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Jackson: Nixon Mideast Policy Failure

December 8, 1971
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Senator Henry M. Jackson (D., Wash.) said last night in Philadelphia that Egyptian President Sadat’s threats mean the Nixon administration’s policy in the Middle East has failed. Speaking at a dinner of the Young Adult Pacesetters of the 1972 Federation of Allied Jewish Appeal, Jackson declared that the administration’s embargo on the sale of Phantom jets to Israel while Soviet shipments of equipment to Egypt continues unabated, has encouraged Sadat to threaten to “renew hostilities if the United States does not pressure Israel into accepting the Egyptian and Russian diplomatic terms.”

This, said Jackson “is final testimony that the administration’s Middle East policy has failed.” He added “that Nixon alone must answer for the erosion of the American position in the Middle East.” The Washington Democrat said Nixon set up “the Secretary of State (William P. Rogers) as a ‘flak catcher’ for the administration’s failing Middle East policy.” Continuing, Jackson said: “You can’t have a sound national policy if the Secretary of State is of one persuasion and the President another. The President can no longer divert criticism of his policies to the Secretary of State.”

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