SAUDI COURAGE
THE euphoria over the sale of 132 military aircraft, principally Tornados, to Saudi Arabia — £4 billion in cash and oil, 25,000 British jobs prolonged — does not include the thanks due to the Israeli lobby in Wash- ington for making all of this possible. The Saudis never wanted the Tornado. Their first choice was the F15, and as long ago as 1978 President Carter agreed to supply them. The F15, like the Tornado, is pri- marily an 'air superiority' interceptor but can be converted into a more versatile ground attack fighter bomber by the fitting of additional fuel tanks and multiple ejec- tion bomb racks. The Israeli lobby ob- jected to the inclusion of these extras and also persuaded Washington to demand an undertaking that the aircraft would not in any case be stationed at the Tabuk air base, which is only 250 miles from Tel Aviv. The Tornados are being sold without strings. Michael Heseltine defended the decision to let the Saudis have Tornados and do with them what they pleased, saying that the Saudis have proved them- selves to be more interested in peace than war. Did he have in mind the occasion in April 1977 when Israel had said that it regarded the Saudi oilfields as a legitimate target and Saudi radar picked up five aircraft heading their way from Israel? Two Saudi pilots, airborne in their Light- nings in case of just such an eventuality, responded to the emergency alert by diving back to Tabuk and terra firma as quickly as possible. The Israeli jets made a mock bombing pass over the base and over, in particular, one of the Lightnings stuck ingloriously on the runway.
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