Read Moynihan’s Lips: No U.S. Troops on the Golan Heights

(Washington, D.C.): Just days after the Center for Security Policy published its blue-ribbon
study⁽¹⁾ opposing the deployment of U.S. forces on the disputed Golan Heights as part of a peace
agreement between Israel and Syria, one of the Nation’s most formidable legislators and one of
Israel’s greatest friends on Capitol Hill — Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan — has declared his
own opposition to such a deployment. According to the 28 October 1994 edition of The
Forward, Sen. Moynihan has said:

“No Israeli government has ever requested American combat troops. I do not envision
this Israeli government making such a request, and I do not believe that this United
States Congress would grant such a request if it were made. Friends of Israel
should be disappointed by any peace agreement that would require highly armed
American troops to enforce the peace.”

As the respected and influential chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Mr. Moynihan
has broken ranks with the Clinton Administration before. When he has done so, the result has
repeatedly been that the Administration has abandoned or dramatically modified its
position. As the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Near Eastern and South
Asian Affairs Subcommittee, his opposition to a key Clinton initiative falling within that
subcommittee’s jurisdiction would almost certainly ensure that it would be “dead on arrival” in
Congress.

Just in Time

Sen. Moynihan’s announcement could scarcely come at a more critical moment. In the course of
his press conference in Jerusalem this evening, President Clinton gave every indication that he is
intent on having the United States assume “responsibility” in the security area as its contribution
to the Middle East peace process. Mr. Clinton’s commitment on this score was made explicit in
the context of the Jordanian-Israeli peace accord.

It was also signalled, however, in the context of the agreement being sought between Syria and
Israel. When taken together with past statements by Israeli and American officials,⁽²⁾ it can only
mean one thing: Mr. Clinton has not yet abandoned the idea of introducing American forces onto
the Golan Heights.

Lest any seek to parse Sen. Moynihan’s objection as being only to “heavily armed American
troops to enforce the peace” and not to lightly armed U.S. “peacekeepers” or “peace monitors,”
one thing should be perfectly clear: The only difference between the two is the ease with
which such American personnel can be killed, wounded or otherwise victimized by
terrorists and/or their Syrian sponsors. The attached excerpts from the Center’s study —
which were published today in the Washington Times — make clear that the costs will exceed the
benefits of a U.S. deployment, irrespective of the size or armaments of the contingent or its
ostensible mission.

The Bottom Line

The Center for Security Policy urges other Members of Congress — and candidates for the
legislature — to join the bipartisan consensus articulated by Sen. Moynihan and his opponent,
Bernadette Castro, in opposition to a deployment of U.S. forces on the Golan Heights. In the
words of Ms. Castro as reported in The Forward:

“U.S. troops shouldn’t be in the Golan. What happens if we send soldiers over there
and four of them get blown up? I don’t know what that will do in the hearts and minds
of Americans, but I do know that there’s nothing the terrorists would want more
than to create a problem between Israel and the United States.“

For this reason, and many others enumerated in the Center for Security Policy study, it is
incumbent upon President Clinton before he takes any further steps to formalize a
commitment of U.S. forces to a Golan deployment to obtain congressional approval. If — as
Sen. Moynihan believes and the Center profoundly hopes — no such deployment would be
approved by the Congress, it is far better that Israel and Syria be acquainted with that fact now.
This would allow alternative, and, it is to be hoped, far more reliable, security arrangements to be
devised as part of any agreement that eventuates between the two nations.

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1. The Center’s study, entitled U.S. Forces on the Golan Heights: An Assessment of Benefits
and Costs, was signed by eleven high-ranking, former U.S. national security officials — including
three members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It concludes that no mission for a U.S. Golan troop
deployment would justify the costs and risks. To obtain a copy of this report, please contact
the Center.

2. Notably, on 4 October 1994, Israeli Prime Minister Rabin announced to the Israeli parliament
his plans to request U.S. troops to monitor the peace accord being negotiated with Syria.
Secretary of State Warren Christopher and Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs
Robert Pelletreau have previously expressed the United States’ readiness to respond positively
should such a request be made.