Whether Congress will approve the sale of eight General Electric jet turbine engines for four warships being built for Iraq in Italy was a controversial issue here today. Some members of Congress said that the sale violates a U.S. law preventing transfers of such equipment to countries that have backed terrorism. The Commerce Department approved the $11 million sale last Jan. 23.
The Congress reportedly was not informed of the sale. State Department spokesman Hodding Carter said yesterday that he was seeking information on a final decision and he would not comment on it. Congress was informed of the sale Monday, the day when five Palestinian terrorists, members of an Iraqi-sponsored terrorist group calling itself the Arab Liberation Front, stormed the children’s house in Kibbutz Misgav Am near the Lebanese border and killed three Israelis, including a 2 1/2-year-old child.
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.
