SPECIAL REPORT ARMS IN THE MIDDLE EAST
SILVERMAN, IRA
SPECIAL REPORT ARMS IN THE MIDDLE EAST IRA SILVERMAN Bizarre: there is no other word for it. In the three years since the Yom Kippur War, one country— the United States—has supplied arms to...
...In consequence whereof, the nature of war in the Middle East, the danger of war, and the costs of war, have all changed radically...
...And, indirectly, American energy and oil policies—centrally, American acceptance of OPEC's power to raise prices geometrically—has enabled the Arab nations to afford these massive stockpiles, leading the United States, in turn, to accept arms sales as a useful way of "recycling petrodollars...
...In the three years since the Yom Kippur War, one country— the United States—has supplied arms to Israel to balance the massive amount of weapons given to Israel's adversaries by the Soviet Union—and by the United States...
...Lovers of Zion and lovers of peace must be distressed by the level of danger to Israel, as also by the sheer absurdity of the continuing accumulation of such lethal materials in such a volatile atmosphere...
...The various scenarios which specialists have developed regarding both the probability of war and the nature of war in the Middle East are chilling...
...Nor is there any clear solution to the dilemma for those who recognize the absurdity, the horror, of massive U.S...
...arms sales, but who also insist that Israel have the capability of defending itself against both Soviet and American arms...
...And so on...
...A group of Arab countries united in their desire to eliminate Israel, able to purchase the requisite technical training and manpower, has accumulated an enormous stockpile of sophisticated weaponry, mainly as a result of direct or indirect policies of Israel's chief proponent in the international arena—the United States...
...The quantum leap in the numbers and in the destructive-ness of weapons now available to both the Arabs and to Israel means that there is a much greater risk to the side that is attacked first, and hence a much greater incentive to be the attacker—which means, in turn, that each side now must be ready to pre-empt on the basis of less reliable data regarding the enemy's intentions...
...One day, 650 Maverick missiles to Saudi Arabia...
...The result, which follows, is the most authoritative non-classified assessment yet released of the present state of military power in the Middle East...
...two weeks later, concussion bombs to Israel...
...Ira Silverman is Director of the Institute for Jewish Policy Planning and Research in Washington...
...In an effort to provide reliable data on the present situation, moment asked W. Seth Carus, a specialist in these matters, to prepare a military balance sheet...
...SPECIAL REPORT ARMS IN THE MIDDLE EAST IRA SILVERMAN Bizarre: there is no other word for it...
...American pursuit of greater influence in the Middle East, for both political and strategic purposes, has led to American readiness to supply arms abundantly to the region...
Vol. 2 • December 1976 • No. 3
