Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger said in a magazine interview published today that he did not rule out the use of military action if Middle East oil policies were strangling the industrial nations. But he insisted, in the interview in Business Week, that “the use of force would be considered only in the gravest emergency.” Kissinger also said that it would be unwise for the United States to try to trade Israeli concessions to the Arabs for a reduction of oil prices because that would create the basis for pressures in the opposite direction.
The importance of Kissinger’s statement was underscored by the fact that the State Department officially distributed copies of the text of the interview to correspondents at the Department this afternoon. Only last week, President Ford, in an interview with UPI at his Vail, Colo, vacation retreat, said it would be “inappropriate” to comment on recurring reports that there is a National Security Council contingency plan for the U.S. to take over some-Arab oil fields or help Israel do so. Kissinger, who is chairman of the NSC, did not mention any contingency plan in the Business Week interview.
Other points Dr. Kissinger made in the interview were that the possibility of another Middle East war “is being talked about much too loosely” that the readiness of either side to go to war was often exaggerated; and that there was some possibility of political progress before this spring. He said he did not anticipate another Arab oil embargo in the absence of war and added, “I am not even sure of an oil embargo in the event of war. It would be a much more serious decision than it was last time.”
When asked if he had considered military action in response to rising oil prices, the Secretary replied that it was “a very dangerous course.” He added, however, “I am not saying that there’s no circumstances where we would not use force. It is one thing to use it in the case of a dispute over price. It’s another where there is some actual strangulation of the industrialized world.”
ROLE OF USSR A CONSIDERATION
Kissinger stressed, however, that any President who resorted to force in the Middle East without considering what the Soviet Union might do would be reckless. “The question is to what extent he would let himself be deterred by it,” Kissinger said, “But you cannot say you would not consider what the Soviets would do. I want to make it clear, however, that the use of force would be considered only in the gravest emergency.”
He also said there would be dangers in using massive political warfare against the leading oil-producing countries, such as Saudi Arabia or Iran, in an effort to bring oil prices down. He said Saudi Arabia would be “discreetly encouraging” to an oil price reduction but would not take the lead in cutting prices.
CRITICAL OF EUROPEAN GOVERNMENTS
Kissinger was sharply critical of European governments which had opposed American policy in the Middle East. He said every strong action that was taken in that region was taken by the U.S. “When we went on a military alert for one day, we were accused of having done it for political reasons,” Kissinger said referring to the global alert of Oct. 22, 1973 during efforts to arrange a cease-fire in the Yom Kippur War.
Kissinger said-European hostility toward the U.S. stemmed from “an enormous feeling of insecurity” because “they recognize that their safety depends on the U.S. Their economic well-being depends on the U.S. and they know that secure essentially right in what we’re doing.” On the Middle East situation in general. Kissinger said that delicate negotiations are still going on and showed promise. “So why speculate about their future while they’re still in train?” he asked.
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.
