Govt threat to halt arms deal

Press, 24 February 1978, Page 5

Govt threat to halt arms deal

NZPA-Reuter Washington; The American DefenceSecretary (Mr Harold! Brown) has hinted that the! United States will not sell fighter planes to Israel ifj Congress rejects fighters forEgypt and Saudi Arabia. I The Carter Administration) recently sent Congress a! S 4. • bidion request for Fls' Eagle and Fl 6 Tomcat] fighters, for Israel, Flss for) Saudi Arabia and shorter-] range F 5 Freedom Fighters! for Egypt. Mr Brown told al Congressional hearing on I Wednesday that the three! proposed sales were one! package from the stand-; poi>i f of the Administration’s I policy of maintaining the! 'Middle East military balance! ■ “as well as the political 'needs that we need to satisfy.” Mr Brown told the House of Representatives International Relations Com’mittee that the Administration would have to decide iwhat constituted a balanced I Middle East arms sales programme. He had been asked iwhat would happen if Conigress voted down the planes I for Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The proposed sale to

Saudi Arabia ot the ad-; vaneed Fl 5, which has sufficient range to reach Israel, has provoked a strong reaction from the pro-lsraeli lobby and marv influential members of Congress. Legislation covering arms sales allows Congress 50 days to vote down any weapons sale proposal, hiri it does not require the tne Administration to follow through and complete any deal approved by Congress. The Carter Administration has announced plans to spend $4.14 billion in military assistance to 49 countries. Administration officials said the figure represented a cut in real terms of 13 per cent on last year’s total, in line with President Carter’s declared policy of reducing arms sales abroad. The m,litarv assistance budget for the fiscal year beginning next October I, was presented on Wednesday to Congress, where moves have also been made to cut military aid. Most of the money is earmarked for countries in the Middle East, with Israel remaining the largest single recipient.