Word: stingers
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...breakdown of the Lausanne talks came as U.S. influence in the region seemed to reach a new low. Under pressure from Congress, and angered by criticism from Jordan's King Hussein, President Reagan withdrew a request for Senate approval to sell $274 million worth of Stinger antiaircraft missiles and launchers to Jordan and Saudi Arabia. In an interview with a group of TIME editors, Syrian President Hafez Assad became the second Arab leader, after Hussein, to attack U.S. policy in the Middle East and particularly the influence of Jewish voters (see following story...
More recently, King Hussein has been upset by the efforts of Congress to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He was angered by the public debate in the U.S. over the proposed sale of the Stinger missiles to Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Two weeks ago, when President Reagan explained to a United Jewish Appeal audience in Washington why he believed such a sale was necessary, Hussein blew up. What many Americans saw as a bold step by Reagan in an election year seemed humiliating to Hussein. At this point, as the King told TIME editors...
...Administration was caught off-balance by the King's harsh remarks, though he had reason to be annoyed at the moment: election-year politics has made the U.S. a maddeningly unreliable friend. The Administration has promised to sell Jordan 1,613 Stinger hand-held antiaircraft missiles and 315 missile launchers for $133 million. In addition, the White House has asked Congress to provide $220 million to equip Jordan with a mobile strike force whose 8,000 troops would be available for putting down trouble in the Persian Gulf states or providing swift defense should the Iran-Iraq war suddenly...
...even in an election year, when politicians traditionally are inordinately sensitive to Israel and to its backers in the U.S. And sure enough, a considerable number of Senators and Congressmen have expressed their opposition to the military aid to Jordan, as well as to the sale of 1,200 Stinger missiles and 400 launchers to Saudi Arabia. In fact, one group of Senators has already drafted an amendment forbidding such sales. The amendment might be attached to one or another important piece of legislation pending in Congress, possibly the emergency African food-aid bill, which the Administration strongly supports...
...British armada at Ascension Island, the closest British staging area to the Falklands. That help has now been extended to cover a broad range of war goods, such as Sidewinder missiles, which the British could use to replace those fired by the task force Harrier jump jets, and Stinger portable antiaircraft missiles in U.S. Army supply depots in West Germany...