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EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT
Anwar Sadat tells Garner Ted Armstrong: "The Soviets
didn't provide
us
with the matériel they had promised. ... "
Moscow has looked with disfavor o n
Sadat's coope ration wi th Secretary
Ki ss ingc r 's s tep-by-s tep Midea s t
peace diplomacy.
In any case. Moscow's actions
have resu lt ed in a whole a le turn to
th c West by Egypt, undoing Presi–
d en! Nasse r's eastward lcap in 1956
following the refusa l by the U.S.
10
prov ide arms to Egypt and financ–
ing fo r thc Aswan Dam.
Stormy Relations
Only d ays prior to his cancellation
o f the Soviet trea ty, Pres idcnt Sª c;! ª !
ex prcssed to me his govcrnment's
long dissa tisfaction with Moscow's
vaci ll at ion and bricfty recounted th c
tension-ridden history of Soviet–
Egyptian re lations during the pas t 5
years.
' 'There have been great diffi –
culties." he explained. " [Former
Egyptia n President] Nasser had vis–
ited the Soviet Union secretly in
January 1970 ... and they ha d
promised him ce rt a in a rms. He re–
turned home in very high spirits,
and told me all the de tails."'
"When Nasser died (a few mon ths
la ter]." Sadat continued.
" !
asked
th e Sov iets why they didn't send
(th e promised a rms]. They thought
Nasser hadn't to ld me about it. So
during my secre t visit to thc Soviet
4
Union on March l-2. 1971 , 1 told
th em th e full details. We had a very
hot discus ion there.... But in spite
of that, th ey s till didn' t send a ny–
thing."
President Sadat further rel a ted
that prior to Nasscr's death in Sep–
tember 1970. Egypt on a number of
occasions had asked the Soviets for
a friendsh ip treaty. but the Kremlin,
fo r rcasons o f their own, had repcat–
edly refused. Butthen in May 1971,
th e Soviets suddenly became agree–
able. and Soviet Presiden! Nikolai
Pog~grny
tmveled
Lo
Caíro
LO
sign a
15-yea r treaty of friend hip. But the
treaty, to Egypt's disappointment,
produced no appreciable increase in
military ass is tance.
" 1
visited thc Soviet Union four
times as president - one secret visit
and three declared visits," Sadat
to ld me. " In those meetings we had
very hot discussions. We differed
because th ey didn't provide us with
the ma téri el that they had promised
to
Nasser . .. and lat e r tome."
Sadat expla ined that Moscow's
fa ilure to provide Egypt wi th ad–
va nced offensive a rms finally re–
sulted in his order for the expu lsion
in July 1972 of some 20,000 Sovie t
military adv ise rs from Egypt. This,
for the mos t part, ended the Sovie t
military presenee in Egypt and fur-
ther coo led the already-icy Soviet–
Egyptian relations.
But the treaty s till remained in
effect. and further attempts were
made by Egypt to e licit Soviet aid.
Now, Russia's continued fai lure
to respond to Egypt's needs has fi–
nally resulted in the complete te rmi–
na tio n o f the 197 1 treaty.
Weapons From America?
Sadat's bold move has finall y cut
Egy pt ad rift from Moscow's orbit
and has clea red th e way fo r in–
c reased coopera tion with the West.
With b rid ge to Moscow now
burned irrevocably, Sadat has ac–
tually crea ted a new d cpe ndence on
the West.
The Egyptian presiden! noted in
his March 14 address that, within
one yea r to 18 mont hs, much of the
Sov iet hardware present ly in Egyp t
will have deteri ora ted into scra p for
lack o f replacement parts and
proper ma in tenance.
Sadat therefo re despera tely necds
a lternate military aid to replacc the
Soviet equipment and keep his
forccs up to date.
Sadat's recent visits to West Ger–
many, F rance. and Ita ly - aimed. in
pa rt. a t finding new arms sources -
produced some results, notably in
France. But the only place he can
ob tain the quant ity and quality of
weaponry he needs is in the U.S.
At th is writing. the Ford Adminis–
tration appears to have won uf–
ficient congressional upport to
proceed with its plan to sell Egypt
six
C-130
transpon planes as a kic'K–
o ff dea l.
Not surprisingly, th e prospect of
U.S. arms sa les to Egypt has trig–
ge red a voc ifero us o u tcry from
Israelí a nd American J ews, who feel
that the sale of the C-130s would
only be the beginning of a long Lis t
of arms sales to Egypt by the United
S tates.
Ma ny analysts. however, fee l that
when the alte rna tives are carefully
considered. U.S. mili tary aid to
Egypt might actually serve the best
interests of
al/
concerned - in–
cl udin g Israel - in the lo ng run.
How?
Jus t p rior Lo my visi t with Sadat
in early March, he had completed a
tou r of six wealthy Persia n Gulf na–
(Continued on page 41)
The
PLAIN TRUTH June 1976