The State Department announced today that it has suspended delivery of six marine engines to Italy where they were to be installed in four frigates being built for the Iraqi navy. Originally, the General Electric Co., manufacturer of the engines, was to have delivered eight of them for about $12 million. Two already have been shipped to Italy but General Electric has agreed not to deliver the others.
The State Department said that it stopped future deliveries in order to be “consistent” with President Carter’s position against taking sides in the Iraqi-Iranian war and “because of the current hostilities, we do not think a business as usual position should be followed.” The State Deportment added that it will “review this postponement at an appropriate later moment.”
The Deportment’s action was hailed by members of both major parties in Congress who long have been opposed to the shipment of military equipment to Iraq which the Carter Administration has officially described as a “terrorist” notion.
Sen. Richard Stone (D.Flo,), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Subcommittee on the Middle East, declared that “Iraq is a country that supports international terrorism and instigated the present fighting with Iran which is a threat to the stability of the region and to international oil supplies. This sale should never have been approved in the first place and should be permanently revoked now.”
Rep. Millicent Fenwick (R.NJ) called the suspension of deliveries a “welcome and prudent first step.” She added, “It would have been better If the Administration held up the licenses long before the present conflict broke out. “
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.
