ZIONISTS ASK STATE DEPT. TO RECONSIDER DECISION ON ARMS TO IRAQ
Chairman Louis Lipsky of the American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs today issued a statement asking the State Department to reconsider the decision to provide American military aid to Iraq.
Mr. Lipsky said that the arming of Iraq would neither contribute to the Near Eastern peace nor strengthen the defenses of the free world. “Iraq has been the most vindictive and belligerent member of the Arab League in the continuing war against Israel, ” he stated, “it has refused even to enter into an armistice agreement with Israel.
“To arm Iraq at a time when Arab-Israel tension has been mounting and without a firm commitment to make peace with Israel is to fortify and embolden Arab intran-sigeance and risk a renewal of open hostilities, “said Mr. Lipsky. He pointed out that “the way to win the friendship of the Arab people for America and for the cause of freedom is to give them economic and technical assistance to raise their levels of living, “and not by shipping arms for regional aggression or the bolstering of despotic military regimes.”
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