Kuwait to Buy U.S. Tanks; Bush Lobbied for Deal

After an intense lobbying campaign by the Bush Administration, Kuwait has agreed to buy 236 advanced tanks from the United States in a $4-billion deal, Pentagon officials said Monday.

The decision, announced in Kuwait Sunday, is a blow to Britain. Its Challenger 2 was the chief competitor of the American Abrams M1A2 main battle tank, and British officials expressed indignation at loss of the contract, blaming election-year pressure by the Administration.

President Bush, Vice President Quayle and Defense Secretary Dick Cheney all made personal appeals to the Kuwaiti royal family as part of the U.S. lobbying campaign. The extraordinary U.S. effort included letters from these officials to Kuwait’s emir, Sheik Jabbar al Ahmed al Sabah.

The selection gives the Administration a welcome political boost, especially in Michigan and Ohio, where the tank is built, when the President is struggling to convince voters that the economy is not as bad as his campaign rivals say. The sale, including ammunition, spare parts and training, will save nearly 6,000 jobs at General Dynamics Corp. facilities in the two states.

Ohio and Michigan are considered crucial to Bush if he is to win reelection Nov. 3. They have a combined 39 electoral votes, or about one-seventh of the 270 votes he needs.

While Administration officials acknowledged Monday that the sale likely will help Bush politically, they insisted that the timing of any announcement had been left to Kuwait. A senior Pentagon official conceded, however, that the Administration “was eager” for a swift decision and that Edward W. Gnehm Jr., the U.S. ambassador to Kuwait, had “leaned on them heavily.”

Oddly, the sale will keep alive a military weapons program that the Administration has sought to phase out since the late 1980s. Over White House objections, Congress has breathed life into the M1A2 annually by adding money to the Defense Department budget.

Despite its attempt to close out U.S. purchases of the weapon, the Administration has been eager to find foreign markets so American production lines and manufacturing capabilities will continue to operate as Pentagon funds are cut.

The sale comes only a year after the Bush Administration proposed negotiations to limit arms sales to the Middle East, and only weeks after the United States announced the sale of 72 high-performance F-15 military fighter jets to Saudi Arabia.

Choice of the M1A2 followed desert trials in Kuwait two months ago for the U.S. and British tanks. Embassies of both countries put the tanks on display outside their front doors, and the firms that make them took out newspaper advertisements extolling the virtues of their tanks as demonstrated during the Persian Gulf War.

Sheik Ali al Salim al Sabah, Kuwait’s defense minister, said that the M1A2 was chosen because it is the “most responsive to Kuwaiti army requirement,” the Associated Press reported. Kuwait’s ambassador to London, Ghazi Rayes, denied that the decision was political.

In lobbying for selection of the U.S. tank, Administration officials used language that served as a reminder of U.S. leadership and actions in the Gulf War. The Kuwaiti military would benefit from purchase of the American tanks, the U.S. argued, because it would make the tiny country’s arsenal more compatible with U.S. weapons, allowing American combat troops to help in their support and maintenance in times of crisis.

The United States led an international coalition in the Persian Gulf War, which liberated Kuwait seven months after Iraq’s August, 1990, invasion. The Abrams tank performed well in the hostilities, routing Soviet-made armored forces used by Iraq.

The high-tech tank, which has a crew of four, travels at a top speed of 45 m.p.h. Its cannon, which can deliver 12 shots in a minute, can fire accurately when the vehicle is moving at high speeds and also can fire accurately at night.

Kuwait’s choice of the Abrams drew heated protests from Britain on Monday, with British politicians and trade unionists accusing the Kuwaiti government of making its decision for political rather than military reasons. They said that Kuwait had bowed to heavy pressure from Washington.

The British government called the decision “very disappointing,” Reuters news service reported.

“It’s quite clear this decision is a political decision,” David Clelland of the opposition Labor Party said in a radio interview, according to the news service. “It’s timed to give President Bush the fillip he needs. That’s what it’s about. It’s nothing to do with technicalities.”

The Challenger 2, made by Vickers Defense Systems, is used by the British military but the company needs exports to keep its factories operating.

Colin Chandler, Vickers’ chief executive, said: “There are . . . strong political elements in any overseas defense sale, and these appear to have played a significant part in Kuwait’s decision.”

Arthur Scott, chief of the Northern Trades Union Congress, said: “It seems clear that there has been political pressure, and although we are not happy about it, we can understand it.”