Guardian of the Strait

By John Moody

Jaguar fighters in tight formation buzzed over crowned heads, proud Presidents and starchy ambassadors. From a hill overlooking the sports stadium, mounted cannons boomed out a 21-gun salute. A 500-member band, complete with bagpipes and scores of drummers, rapped out a tattoo to which more than 1,000 arm-swinging soldiers marched, filling the morning air with the anthem of Oman's Royal Guard: "We do not fear death. If Qaboos calls, we obey."

On hand for this display was an impressive lineup of dignitaries, including Jordan's King Hussein, Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, India's Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Pakistan's President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq and the Crown Princes of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the major gulf states. They had come to Muscat, the capital of Oman, to mark the 15th anniversary of Sultan Qaboos bin Said's accession to power and to celebrate his transformation of Oman into a prosperous nation courted by the West for its strategic location at the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the non-Communist world's oil flows.

On the same day, ironically, another display of air power sent a more chilling message to the region. For the 40th time in four months, Iraqi Mirage F1-S jets dropped a payload of bombs on Kharg Island, where Iran loads 85% of its oil onto tankers for export. The Iraqi pummeling closed Kharg for three days; on Friday, Iraq claimed that another attack had caused a fire at the facility. The assaults were part of a pattern of escalation in the five-year Iran-Iraq war that has already cost thousands of lives. By repeatedly attacking Kharg, the Iraqis hope to reduce if not halt the oil exports that provide the revenues needed to bankroll Iran's war effort. A string of air attacks in September, including low-altitude buzz bombing, temporarily stopped petroleum output at the terminal. If Kharg is totally disabled, Iran has threatened to choke off traffic through the 20- to 30-mile-wide Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. has said it would interpret closure of the passage as a strategic threat.

The danger of an Iranian blockade has lent special importance to Oman, which lies on the strait's southern shore. An Omani naval base at Ras Masandam monitors all ship movements through the channel, while the sultanate's fast and flashy Province-class patrol ships, each armed with eight radar-guided Exocet missiles, are on constant alert, occasionally shooing away Iranian intruders. Qaboos has also seen to it that Oman's 21,500-man volunteer army, navy and air force do not lack for equipment. He lavishes 46% of the national budget on the military and keeps it supplied with up-to-date tanks, aircraft and weaponry.

More important to the U.S. is a complex 1980 agreement that grants it limited access to four strategic Omani air bases. These facilities serve as a supply and deployment base for the U.S. Central Command, formerly called the Rapid Deployment Force, should a crisis develop in the region. Washington has spent $256 million to lengthen runways, harden concrete aircraft hangars and install storage tanks capable of holding 1.1 million gal. of jet fuel at the bases. American C-141 and C-5A cargo planes routinely land at the Masirah Island base, off Oman's southeastern coast, dropping off supplies to be forwarded by helicopter to U.S. naval task-force ships in the Indian Ocean.

Because Oman is sensitive about being seen as a U.S. client state, no U.S. personnel are stationed in the country. The 1980 agreement also stipulates that the bases may not be used without the Sultan's express consent. Nevertheless, Oman occasionally feels the need to assert its independence. Last September it announced the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.

A strong British military presence helps the U.S. keep its distance. Some 1,000 British officers and men serve in the Omani armed forces on contract. Until last year, a Briton was commander of the army; British expatriates still run Oman's navy and air force. When Qaboos faced a Communist insurgency in the south in 1974, British troops helped to suppress it.

A graduate of the elite Sandhurst Military Academy, Qaboos had British support when he organized the 1970 coup that sent his father Sultan Said bin Taimur into exile. The aging ruler had kept Oman isolated from the rest of the world. The country's few cars crawled along only six miles of roadway. Three primary schools educated a total of 909 males. The gates of Muscat were locked at night, and the use of eyeglasses was banned.

As a result of Qaboos' modernization, 196,000 men and women now receive free education, and a university is under construction. Autos can use more than 2,000 miles of paved road. A building boom has transformed Muscat, set amid rough mountains rising from the sea, into a clean and tastefully designed capital.

Oman's prosperity may be threatened if its oil begins to run out in the 1990s. Another uncertainty comes from the fact that Qaboos, who is divorced, has no heirs. The leaders who gathered in Muscat last week can only hope they will be invited again for many more of the Sultan's anniversaries. --By John Moody. Reported by Barry Hillenbrand/Muscat

With reporting by Reported by Barry Hillenbrand/Muscat