Word: arabia
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Partly because of White House disorganization and Haig's early grab for power, Allen has not demonstrated much authority in his job. He failed to persuade presidential aides that the proposed sale of the sophisticated AWACS airborne radar system to Saudi Arabia faced probable defeat in Congress. As a result, Reagan okayed the deal over Haig's objections...
...world of heavy construction, no one thinks bigger than a country boy from Alabama named Winton ("Red") Blount. Just after World War II, he was building fishponds in the rural South. Now he is preparing to erect an immense desert campus in Saudi Arabia that will sprawl across an area the size of 109 football fields. In partnership with the French firm Bouygues, Blount Inc., of Montgomery, Ala. (fiscal 1981 sales: $651 million), has captured a coveted $1.7 bil lion contract to build Saudi Arabia's new University of Riyadh. Last week the first payment on the deal...
Michigan, of course, is hardly another Saudi Arabia. A recent Government study pegs the state's overall oil and gas reserves at no more than about 2% of total U.S. reserves. Yet, as long as the U.S. continues to import more than one-third of its total oil needs, every bit of domestically drilled fuel counts. Says Sherwood Frezon, an official with the U.S. Geological Survey: "The country couldn't survive on the oil supplies of Michigan, but because there are places like Michigan, we can live a lot better...
Congressional enemies of the sale voice varied arguments. They fear that supplying AWACS to Saudi Arabia would accelerate a potentially lethal arms race in the Middle East. They also worry that the planes, with their highly sophisticated, secret equipment, might fall into the wrong hands. Says New York Democrat Joseph Addabbo: "There is no one who can guarantee what type [Saudi] government, pro-U.S., anti-U.S. or violently opposed to Israel, will be in control of these weapons one year or five years from...
Many Congressmen also fret that Saudi Arabia has given no discernible quid pro quo for the AWACS sale: it has not pledged support for the Camp David-Middle East peace process, nor ceased its support for the Palestine Liberation Organization. Finally, critics pose this question: If aerial surveillance of the Persian Gulf region is militarily necessary, why could it not be accomplished by continuing to have U.S.-owned AWACS planes fly out of Saudi bases, rather than replacing them with Saudi-owned AWACS that terrify Israel? The Administration has no convincing answer...