The Bush administration is trying to convince Congress and the American public that its proposed $3 billion sale to Saudi Arabia of 315 tanks and other military equipment poses no threat to Israel.
While the Abrams M1-A2 is the “world’s best tank,” its possession by the Saudis would not change the military balance in the Middle East in a way that “would negatively affect Israel,” a State Department official said last week.
He reiterated the Bush administration’s commitment to maintain Israel’s qualitative edge over any possible combination of enemies.
The official was briefing reporters on the administration’s informal notification to Congress on Oct. 11 that it plans to sell the Saudis the tanks and various other military vehicles. The tanks alone cost $1.1 billion.
The notification triggered a 20-day period of consultations with Congress to be followed immediately by formal notification. Once that happens, Congress has 30 days to vote down an arms sale; otherwise it automatically goes through.
The Israeli government opposes arms sales to any Arab government, except Egypt, which has signed a peace treaty with the Jewish state.
But the State Department official indicated he does not expect Israel’s opposition to be as vociferous as it was for such past deals as the 1981 sale of AWACS radar planes to Saudi Arabia.
The organized Jewish community has voiced opposition to the sale, but has not yet decided whether to engage in an all-out fight with the administration over it.
AIPAC PRAISES CONSULTATIONS
“We support the consultations between Congress and the Executive Branch,” Toby Dershowitz, spokeswoman for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, said last week. She noted that in the past there had not been such extensive consultations as there have been over the current sale.
Dershowitz indicated that AIPAC would like to avoid an all-out fight. She said that if details can be worked out to the satisfaction of supporters of Israel, the arms sale is “likely to go through.”
AIPAC came under criticism from some Jewish groups last year for fighting arms sales to Persian Gulf states that some felt would be no direct threat to Israel.
Congressional sources also indicated that they are waiting for more information on components of the tanks, where they will be based and other questions before they decide whether to allow the sale to go through without opposition.
Supporters of Israel have expressed concern that the tank sale could be followed by a sale of some 100 F-16 or F/A-18 jets to the Saudis.
The official conceded that the Saudis want to replace their outdated F-5s. But he said that the Saudis have only begun the process of considering what planes they want.
The United States plans additional arms sales to the Saudis and other Arab countries, the official said. But he said the arms package now on the table will be the last one in 1989 and that the administration has not yet started consideration of any sales for 1990.
The official stressed the economic importance of the sale both for the U.S. Army in particular and the U.S. economy in general.
He said the Army will get its first M1-A2 tanks in late 1992 and that the Saudis would get them a year later. Saudi Arabia would receive the tanks over a three-year period, and they would meet its needs for some 20 years.
If the tanks were not sold to Saudi Arabia, the cost of producing the tanks would be higher and General Dynamics Corp. could not maintain its two production lines, one in Ohio and another in Michigan, a Pentagon official said.
The State Department official said if Saudi Arabia could not obtain the U.S. tanks, it would most likely but the British Challenger 2, which is looking for a start-up sale. The sale to the Saudis would increase the likelihood that other countries, including Britain, would buy the U.S. tank, the official said.
A background paper released by the State Department said that the production of the tanks would generate nearly $2 billion in income to Americans and some 55,000 man-years of employment. Some 40 states would see economic benefits, particulary Michigan, Ohio, Connecticut, California and Indiana, the paper said.
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