Word: haig
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...first flush of triumph, the President proclaimed that "peace is again on the march in the Middle East," and Secretary of State Alexander Haig predicted that the deal "will inevitably contribute to stability and the peace process" in the area. There were some initial glimmers of hope: Egypt's new President Hosni Mubarak said that he would try to renew ties with Arab nations critical of the peace process, and Palestine Liberation Organization Chief Yasser Arafat said that he welcomed a peace plan proposed last August by the Saudis that implicitly calls for coexistence between Israel and the Arab nations...
...State Department has not coordinated well with the White House staff; as a result, National Security Adviser Richard Allen is not laying before Reagan the detailed analyses of foreign policy problems and options that previous Presidents got from stronger aides. A third difficulty is that Secretary of State Haig is more of a tactician than a strategist, and has surrounded himself with aides of like mind; they tend almost reflexively to muscular, ad hoc responses toward particular problems, frequently focusing on the shipment of arms abroad as a prime method of diplomacy. Finally, Reagan himself, lacking experience in foreign affairs...
Incredibly, no real effort was made then by the Administration even to measure the potential depth of those objections. When Israeli Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir visited Washington in late February, he was told by Haig that some sort of aerial reconnaissance equipment might be sold to the Saudis; Israelis now insist that the warning was extremely vague. Israel had reconciled itself to the beefing up of the Saudi F-15s. Under the impression that this would be the main part of the package, Shamir expressed only ritualistic objection. His "I'm not worried" comment was then taken by the Administration...
...impending Saudi arms sale in February, but made no mention of AWACS. The essential decision was taken at a Feb. 27 meeting of the National Security Council, but it was still not final when Reagan was felled by a would-be assassin's bullet in late March. While Haig was on a trip to the Middle East, Reagan gave him the official word from his hospital bed on April 4 to tell the Saudis that the AWACS would be theirs...
...submit the sale formally, many legislators were openly insisting that they would never vote yes unless there were some sort of joint-control arrangement for the AW ACS planes. With Reagan's permission, Allen joined the group effort to negotiate a compro mise. His efforts aroused the ire of Haig, who felt that Allen was usurping a State Department role. In any case, it failed when word of the attempt leaked, all but forcing the proud Saudis to say no. Reagan was left with no way to win approval, ex cept to plead that rejection would destroy his ability...