A resolution introduced in the House of Representatives that disapproves of the Bush administration’s proposed $4 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia is expected to be more of a symbolic protest than a means of killing the sale.
Although not pleased with the proposed sale, the largest to Saudi Arabia since the 1981 sale of AWACS electronic surveillance plans, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is not expected to fight it.
“We know it is an uphill battle,” said a spokesman for Rep. Lawrence Smith (D-Fla.), who introduced the bill Monday along with Reps. Tom Lentos (D-Calif.), Benjamin Gilman (R-N.Y.) and Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.).
But Smith’s spokesman said it was important that the “magnitude of the sale” be understood and that it not “be rubber-stamped by Congress.”
The administration advised Congress on June 6 that it plans to sell the Saudis 2,000 TOW 11-A anti-tank missiles, 1,117 light-armored vehicles and upgraded technology for the AWACS planes. The sale will go forward unless both houses of Congress adopt resolutions rejecting the sale within 30 days of notification.
“The fact is that the Saudis don’t need this advanced technology, and it certainly does nothing to help U.S. interests in the region,” Smith said.
He said the sale would only “add more fuel to the fire” of what already is an “increasingly precarious” balance of power in the Middle East.
Defense Secretary Dick Cheney defended the sale when he was asked about it after his address to AIPAC’s 31st annual policy conference Monday.
Cheney said it was in the interest of the close U.S.-Israeli relationship that the United States maintain good relations with the more moderate Arab countries.
But on Sunday night, Thomas Dine, AIPAC’s executive director, told some 1,500 people attending the policy conference that AIPAC was “distressed” about the proposed sale to the Saudis. Nevertheless, he confirmed that the lobby would not try to stop the sale.
Dine said the proposed sale does not contain equipment, such as advanced combat planes, that would be cause for serious concern. But “the sheer size of this package should raise eyebrows and encourage congressional vigilance over future sales,” he said.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
