The sale of $7.3 billion in new weaponry to Saudi Arabia is just one step in creating a Persian Gulf ``coalition defense'' against the long-term threat posed by Iraq, say two senior Bush administration officials. That sale will be followed by more sales next year to the Saudis, perhaps to their neighbors Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, and new military help for Israel, Undersecretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and Undersecretary of State Reginald Bartholomew told Congress on Wednesday. In doing so, the United States hopes ``to build a Saudi and a gulf force capability that will, in effect, drive up significantly the costs to anybody looking to take a whack at them,'' Bartholomew said. ``We do not want to leave the road to Bahrain open, as it was on the second of August,'' the day Iraq invaded Kuwait, he told a hearing of two House Foreign Affairs subcommittees. President Bush has asked Congress for permission to sell $7.3 billion worth of weapons, including tanks, attack helicopters and anti-missile defenses, to Saudi Arabia. The two officials said the weapons would help the Saudis present a more credible deterrent to aggression from Iraq or elsewhere, and would permit them if attacked to resist long enough to allow reinforcements from friendly countries to arrive. They noted that past U.S. military sales to the Saudis, some $50 billion over the past four decades, helped build many of the facilities that now are supporting Operation Desert Shield, the American-led international troop deployment in that country. ``Some have said that once Desert Shield is over Iraq will no longer be a threat because the U.S. and allied forces will have destroyed the Iraqi military,'' Wolfowitz said. ``We cannot count on that. ... No outcome is likely to permanently eliminate Iraq as a regional power.'' U.S. strategy is based on a principle of ``coalition defense,'' Wolfowitz said. He said that includes strengthening the ability of gulf nations to defend themselves, encouraging defense cooperation among countries in the region and making it easier for them to receive reinforcements from allies. The sale of 150 advanced M1A2 tanks is particularly important, Wolfowitz said, noting that U.S. strategists were particularly afraid of Iraqi tanks in the early days of the military deployment. ``We had severe concerns about the ability of Iraqi armor to penetrate rather quickly,'' he said. ``We didn't have anything on the ground to stop Iraqi tanks. We don't want to ever be in the position of saying that again.'' The officials asked that Congress quickly approve the newest sale to Saudi Arabia. They said additional sales to Riyadh, as well as to the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, would be proposed early next year. Next year's Saudi package will include F-15 fighter planes, additional Patriot anti-missile batteries and more tanks and anti-armor weapons, Bartholomew said. The administration also is considering requests from Bahrain for Apache attack helicopters and multiple-launch rocket systems, and from the United Arab Emirates for Apaches, he said. Responding to concerns from supporters of Israel, Wolfowitz noted the administration is prepared to quickly transfer two Patriot batteries from current U.S. stocks and is looking at additional ways to aid Israel militarily. Asked by Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., whether it is U.S. policy to retaliate against Iraq immediately if it attacks Israel, Bartholomew said: ``I don't have any reason to open that up to question.'' Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., raised the possibility that weapons sold to Saudi Arabia could fall into enemy hands if its current government ever falls, and cited similar past occurrences in Iran and Kuwait. Bartholomew acknowledged that some U.S. weapons that had been sold to Kuwait now are in the hands of Iraqi forces, including a number of improved Hawk antiaircraft missiles, TOW anti-tank missiles, self-propelled 155-millimeter howitzers and ammunition, and about 16 A-4 attack aircraft.
