Word: arabia
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...latest dustup began when reporters aboard the Boeing 707 that flew Weinberger to Saudi Arabia, Oman and Jordan filed stories quoting a Pentagon official as saying that Weinberger wanted to "redirect" American military assistance away from Israel toward the Arabs. As soon as this appeared in print, another spokesman insisted that the message had been garbled; Weinberger wanted only to "redirect" U.S.-assisted Arab military efforts toward countering internal subversion, as well as potential Soviet threats. But suspicion was inevitably aroused in Israel, where some newspapers bluntly described Weinberger as "an enemy" because of his alleged pro-Arab views. (Haig...
Bereft of any long-range political strategy, U.S. foreign policy has increasingly focused on arms sales abroad, which is one idea that Haig and Weinberger agree on-sort of. Typically, Weinberger would go further and faster than Haig; he pushed hard for the sale of AWACS to Saudi Arabia, while the Secretary of State was lukewarm. Nonetheless, both Secretaries and the White House staff agree that the U.S. must arm friendly nations, both to win their cooperation and to keep them from turning to the Soviets for weapons. Indeed, Haig in Morocco and Weinberger in Saudi Arabia and Oman were...
Administration officials, however, can point to few tangible gains from this policy of showering weapons abroad. Saudi Arabia, for example, has so far refused to give any "public" assurances about its possible use of AWACS planes that might mollify Israel. On Weinberger's recent trip, a Saudi official told U.S. visitors: "You are just arms salesmen, and we pay cash," making it clear that the Saudis would use the AWACS any way they please. The only reply from the White House was a remark from one spokesman: "We do not regard that as an official statement." Selling arms...
...took one step toward me; I had to traverse the rest of the way. I learned later that his taking a step forward was a sign of great courtesy. I reflected on what strange twists of fate had caused a refugee from Nazi persecution to wind up in Arabia as the representative of American democracy...
When the war did break out, I was convinced that we were in a good position to dominate events. Our de facto ally Israel stood to win. Our moderate Arab friends, such as Jordan and Saudi Arabia, though they could not admit it, were nearly as afraid of a victory achieved by Soviet arms as of a defeat of their Arab brethren. From the outset, I was determined to use the war to start a peace process...