfield,
the ranking Republican member of the House of Represen-
tatives Foreign Affairs Committee. In a speech opposing
the sale, Congressman Broomfield said, in part:
In brief, AWACS in Saudi airspace can take a
deep look into unfriendly territory, detect and
access the significance of military movements,
and direct an attack against them. Although terri-
tory unfriendly to Saudi Arabia could mean Iran
or Iraq, it could also mean Israel, against whom
King Khalid declared a jihad or holy war last
January. An Israeli tank could not move 20 feet
without the Saudis knowing should they obtain
the E-3A (AWACS).
detection
This
capability in Arab
hands would deprive
the Israelis of any
opportunity to pre-
empt strikes against
it by hostile
neighbors. To rob a
nation of Israel's
geographic size and
population of the
possibility of pre-
emption would doom
it to devastation.
The greatest Israeli
skill and courage
could not over-
come the numbers of
advanced Syrian,
Iraqi and other Arab
WILLIAM BROOMFIELD
aircraft were they di-
rected by Saudi AWACS.
Israel's qualitative military edge, which Secre-
tary Haig has stated is in U.S. interests to support,
would vanish once the AWACS were in Saudi in-
ventory. And no number of additional F-15 or F-16
aircraft in the Israeli Air Force — even on conces-
sional terms — could restore this critical edge.
By Philip
Slomovitz
U.S. interests would, in fact, best be served by _
an indefinite continuation of current American
arrangements regarding the AWACS with Saudi
Arabia.
Therefore, I urge the Administration to recon-
sider, if it has indeed already made a decision, the
sale of AWACS to Saudis Arabia. This sale runs
counter to U.S. interests and I oppose it.
Rather than transferring the AWACS to Saudi
Arabia, which would only fuel the Mideast con-
flict, the United States should devote itself to
promoting a just and fair peace in the region.
It is the non-partisanship evidenced here that merits
special consideration, in the selection of this quotation from
the many statements uttered in Congress.
Thus the battle for pragmatism in American foreign
affairs goes on. Hopefully, as stated, the opposition to'the
AWACS proposal will gain additional adherents.
William Satire Unaffected by
Canards, Unlike U.S. Diplomat
Leaving Syria, Hails Mr. Begin
William Safire, New
York Times Op-Ed Page es-
sayist, defied many
canards. He rises above the
hatreds that have char-
acterized many columnists
with some kind words about
Israel Prime Minister
Menahem Begin.
In a dispatch from
Jerusalem, Safire wrote
about "The Jewish De-
Gaulle." In an interesting
comparison of the two
heroes in differing areas,
quoting the Israeli militant
leader in the process of com-
paring past events in eras of
WILLIAM SAFIRE
discord, the NYTimes es-
sayist has these compliments for the Israeli leader:
I think a comparison between Mr. Begin and the
always-difficult, right-in-the-long-run DeGaulle
is far from lame.
Menahem Begin in 1930 believed, against the
vast majority, that a Jewish state would be
created, and he was right. In 1935 he predicted,
against the majority, that Hitler planned a
holocaust, and was right. In 1941, when many
Jews and others were sympathetic to the Soviet
Union, he opposed Communism so strongly he
was imprisoned in Siberia; he was right about the
Soviet menace early, too.
In 1943, he believed it would take military force
to get the British to keep their word, and was
probably right, and in 1948 opposed, against the
majority, assigning the West Bank to Jordan, and
now we see how right he was.
Satire didn't pull punches. He analyzed Menahem Be-
gin:
Menahem Begin is not exactly a press agent's
dream. He lectures television newsmen about
their questions; he makes ultra-assimilated
American Jews uncomfortable with his accented
English and pricks other consciences with un-
wanted reminders of the Holocaust; after his Be-
irut bombing blunder, he seems bellicose, rigid,
didactic. I like him.
This is a viewpoint that negates the venom often
stemming from those who abuse diplomatic privileges. An
example was provided by Talcott W. Seelye, who will retire
next month from the ambassadorship to Syria and 32 years
of U.S. diplomatic service.
Seelye must be viewed as undermining the Middle
East peace effort with his recommendation that the Camp
David agreements be abandoned by the Reagan Adminis-
tration and that the U.S. "exchange views with the PLO."
As an indication of a prejudice that poisons this attitude
was his statement: "It is impossible for Begin to diVest
Israel of the West Bank, dhtl secondly he is totally blind to
the Palestinian problem." He contended there will be a
solution to the problem only "in the post-Begin period."
This is a clear invitation to antagonism that leads to vio-
lence and murder in countries like Iran. and Libya. It ig-
nores the truth that Israel does not suffer such outrages
under Begin or any other Israeli leader, no matter what the
political differences. It ignores the truth that it was
.hfenahem Begin who inspired a policy ending Israeli war-
fare with an Arab country (Egypt).
It takes courage to defy all the prejudices that have
marked the anti-Begin attitudes, and William Satire dis-
played it. There is an indication of undignified venom in a
retiring diplomat's instigation to bitterness. Begin will
surely survive the hatreds.