Congress, Administration Still at Loggerheads over Mideast Plane Deal

The ultimate result of President Carter’s Middle East war planes program remained uncertain today as the confrontation with opponents in Congress entered its second week of hearings at the Capital.

The Administration’s strategy now seems bent to offer slight compromises, mainly in increased future military commitments to Israel and in this way, placate enough members of the House International Relations Committee and, possibly, even in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and thereby kill further opposition to the President’s insistence that Saudi Arabia get what it wants–60 F-15 warplanes.

The opposition in Congress, meanwhile, appears to be centering on delay of the entire proposal for 6-8 months. In this time, it hopes the Carter Administration can obtain some concessions from the Arab states toward a peace settlement and also bar Saudi Arabia’s use of or transfer of the warplanes in any future Arab-Israeli conflict.

The President has rejected both a reduction in the number of F-15s to Saudi Arabia and any delay in consideration of his program beyond May 28, the last day of the 30-day period which Congress has to disapprove the program. Thus, barring a suitable compromise, the two Congressional committees are likely to pass the issue for debate and action by the full House and Senate. Both chambers must specifically reject the proposal to kill it.

POSSIBLE COMPROMISE HINTED

That an Administration compromise is in prospect was indicated by the Senate Majority Leader, Robert Byrd (D.W.Va.), who presently supports the Carter package. “I would hope,” he said, “the Administration will consider committing itself to Israel’s defense needs beyond the year 1984.” Byrd suggested that opposition to the Carter package could be overcome by such a commitment and Saudi assurances not to use the planes in any future Arab-Israeli conflict.

Byrd said he has persuaded Foreign Relations Committee chairman Sen. John Sparkman (D.Ala.) to postpone any committee action until after a private meeting by the Senate committee tomorrow with Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and other high level Administration officials. A similar private meeting is understood to have been arranged with the House International Relations Committee.

Meanwhile, the Senate committee, where a majority seems disposed to delay the action, completed its hearings today with former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger as the chief witness. Kissinger was questioned closely on the nature of his discussions with the Saudis in 1975 when the warplanes were first introduced as a proviso in relations with the U.S. President Carter has emphasized that he is merely carrying out President Ford’s “commitment” in this respect but some now say “commitment” exaggerates what Ford and Kissinger promised the Saudis. (See p. 3 for story on Kissinger’s testimony.)

In other developments, the House International Relations Committee opened four days of hearings on the planes deal this afternoon with a number of Congressmen opposed to it appearing as witnesses. Tomorrow morning, the Administration’s top level team, headed by Vance and Defense Secretary Har-old Brown will testify. They testified before the Senate panel last week and their second round of testimony will be scrutinized for any hint of change in the Administration’s program.

While 22 of the House committee’s 37 members have endorsed the resolution by Dante Fascell (D. Fla.) and Edward Derwinski (R.Ill.) opposing the program, the Administration is said believe it can alter the view of 4-5 of them by shifts such as giving Israel all of the 50 F-15s and 150 F-16s it requested originally.

SAUDI LEADERS BUSY LOBBYING

Meanwhile, to bolster their position with Congress, Saudi leaders are lobbying intensely in both houses of Congress in support of the Carter package. “The Saudis have thrown some of their most personable and articulate representatives, guided by ring-wise American political and public relations advisors, into this lobbying struggle,” the Washington Post reported.

The Saudi lobbyists, all Western educated and sophisticated, include Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, an aviation specialist; Prince Turki Faisal, chief intelligence officer; Ghazi Al Gasaibi, the Saudi Minister of Industry and Electricity; and Minister of Commerce Sulayman Sulayim. Helping them are such American business firms as the Bechtel Corp. and the Computer Science Corp., the Post reported, whose representatives speak to Congressmen about the Saudi need for the warplanes.

In tune with this lobbying, the Saudis are prominently reported today to have been urging no change in oil prices in the latest discussions in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. The Carter Administration has said that the F-15s should be provided to Saudi Arabia in recognition of its moderation on oil prices and in Arab-Israeli politics.