By our own correspondent
[Crescent International, September 16-30, 2000.]
The nature of the Arab regimes’ military relations with the US were exposed earlier this month, when the American defence magazine Defense News published the terms on which the US has agreed to the proposed sale of an Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) unit to Bahrain.
In response to US Congress concerns about the missile sale, the US administration has revealed that special safeguards are being put in place which will effectively prevent the Bahrainis from operating the system independently. The US military will continue to control the missile storage facilities in Bahrain and, most importantly of all, will hold the launch codes by which which the missiles can be launched.
A US military source was quoted as saying that "There is a joint [US-Bahraini] effort to protect the technology classification. Its not protecting it from Bahrain, but from external threats. Both Bahrain and [the US] will jointly guard it from an outsider, a terrorist or other organization."
Another ‘safeguarded’ demanded by the US is that the missiles remain in the US until other countries in the region obtain similar capabilities. In other words, the Bahrainis are paying for the missile, but will not be permitted to take it to Bahrain until the US says so. And even when it is taken to Bahrain, the Bahrainis will not be able to operate it without US permission and involvement. The question of whether the US will be able to operate is without Bahraini co-operation has not been raised, but it is unlikely that Washington will accept any limitations on its actions.
The ATACMS is a short-range ballistic missile system that fires missiles from a multiple rocket-launcher carried on a tracked vehicle. It is manufactured by Lockheed Martin Missiles, Dallas. The latest version of the system, BAT-2, is not available for export. The proposed Bahraini deal, thought to be worth some $50 million, is for the original model, BAT 1.
A Pentagon spokesman told Defense News that Bahrain intends to use the ATACMS to support the land forces of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which consists of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the UAE.
The Gulf War in 1990-91 showed, however, that these countries are woefully unable to use the equipment that they have bought from Western countries at huge expense. In effect, the West is garrisoning the Persian Gulf region for its own purposes, but at the expense of the Arab regimes. These have spent tens of billions of dollars on sophisticated weaponry over the last decade, which they are unlikely ever to use themselves.
The West has identified the Persian Gulf region as being of key strategic importance, as the centre for major oil reserves, as well as the area immediately to the south of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the leading edge of the global Islamic movement that represents the single largest threat to the West’s global dominance. Even Western analysts recognise that the West’s arms industries are dependent on these sales for their survival, and that the West is effectively arming itself at others’ expense.