Maj. Gen. Moshe Dayan, Chief of Staff of Israel’s defense forces, arrived here today and was greeted at the airport by representatives of the United States Army and Ambassador Abba Eban.
The Defense Department sought to avoid any offense to the Arab League by issuing a delicately-worded statement announcing the arrival of Gen. Dayan. The Departments of State and Defense are currently seeking to cement relations with Iraq and are apprehensive about the effects in Arab states of the visit by Gen. Dayan to U.S. military installations.
Today’s statement recalled that Gen. Dayan, during a visit to the United Nations Security Council last year, “expressed the hope that he might visit various U.S. military installation.” Therefore, the statement said, “the Department of the Army has arranged for him to make such visits during the next few weeks.” The Defense Department made known that transportation for Gen. Dayan will be entirely by commercial airlines.
It was recalled here that the Defense Department last month issued a much more enthusiastic statement to announce the arrival of Maj. Gen. Mohammed Rafiq Arif, Chief of Staff of the Iraqi Army. Gen. Arif was awarded the Legion of Merit by Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway, U.S. Chief of Staff.
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