At Last, the Debate is Joined Over the Wisdom of Deploying U.S. Forces on the Golan Heights

(Washington, D.C.): Yesterday saw an important development concerning the plan to deploy
U.S. troops on the Golan Heights as part of a prospective peace agreement with Syria: For the
first time, the substantive merits of — and potential dangers associated with — this proposal
were publicly debated by knowledgeable experts.

The occasion was a Roundtable Discussion sponsored by the Center for Security Policy at the
ANA Westin Hotel involving roughly 35 former government officials, policy analysts from leading
research institutes, senior journalists, congressional staff members and representatives of the
Israeli embassy and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

The Roundtable featured brief presentations of the findings of two recent studies of this issue.
The first, 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 — and released by the Center for Security Policy on 24 October 1994.
Three of the authors of this study, General John Foss USA (Ret.), Eugene V. Rostow and
Douglas J. Feith, elaborated on the group’s conclusion that no mission for a U.S. Golan troop
deployment would justify the costs and risks.

The second — a study prepared by Michael Eisenstadt, Andy Bacevich and Carl Ford for the
Washington Institute for Near East Policy and issued yesterday afternoon — was described by
Messrs. Eisenstadt and Bacevich. While sharing some of the concerns expressed by the Center
for Security Policy analysis (notably concerning the threat terrorists might pose to American
peacekeepers or monitors on the Golan), the Washington Institute study concludes that in the
event a “warm peace” is achieved between Syria and Israel, the risks associated with a deployment
of a small number of U.S. troops on the Golan for a finite period of time could be justified. The
authors identified several conditions that would have to be satisfied if such a net assessment were
to be justified (e.g., there would have to be peace treaties in effect between not only Israel and
Syria but also between Israel and Lebanon; Damascus would have to improve the local security
environment by closing terrorist bases and training camps in Syria and Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley;
and the Syrians would have to crack down on drug cultivation that helps underwrite terrorist
operations).

There ensued a vigorous discussion of the premises and conclusions of both studies. Issues that
were the focus of particularly spirited conversation included: Syrian dictator Hafez Assad’s
checkered record of compliance with international agreements; his relationship to and control
over Hezbollah, the PKK and other terrorist organizations operating from Syria and/or territory it
controls in Lebanon; the implications of a Syrian repopulation of the Golan Heights; the
difficulties inherent in making a U.S. deployment contingent on the Israeli-Syrian peace proving to
be — and remaining — a “warm” one; the premium for terrorists associated with killing Americans
or taking them hostage; and the uncertainty over how to end an American deployment once it has
been undertaken, particularly in light of the continuing U.S. participation in the Multilateral Force
and Observers based in the Sinai thirteen years after that assignment began.

General agreement was expressed by the participants that any commitment to deploy U.S. forces
on the Golan would be a major one. As such, it was broadly agreed that the Clinton
Administration, the Congress and the public should examine this proposition with far
greater rigor than has occurred to date. The United States should not embark upon so
portentous an undertaking without popular appreciation of the purpose to be served by doing so,
an acceptance of the risks involved and a commitment to fulfill the mission, come what may.

The Center for Security Policy hopes that its blue-ribbon study and Roundtable Discussion will
contribute significantly to such an examination. A summary of the Roundtable will be released
shortly. Click here for a copy of this summary or U.S. Forces on the Golan Heights.