President Nixon said today that U.S. policy towards the current Middle East conflict is “like the policy we followed” in 1958 and 1970 when Lebanon and Jordan were involved, respectively. He also said the U.S. policy is that of “peacemaker in the area.”
In the 1958 incident, President-Eisenhower put 10,000 Marines into Lebanon to restore order after Lebanon’s President Camille Chamoun was threatened by a radical opposition. In 1970, Nixon himself reportedly directed U.S. sea forces in the Mediterranean to be ready to help Jordan’s King Hussein when he was faced with an upsurge by Palestinian Arab guerrillas. In both cases the Lebanese and Jordanian leaderships prevailed.
State Department spokesman Robert J. McCloskey emphasized that the President was not speaking of a “specific tactic in the area” by the U.S. as may be “illustrated” by the examples in Nixon’s statement. McCloskey stressed that “any fair interpretation of the full text” was less with regard to the “specific tactic” than to the overall broader position of the United States.
McCloskey referred to the second part of the President’s brief statement which said that the United States policy in the Middle East “very simply stated is this: We stand for the right of every nation in the Middle East to maintain its independence and security. We want this fighting to end. We want the fighting to end on a basis where we can build a lasting peace. The policy of the United States is that of a peacemaker in the area.” Nixon made his remarks in the course of a Medal of Honor presentation ceremony at the White House earlier today.
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