French Move to Sell Libya 50 More Aircraft, 100 Total, Stirs Anger in Us

Reaction came swiftly today to France’s announcement that it would sell 30 more Mirage jet fighters and 20 training planes to Libya in addition to the 50 Mirages previously scheduled for delivery to the militant leftist regime in Tripoli. The announcement was made in Paris yesterday by Defense Minister Michel Debre. United States Secretary of State William P. Rogers summoned the French Ambassador, Charles Lucet to the State Department to receive a sharp warning that the sale “could disturb the arms balance in the Middle East.”

American concern was echoed by diplomats at the United Nations who said they saw no signs to justify recent French expressions of optimism over peace prospects in the Mideast. Paris sought to take the sting out of the earlier announcement of the sale of 50 Mirages to Libya with the claim that Four Power efforts to bring about an Arab-Israeli settlement will have been successful by the time the bulk of the planes are delivered.

But diplomatic and military sources here and abroad viewed the Libyan arms deal as a clumsy device for circumventing France’s arms embargo against the belligerents in the June, 1967 Arab-Israel war. They believe that most, if not all, of the French war planes will wind up in the service of the Egyptian and possibly the Syrian air forces. Military experts are virtually unanimous in their opinion that Libya’s miniscule air force has neither the technical capacity nor the qualified pilots to operate the highly sophisticated, supersonic Mirages (This view was expressed in Jerusalem today where Israeli official circles are furious over the one-sided application of the French arms embargo. They are certain that the French planes will be used against Israel and point out that Libya has absolutely no need for such a preponderance of air strength for it is threatened by no outside power.)

DEBRE SAYS EMBARGO AGAINST ISRAEL NOT TOTALLY ENFORCED

M. Debre apparently sought to mollify world opinion and mute Israeli charges of one-sidedness when he indicated yesterday that France’s arms embargo against Israel had not been totally enforced. He claimed that various weapons, including spare parts for Israel’s existing fleet of 70 Mirages, were delivered to Israel even after then President Charles de Gaulle proclaimed a total embargo against Israel in the aftermath of its retaliatory raid on Beirut Airport at the end of 1968. The impression he gave was that the embargo affected only the 50 Mirages that Israel bought and paid for two years ago which France has refused to deliver.

The general impression gleaned from the remarks of Debre and other French officials seemed to be that the credibility of the French Government is not to be trusted either with regard to the arms embargo or its arms deals with the Arabs. Some French officials sought to explain the French credibility gap by observing that France had expected the other powers to follow its lead when it imposed the arms embargo on the Middle East belligerents. When the other nations failed to halt arms supplies to the region, France had the right to follow its own economic and strategic interests, they said.

American anger over the latest Libyan arms deal appeared to stem largely from the fact that Washington was not consulted beforehand by the French Government. But the State Department conceded that the U.S. was notified in advance of M. Debre’s announcement yesterday, a departure from the earlier deal when the U.S. had to pry an admission from France after reports that 50 Mirages would be sold to Libya were leaked to the press.

AJ CONGRESS CONDEMNS SALE OF COMBAT AIRCRAFT

The American Jewish Congress condemned France’s sale of 100 combat aircraft to Libya as “a shabby pursuit of influence and oil rights among the sheikdoms and dictatorships of the Arab world,” and predicted that during French President Georges Pompidou’s visit to the U.S. next month, Mr. Pompidou “may expect to see and hear at first hand such expressions of disapproval of French actions as we have sought to voice in this statement.” The Congress called on the French leader “to repudiate his Middle East policy, to lift the arms embargo against Israel and to reassert the traditional French commitment to democratic and human values.” The statement came in a resolution adopted by the Congress’ policy-making National Governing Council.

Some American officials saw no immediate threat to Israel’s air supremacy arising from the sale of 100 planes to Libya, even if the planes were diverted to Egypt. They pointed out that the Egyptian Air Force, heavily supplied by Russia, did not lack for planes but was short on trained pilots. On the other hand, it was pointed out, Egypt would gain an advantage from having Mirages flown from Libyan bases where they would not be vulnerable to the kind of Israeli air attacks that destroyed the Egyptian Air Force on the ground during the first hours of the June, 1967 war.

The New York Times branded the latest Franco-Libyan arms deal a “sell out in Paris,” in an editorial published today. “This new arms deal with one of the most belligerent of Arab states sweeps away any lingering pretense that France seeks to help maintain some kind of balance and to promote peace in the Middle East,” the Times said. “France has recklessly cast her lot with the Arab extremists, sacrificing whatever credibility she still had as a force for peace in the Big Four negotiations on the Middle East to a self-serving grab for influence, oil and markets in the Arab world.” The Times called on the U.S. Government to make its displeasure plain to French President Georges Pompidou when he comes to Washington on an official visit next month. But U.S. officials have said that the French arms deals with Libya would not affect the tone of M. Pompidou’s official reception though he might encounter demonstrations from pro-Israel groups in the large cities he visits.