Weinberger Said to Favor U.S. Troops in Israel if Israel Asks

— Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger was represented by Pentagon sources today as favoring the stationing of U.S. troops in Israel if Israel made such a request but that in the event of such a request, he is thinking in terms of a short-term mission, not a permanent force at a base.

Weinberger’s thinking, these sources made known, is that a U.S. force in Israel would be similar to the training mission of U.S. personnel in Egypt last November.

An “official source” was being credited here with saying that Weinberger is “interested in putting troops wherever they’ll let us go in on a short term basis like what we did in Egypt” but that he is not thinking of a “worst case” situation such as a Middle East war.

At the Pentagon, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency was told by a spokesman that Weinberger’s press conference remarks yesterday were in response to questions by reporters on a “totally theoretical situation” and that “there is no other significance to read into it.” The spokesman conceded that the placement of U.S. troops was “possible” but stressed that such a possibility “is not directed toward a specific event.”

At his Pentagon press conference yesterday, Weinberger spoke in response to questions in the context of a discussion of the use of American troops in world trouble spots. He said that if Israel made a request for U.S. forces, “We would certainly view it very sympathetically and very carefully, but its the first time the suggestion has been made and I am responding to the question.”

He also said that he cannot “conceive of a situation where such a request would be very seriously made” by Israel. He said “I don’t envision anything” whether short term as in Egypt or on a permanent basis to which the reporter’s question had referred. Weinberger emphasized that he was “not setting new policy” by his remarks.

NOT AWARE OF A JIHAD BY SAUDIS

In another Middle East related matter at his press conference, the Defense Secretary appeared to draw a distinction between Saudi Arabia and the Islamic summit conference held in that country last week at which a call was issued for a “jihad” (holy war) against Israel.

In the context of a question as to whether the U.S. would approve Saudi Arabia’s request for enhanced combat capacity for the 60 F-15 warplanes it has purchased from the U.S., Weinberger said he was “not aware of a jihad” being declared by the government of Saudi Arabia. He said the U.S. decision on the Saudi request would be “very carefully” examined. He seemed to indicate however that he approved the additional fuel tanks and bomb racks for the Saudi F-15s.

Meanwhile, the State Department indicated today that it has set up a policy of not publicly discussing whether war material is going either to Iraq or Iran from outside sources. State Department spokesman William Dyess declined to comment at his briefing on a report that Saudi Arabia allowed the transmittal to Iraq of a substantial number of new Soviet-made tanks from East European countries.