Noting that the U.S. has sold more than $12 billion in military weapons and equipment to Saudi Arabia, Iran and other Persian Gulf oil states in the past three years, Congresswoman Bella S. Abzug (D-L NY) yesterday called for a halt to such sales as a way of strengthening the chances for peace in the Middle East. In a speech to an Overseas Press Club luncheon at the Hotel Biltmore, Abzug also criticized the Ford Administration’s “long-range plan to sell arms to Egypt.”
” Congress has gone along with the U.S. sale of six C-130 military transport planes to Egypt after winning a commitment from Secretary Kissinger that the U.S. will not supply Egypt with any more military equipment this year,” she said “But I think it is becoming increasingly clear that if President Ford were to be reelected, he would be back next year with requests for military aid to Egypt. It is also evident that the so-called U.S. even-handed policy in the Middle East is tipping toward the Arab nations.”
The Ford Administration, Abzug noted, has argued that Egypt needs a “symbolic” gesture of tangible military support from the United States in order to assure its continued cooperation. “The only problem with this is that symbols have a way of turning into tanks and missiles, and Israel can feel no assurance that these weapons will not be pointed at her,” she said.
“If Israel is expected to follow up the Sinai pact with further concessions, it has a right to expect that the U.S. will stop selling arms to its present and potential enemies.”
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