Senate Panel Ties Arms Sales to Gulf Pledges

The powerful Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday recommended a ban on arms sales to U.S. allies such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates unless they pay up on their multibillion-dollar pledges to help defray American costs in the Persian Gulf War.

The proposal, which the Senate is expected to ratify today when it approves a special Operation Desert Storm money bill, reflects congressional impatience with the pace of collections on pledges of $53.5 billion from the most affluent nations in the anti-Iraq coalition.

In its report on the legislation, the Senate panel said that only $17.9 billion in cash and other assistance has been received so far from the six nations that made major pledges to help finance the war against Iraq to liberate Kuwait.

“If the promisor nation has money to buy arms from us, it can first use that money to fulfill its pledge to help defray some of our costs,” the report said in unusually blunt language.

The committee’s action came as the Bush Administration confirmed that it would ask Congress to authorize the U.S. Export-Import Bank to underwrite as much as $1 billion in arms sales to Japan, Israel, Australia, North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies and possibly other countries.

Under this plan, the sales would be made by commercial firms but, if the buyers defaulted, the U.S. government would guarantee payment.

Administration officials, however, denied that this plan would conflict with President Bush’s desire to check the flow of arms into the Middle East.

“We never said there would be no arms sales, only that we wanted to diminish (them),” said Marlin Fitzwater, White House press secretary.

“Defense exports have become more important to our own defense industrial base as U.S. defense procurement declines,” Fitzwater added. “The survival of a number of important programs are already tied to foreign sales, including the M1-A2 Abrams main battle tank, the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters, Hawk missiles and . . . aerial refueling tankers.”

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that the plan sent to Congress recently proposed a one-year pilot program to provide government guarantees for $1 billion in commercial bank financing of arms exports.

Besides the countries the Administration named, other credit-worthy countries would be eligible for Export-Import Bank guarantees if the President decides that would be in the national interest, Boucher said.

Earlier, the Administration reportedly told Congress that it is considering an $18-billion arms sale, primarily to Saudi Arabia and other members of the anti-Iraq coalition in the Middle East.

But the Senate Appropriations Committee indicated that some of the requests may run into difficulty when they reach Capitol Hill.

“The committee wishes to take action now to begin an effective policy to reduce the practice of arms sales and weapons buildup in the region, so as to lessen the opportunities for future aggression by nation-states in the region,” the committee report said.

Its legislation would require the Administration to get congressional approval before selling or transferring U.S. war equipment in the Persian Gulf to other countries.

But the main thrust of the committee’s action would prohibit all arms sales to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Japan and South Korea until they fulfill their pledges to help pay for Gulf War costs incurred by the United States.

The committee singled out the United Arab Emirates for a special scolding, saying that its pledge of $3 billion is too low in view of its oil wealth and vulnerable position on the Arabian Peninsula.

The committee--which has a key role in approving arms transfers--said that the Bush Administration should not even seek to sell arms to the Emirates unless it contributes more.

Saudi Arabia, where most U.S. troops were based, pledged $16.8 billion and has paid more than $6 billion. Kuwait, which promised $16 billion, has delivered $5.5 billion, while the Emirates has sent $2 billion of its $3-billion pledge.

Germany has paid less than $3 billion of its $6.5-billion pledge, while Japan has sent $1.3 billion of its promised $10.7 billion. South Korea has paid $71 million of a $385-million pledge.

Meantime, Bush conferred with Secretary of State James A. Baker III after Baker’s return from a trip to the Middle East for talks with both Arabs and Israelis on how to reduce their long-standing enmity.

Bush, declaring that the climate has never been better for the pursuit of a lasting peace in the region, said that Washington cannot solve all the difficult problems by waving a magic wand. But he clearly wants to move expeditiously.

“The longer one waits to take any initiatives, the danger is (that) things revert back to a status quo . . . that will be unacceptable,” Bush told reporters. “So, we want to seize the moment.”

On a related matter, Bush, who has long insisted that Iraq indemnify Kuwait for invading and looting the emirate, reiterated that Saddam Hussein’s regime should pay reparations or damages to Kuwait for setting its oil wells afire.