Jackson Urges Carter to Take Strong Measures in the Mideast

Sen. Henry Jackson (D. Wash.) forged President Carter today to take stranger measures to form an alliance of states in the Middle East and suggested the use of United States might to block Soviet influence and Arab radicalism from spreading over the oil fields and threatening Israel and Egypt . Jackson, chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, expressed this view in a speech prepared for delivery today to the American Professors for Peace in the Middle East in a forum on energy policy at the George Washington University.

“It remains within our power to fashion an alliance of states prepared to resist the encroachments of the Soviets and their friends , ” he said “But it will take more understanding than we have thus far demonstrated — more will than we have shown — and more imagination than we have evidenced.”

It is time, the Senator observed, to stop repeating ” the silly cliche that we ‘cannot be the world’s policeman ‘ and begin to think about our future in a world without a cop on the corner.” He warned that the Soviet Union has for some time,” through the use of proxies and surrogates,” undertaken an effort to encircle the oil producing countries on which the West depends.

“The passage of Iran from a Western oriented power closely allied with the United States and opposed to Arab radicalism to a fundamentalist Islamic and potentially radical state has profound implications for Israel,” Jackson said. ” However, much we may hope that it will not fully develop we must, on the basis of what has already happened, assume that .Iran will become a base for operations of the PLO and a significant source of strength for radical Arab regimes. This momentous shift means increased danger for Israel, increased pressure on (Egyptian President Anwar) Sadat and a decrease in the security of oil supplies for the U.S. and its allies.”