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February 26, 1982 - Image 61

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1982-02-26

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Friday, February 26, 1982 61

Weinberger M.E. Policy: Our Missiles, Not Theirs'

By VICTOR BIENSTOCK

Washington may soon be
the scene of another damag-
ing, divisive debate along
the lines of the Battle of the
AWACS last year unless
wiser heads in President
Reagan's councils veto
plans of Secretary of De-
fense Caspar W. Wein-
berger to provide F-16 or
F-5G fighter planes and
mobile Hawk surface-to-air
missiles to Jordan. The mis-
siles could be a greater
threat to Israel's defense
than the five
A\ XS surveillance
planes we have agreed to
sell to Saudi Arabia.
As Secretary of Defense,
Weinberger acts on three
basic assumptions. The first
is that the Soviet Union is
the root of all evil in the
world and that only by mak-
ing the United States the
most powerful nation on
earth militarily can Soviet
designs be foiled. The sec-
ond is that Israel is a
dangerously unsettling fac-
tor in the Middle East and
that close American rela-
tionships with the Jewish
state is harmful to Ameri-
can interests which require,
in his opinion, a close
alignment with the Arab
states, primarily Saudi
Arabia.
His third assumption is
that the allegiance of small
nations can be purchased
simply by flooding them

CASPAR WEINBERGER

with all the weapons they
desire.
These conceptions — or
misconceptions — made
the Defense Secretary so
receptive to the idea that
King Hussein of Jordan
should be dissuaded
from going through with
his $360 million deal with
Moscow for 320 mobile
surface-to-air missiles
and their accompanying
military advisers by pro-
viding him with the
American missiles he has
long sought.
Congress, mindful of the
threat these missiles would
pose to Israel, has, in the
past, refused to authorize
their sale to Jordan.
Weinberger's meeting
with Hussein was the only
bright spot of his recent
Middle East junket aimed
at establishing a closer

Fitness Spa at Butzel Center

The Butzel Conference
Center with the cooperation
of the Jewish Community
Center of Metropolitan De-
troit will sponsor a week-
long health and fitness spa
Aug. 23-29 at the Butzel

Hospital Names
David Page

DAVID PAGE

David K. Page, a member
of Children's Hospital's
board since 1973, was
-- elected chairman of the
board at its recent annual
m--+ing.
e also serves on the
boards of the Jewish Wel-
fare Federation, Allied
Jewish Campaign, Detroit
Area Council of Boy Scouts
of America, American ORT
Federation, United Fund,
Marygrove College and Al-
lied Supermarkets, Inc. He
was recipient of the Young
Leadership Award of the
Jewish Welfare Federation
and ORT Man of the Year
Award.

Conference Center, located
near Ortonville.
Ada Bandalene, who
leads a variety of fitness
classes at the Jewish Center
and who was a head super-
visor at Camp Tamarack
last summer, will direct the
program.
The program includes
classes in aerobic dance,
isometrics, stretching,
yoga, swimnastics, be-
havior modification, stress
reduction, make-up and
clothes coordination.
Each participant will
be given a personalized
fitness profile to deter-
mine ideal body weight,
muscular strength, flexi-
bility and cardiovascular
endurance. Tennis,
swimming, boating and
sailing will also be of-
fered.
For information, call the
Butzel Center, 661-0603.

An impudent young man
put both hands behind his
back and challenged a rabbi
in this way: "Your atten-
tion! I hold a little bird in
one of my hands. Guess
which one. If you guess
right, I'll let the bird go free;
if you guess wrong, I'll
strangle it, and its death
will be on your head .. .
What does your precious
Talmud tell Jews about a di-
lema such as this?"
The rabbi studies the
young man dolorously, then
sighed: "Our Talmud tells
us the awful choice between
life and death — is in your
hands."

military relationship with
Saudi Arabia, advancing
the concept of a "strategic
consensus" of Middle East-
ern states as first line of de-
fense for the Persian Gulf
area and, in the words of "a
senior official" on his staff,
rearranging American
military policy so as to "re-
direct" it away from Israel
and toward the Arab states.
His stay in Saudi Arabia,
extended a day because he
simply would not leave
empty-handed, was an
exercise in frustration. He
finally wrangled out of the
obdurate Saudis a grudging
verbal agreement, a face-
saver, nothing more.
An old hand in Saudi
Arabia — Weinberger was a
top executive in the Bechtel
construction firm that has
the biggest share of U.S.
contracts for Saudi Arabia's
multi-billion dollar de-
velopment program —
Weinberger should have
known better than to expect
more. Nevertheless, the de-
gree of the Saudi aversion to
any military involvement
with the U.S. seems to have
come to him as a surprise.
Weinberger came to
Riyadh hoping to per-
suade Crown Prince
Fand to visit President
Reagan in Washington in
a move to improve
Saudi-American rela-
tions; to obtain some kind
of public commitment
from Saudi Arabia that
the five AWACS surveil-
lance planes they are due
to receive from us will not
be used against Israel — a
commitment President
Reagan promised would
be forthcoming when he
pressed reluctant Sena-
tors to approve the arms
sale; to reach some
understanding for closer
Saudi-American military
cooperation and a Saudi
undertaking to pay for
some of the arms
supplied to other Arab
states. He got agreement
on none of these.
Prince Fand saw no rea-
son to put himself out to bet-
ter Saudi-U.S. relations; the
Saudis took the position
that they had bought the
AWACS and would be pay-
ing hard cash for them and
therefore saw no reason to
accept any limitations on
their use and, finally, they
made it very clear that an
American military presence
in the Middle East was dis-
tasteful and that they didn't
want any closer ties to
America than they cur-
rently have.
The Saudis, after all, re-
gard Americans as only
slightly less undesirable
than Russians. We are not
regarded as allies but as
arms merchants who get
paid for our wares.
"They (the Saudis)
wanted American power to
balance and deter that of
the USSR and her client
states in the area," says
former State Department
political adviser John C.
Campbell in "America and
the World 1981," an annual
overview of America's posi-
tion abroad published by

sound, Hussein has for fighters. Hussein already
nearly a quarter-of-a-
has American missiles
century been a favorite emplaced on the Syrian
guest of American border but mobile Hawks
presidents and a darling of would enable thim to con-
the State Department. trol Israeli skies.
Along with the British, the
Rather than have Hus-
Saudi Arabians, the Iraqis sein deal with the Soviet
and who knows else, we devil, Weinberger would
have subsidized the little give him the Hawks re-
king over the years and gardless of the threat to
have accorded weight to his Israel and the cost to
words far beyond their im- American taxpayer.
port although he has never
Although stabilization of
supported American policy the Middle East is a major
in the Middle East.
goal of American policy,
Secretary Weinberger lis- Weinberger did not seem
tened most symphatheti- unduly disturbed by Hus-
KING HUSSEIN
cally when Hussein spoke of sein's campaign to enroll
his
need for the American "volunteers" to help Iraq ex-
the quarterly _ journal,
mobile Hawk missiles and tricate itself from the
Foreign Affairs.
"They wanted U.S. arms advanced fighters and de- mess following its invasion
and training missions. They plored the fact that he had of Iran 15 months ago. This
could easily expand the war,
did not want U.S. bases, to buy missiles from Mos-
prepositioned material or a cow and would have to ac- involve the Persian Gulf
states and sheikhdoms and
system of close strategic cept Soviet military advis-
ers.
thoroughly destabilize the
cooperation."
Weinberger agreed Hus- entire area — something
That was made pain-
fully clear to Weinberger sein should have the Hawk that Washington feverishly
who was allowed, at missiles and first-class seeks to avoid.
least, to save face. Prince
Sultan, the Saudi Minis-
ter of Defense, grudg-
ingly agreed to let him
announce an agreement
— oral, not written — for
the formation of a "joint
committee for military
projects," the importance
of which can be gauged
from the fact it is
scheduled to meet an-
nually.
And to emphasize how the
Saudis felt, Prince Sultan
stressed to a press confer-
Shown at Sinai Hospital's annual personnel
ence later that the Saudi- recognition program, which was held Jan. 26 at the
American relationship "was Westin Hotel, are from left, Dr. Philip Cascade, Irving
not based on cooperation in Shapiro, Maxwell Jospey, and retired employee
the field of military James Beasely who gave the invocation. Lillian
endeavor."
Skidmore was cited for 30 years' service. She began
Having sweated out this working for Sinai one year before the hospital was
face-saver, Weinberger flew opened.
off to the more congenial
atmosphere of Amman to
visit King Hussein, a ruler
who is always ready to
make a deal. Hussein is a
This Week's Radio and
politician on the interna-
Television Programs
tional scene who has ele-
vated the technique of sur-
THE JEWISH SOUND: (1090), an all-Yiddish pro-
vival to a fine art. He sur- 6:15 a.m. Sunday, WMJC- gram of music, news, inter-
vived a crushing defeat in FM (95) and 8 a.m. Sunday views and other features
1967, playing jackal to Nas- WNIC-AM (1310). Rabbi with Hy Shenkman.
ser of Egypt's lion when he Yitschak Kagan is the mod-
* * *
miscalculated and attacked erator.
CAFE SHALOM: 7 p.m.
Israel at the wrong time. As
Monday, WCAR (1090),
a result, he lost the West
RELIGION IN THE music, news and features
Bank and East Jerusalem NEWS: 9:05 a.m. Sunday, from Israel plus community
which his grandfather had
seized in 1948 when five CKWW (580), Rabbi Jona- announcements, with Bella
V. Plaut is the mod- Greenbaum, Fay Knoll and
Arab nations sent their ar- than
erator.
Masha Silver.
mies in to destroy the fledgl-
* * *
* * *
ing state of Israel.
RELIGIOUS
SCOPE:
IF
NOT
NOW:
12:40 p.m.
He survived the Syrian-
backed attempt by the 10:20 a.m. Sunday, Channel Thursday, WDET-FM
Palestine Liberation 9, Rabbi Jonathan V. Plaut (101.9), Cal Lefton, group
Organization to overthrow will moderate a program of services director and direc-
tor of the Jewish Commu-
him because Israeli forces Jewish interest.
* * *
nity Center's day camp pro-
on the border deterred the
JEWISH COMMU- gram, will talk about the
Syrians from coming to the
assistance of the terrorists. NITY COUNCIL: 11:30 summer day camp.
He survived the enmity a.m. Sunday, Channel 2, as
of Syria, ostracism by the part of "Sunday in Detroit," 1,000 in Yeshivot
Arab League, and the Ken Sidlow will speak to Through Agudat
acute dislike of the Saud funeral director David
family whose founder, Techner about "Death and Israel Program
Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud, had Dying in the Jewish Tradi-
NEW YORK — A record
driven Hussein's tion "
number of Jewish
* * *
grandfather Abdullah
youngsters were placed in
and great uncle Feisal
COFFEE WITH HY: 6 yeshivot in 1981 through
out of the Arabian Penin- p.m. Monday, WCAR the Jewish Education Pro-
sula.
(1090), a program of inter- gram of Agudat Israel of
For some reason, cer- est to the Jewish commu- America.
tainly not because he rules nity, moderated by Hy
Some 100 youngsters
an important country but Shenkman.
were placed in yeshivot last
* * *
possibly because his rich,
year by the program bring-
resonant voice and British
YIDDISH HEIMISH: ing the total number of
accent have such a regal 6:30 p.m. Monday, WCAR, placements to more than

Sinai Honors Employees

Jewry on the Ail

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