White House to Push Saudi Sale, Cites A-Arms Pledge

The Reagan Administration, buoyed by Saudi Arabia’s agreement to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, vowed Tuesday to wage a no-holds-barred battle to overcome determined opposition on Capitol Hill to a $450-million sale of military hardware to the Persian Gulf kingdom.

State Department spokesman Charles Redman said the proposed sale of ground support equipment for Saudi radar planes is “critical to our policy” in the gulf because the U.S. Navy relies on intelligence relayed from the Saudi planes. Non-government experts said congressional rejection of the transaction could inflict severe damage on the Washington-Riyadh relationship.

The Saudis’ AWACS (airborne warning and control system) “provides important support for the U.S. mission in the gulf, including protection for U.S. Navy personnel and equipment,” Redman said. “We remain fully committed to providing the necessary support to Saudi Arabia for continued operation of the AWACS.”

Nevertheless, California Rep. Mel Levine (D-Santa Monica) said Congress is angry over Saudi Arabia’s purchase of Chinese-made surface-to-surface missiles capable of reaching any target in the Middle East.

“The mood in the House is much tougher than it was before the revelation of the Chinese missiles,” Levine said in a telephone interview.

Levine said Saudi Arabia’s decision, announced earlier Tuesday, to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty would soften, but not eliminate, congressional opposition to the AWACS ground-support package.

“I think it was an appropriate and positive thing for them to do,” he said, “but I think there is still a great deal of anger.”

Letter to Shultz

Levine was one of 187 House members--43% of the entire House membership--who signed a letter to Secretary of State George P. Shultz urging the Administration to cancel the sale. A group of 58 senators--a majority of the Senate--expressed similar opposition earlier.

“My guess is the people that signed that letter will maintain the posture they staked out,” Levine said.

The official Saudi Press Agency said the kingdom’s Council of Ministers voted Monday night to sign the non-proliferation treaty, which bars non-nuclear nations from developing or buying nuclear arms. U.S. officials said Shultz had urged Saudi Arabia to take the step as one way to defuse concern about Saudi acquisition of the Chinese missiles, which are capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

Saudi Arabia’s announcement Tuesday that it is breaking diplomatic relations with Iran is expected to be well received in Congress, where Iran is less popular than Saudi Arabia, and the move could figure in the debate over the proposed military sale.

Under the complex rules governing overseas arms sales, Congress has 30 days in which to block a sale after it receives formal notification. The Administration had been expected to send up the notification covering the lastest Saudi package Monday, but it did not do so. A State Department official said the delay was intended to permit additional informal consultations with lawmakers. But he said the notice would be submitted by the end of this week.

Controversial Sales

Virtually all U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia have been hotly controversial in recent years. The Administration has abandoned some sales in the face of sure defeat. Saudi officials have made it clear that they consider the procedure to be demeaning.

The Saudis, who once relied almost exclusively on American-made weapons, have begun to diversify their arms purchases because they believe the United States is no longer a dependable supplier. Saudi officials say the purchase of Chinese missiles was part of that effort. However, no other country produces the AWACS ground support equipment covered in the current package, so the Saudis have no option to take their business elsewhere.

Non-government Middle East experts say the reaction on Capitol Hill could be critical to the U.S. relationship with the oil-rich kingdom.

“No single issue is make or break but I think it is fairly important to make the effort,” said William B. Quandt, a former National Security Council staff member. “The AWACS have been a major part of the security relationship for most of this decade. It is the one part of the (U.S.-Saudi) security relationship that has clearly benefited the United States. If we refuse to go forward with this or the Congress turns it down, it is likely we will have more difficulty maintaining this relationship in the future.”

Widening the Distance

Malcolm Peck, a Middle East expert on the staff of Meredian House International in Washington, said that if Congress rejects the sale, “psychologically, diplomatically and politically, it will increase the distancing (between the United States and Saudi Arabia) that has been going on for the last six or seven years.”

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said he believes the Saudi decision to sign the non-proliferation treaty will ease some concern in Congress over the AWACS package. “We welcome that,” he said.