Defense Department "bought by Saudis"

William Northrop - NEW DIMENSIONS Magazine - August 1992

[J4JP Note: this essay appeared as a boxed addendum appended to the feature:
Just About Everybody Vs. Jonathan Jay Pollard]

During the first Reagan administration, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner (August 2 1982) carried a devastating analysis of Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger's alleged anti-Israel bias. The article, entitled "Back Door to the PLO" by Stephan B. Zatuchni and Daniel B. Drooz, quotes Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) as declaring that "Caspar Weinberger has reversed American policy in the Middle East."

"Authoritative government officials," the article says, "have accused Weinberger's Defense Department of illegally training Arab pilots, direct communication with the Palestine Liberation Organization, [and] allowing the offensive use of U.S. weapons by the PLO...."

Weinberger did not reverse U.S. policy by himself, the article says. "In January 1981, when he became Secretary of Defense, there was already an anti-Israel bias within the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). Former Chairman of the JCS, George S. Brown, for example, publicly condemned the influence of Jews years before Weinberger assumed office. But Weinberger brought a pro-Arab disposition to the department. He was a vice-president, director, and legal counsel of the Bechtel Group, which has multibillion dollar ties to Saudi Arabia and numbers among its alumni two Reagan cabinet members, one deputy secretary, and the special ambassador to the Middle East."

The article contained some bombshells: "The Bechtel Group has refused to do any business with Israel or Israeli companies worldwide since 1973," said Daniel Halprin, economic officer of the Israeli Embassy...A suit was brought against Bechtel by the Justice Department charging Bechtel with complying with the Arab boycott of Israel in violation of U.S. law. The alleged violations all occurred during the tenure of George Shultz and Caspar Weinberger at the Bechtel Group."

The article also quotes a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff as confiding that "Weinberger believes that what's good for Bechtel is good for the U.S. A lot of people in the Department of Defense (DOD) look at Israel as a pain in the ass. They never think of standing up for U.S. rights in the Arab world. This is a very dominant way of thinking at JCS and DOD. They think Israel will get the U.S. in trouble and hurt business."

Other Pentagon and Capitol Hill sources confirm that "military sales are so vital that the Defense Department has been "bought by the Saudi Arabians" the article says.

What about oil? An official in the office of the secretary of defense said, "Oil is basic. We want to protect (Persian) Gulf oil. That's our motivating factor."

William Northrop is the Jerusalem Bureau Chief of New Dimensions Magazine - The Psychology Behind the News. David Kupelian is the Managing Editor.

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