Keep Up Our End of U.S.-Arab Friendship : Middle East: The Saudis are proven peacemakers, so there’s no honest reason for blocking their bid to buy American-made military tanks.

Last month, the Bush Administration notified Congress of its intent to sell 315 tanks to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Despite the innocuous nature of this sale--the tanks would replace obsolete French armor--a chorus of criticism and disinformation has begun, as it usually does when a U.S. arms transfer to Arab gulf nations is proposed.

The opposition is unwarranted. Saudi Arabia is an old friend of the United States, sharing an interest in bringing peace and stability to the Middle East. The Saudi government recently has been at the forefront in bringing that hope closer to reality. Saudi diplomats led the effort to secure the cease-fire in long-suffering Lebanon. The Lebanese Parliament was invited to convene in the Saudi city of Taif, where Saudi diplomacy was key to the drafting of a peace accord overwhelmingly approved by the members. Now a new president and prime minister have taken office, and for the first time in many years the Lebanese people may be hopeful about the future.

This was not Saudi Arabia’s first accomplishment in mediating conflicts in the Middle East. Yet every time an American arms sale to Saudi Arabia is proposed, it engenders hostile opposition by partisans of Israel and their friends in Congress, aimed at preventing or modifying the sale. Any weapon more powerful than a cap pistol is decried as a threat to the security of Israel.

Lately, exaggerated accounts of Saudi Arabia’s human-rights record have been publicized. One writer dug two decades or more into the past to find Saudi support of minor insurgencies in neighboring countries. His report blew insignificant skirmishes along contested sections of the border totally out of proportion, to imply a pattern of Saudi expansionist designs and aggression against its neighbors.

All of this is done to prevent a consistent and worthy American ally from purchasing U.S. weapons with which to defend itself. If the goal of these campaigns of defamation is to thwart Saudi Arabia’s desire to obtain advanced weaponry, the result is certainly counterproductive. In 1985, when Saudi Arabia was not allowed to purchase additional F-15 fighters from the United States, it turned to Great Britain and concluded a $30-billion deal for Tornado aircraft. Saudi Arabia would have accepted restrictions on any U.S.-supplied aircraft, but received the Tornados with no strings attached.

Compared to other major U.S. weapons clients, Saudi Arabia has been trustworthy and responsible. It has scrupulously abided by all restrictions and operational limitations that the United States has placed on American-supplied weapons. In contrast, Israel has on several occasions used U.S.-supplied weapons outside the terms under which the weapons were obtained. For instance, U.S.-supplied cluster bombs were used to devastate civilian areas of Beirut during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, despite U.S. restrictions confining the cluster bombs to defensive purposes. None of the sophisticated U.S. military equipment purchased by Saudi Arabia has ever been transferred to third parties. Israel secretly sent U.S.-supplied weapons to Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini as part of the Iran-Contra scandal and to South Africa, in violation of U.S. laws and the U.N. embargo against arms shipments to the apartheid regime in Pretoria.

Another important distinction between Saudi Arabia and Israel is the method of payment each employs. Israel obtains its weapons with funds granted by the United States--in other words, at U.S. taxpayers’ expense. Saudi Arabia pays cash, which helps to reduce U.S. foreign trade deficit. In the case of the pending tanks transaction, the U.S. economy stands to gain; 60,000 jobs would be created (California would be among the states reaping significant benefit) and the trade deficit would improve by an estimated $3 billion.

Saudi Arabia shares the desire of the United States for peace and stability in the Middle East. Like any nation, it has certain security concerns and will secure the weapons necessary to meet these concerns. With its extensive political, economic and cultural ties to the United States, the kingdom finds in America a natural ally and supplier for its defense needs.

The tanks transaction with Saudi Arabia would clearly enhance the United States’ foreign-policy and national-security interests by improving the defense capabilities of a close friend with a consistent record of commitment to economic and political stability in the Middle East. Therefore, it should proceed unhampered.