Tanks for the Saudis

For three embarrassing days last week, U.S. policy on the highly critical Middle East was in turmoil--for all the world to see.

The uproar began when an anonymous tipster spotted 18 light (25 tons) Walker Bulldog tanks loading aboard the freighter James Monroe in New York Harbor. Destination, plainly marked: Saudi Arabia. The tipster telephoned the United Press; the U.P. finally got the State Department in Washington to confirm the shipment, and printed the story. Cried the Israeli embassy: "Utterly beyond our comprehension." Within hours, Israel's friends in the Senate were in full cry. Their argument was a strong one: 1) the dispatch of tanks to Arab nations violates the declared U.S. policy of discouraging an arms race in the Middle East; 2) tanks for the Saudis put a strange light on U.S. delay in fulfilling Israel's four-month-old request to buy U.S. arms.

About 11 p.m., Presidential Press Secretary Jim Hagerty caught the news at Thomasville, Ga. After a hurried conference with the President, he got correspondents out of bed for a special conference.

"A consignment of 18 light training tanks was about to be shipped to Saudi Arabia,'' said Hagerty grimly. "The President understands that the State Department is suspending export licenses of arms to that area." The State Department promptly did just that.

Next day, as State began to fill in the details, it appeared that the Saudi Arabians also had a strong argument. In June 1951, the U.S. undertook to sell the Saudis some military equipment, and also to train their army, in return for air base facilities at Dhahran. The U.S. was slow to fulfill its side of the bargain. Last April the Saudis specifically asked to buy 18 light tanks. Six months later the State Department approved the Saudi purchase. In the midst of the furor, Saudi Arabia's Ambassador Sheikh Abdullah Al-Khayyal pointed out that his country had already paid for the tanks ($135,000 each) and therefore held legal title. Overhanging the whole issue was the fact that the Dhahran agreement expires next June 18 and must be renegotiated.

After Assistant Secretary of State George Allen had heard out the complaints, Acting Secretary of State Herbert Hoover Jr. checked again with Ike at Thomasville. Then the U.S. executed a fast about-face. The U.S., said Hoover, would lift the arms embargo and let the tanks go through--on the theory that the tanks would not endanger the peace of the Middle East. "Utterly beyond our comprehension," Israel's embassy reiterated. The U.S. might fairly conclude of the week's display of off-again-on-again diplomacy that it was also utterly without forethought.

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