CENTER’S BLUE-RIBBON STUDY WARNS AGAINST USE OF U.S. FORCES ON THE GOLAN HEIGHTS
(Washington, D.C.): As President Clinton
prepares to visit the Middle East, where he aims
to secure a breakthrough in Syrian-Israeli peace
talks, the Center for Security Policy is making
public a new study examining whether — as some
top Israeli and American officials have proposed
— U.S. troops should serve as
“peacekeepers” or “monitors”
on the Golan Heights. The
by eleven high-ranking, former U.S. national
security officials — including three members of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff — concludes that no
mission for a U.S. Golan troop deployment would
justify the costs and risks. It finds:
“[T]he net effect could be negative
for Israel’s security and regional stability,
while the consequences could include the loss
of U.S. lives and, possibly, a
credibility-damaging retreat of the U.S.
forces under terrorist fire. In any event,
such a deployment would increase the danger
of direct U.S. involvement in a future Middle
East war and undermine Israel’s standing with
the U.S. public as a self-reliant ally.”
The participants in the study, entitled U.S.
Forces on the Golan Heights: An Assessment of
Benefits and Costs are (listed with
positions formerly held): General JOHN
FOSS, Commanding General, U.S. Army
Training and Doctrine Command (who had
responsibility for U.S. forces in the Sinai).
General AL GRAY, Commandant,
U.S. Marine Corps. Lieutenant General JOHN
PUSTAY (USAF, Ret.) Assistant to the
Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; President,
National Defense University. General
BERNARD SCHRIEVER, Commander, U.S. Air
Force Systems Command. Admiral CARL TROST,
Chief of Naval Operations. Admiral ELMO
ZUMWALT, JR., Chief of Naval Operations.
DOUGLAS J. FEITH, Deputy
Assistant Secretary of Defense; Middle East
specialist, National Security Council; FRANK
GAFFNEY, JR., Acting Assistant Secretary
of Defense (International Security Policy);
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense. RICHARD
PERLE, Assistant Secretary of Defense
(International Security Policy). EUGENE
ROSTOW, Director of the Arms Control and
Disarmament Agency; Under Secretary of State
(Political Affairs). HENRY S. ROWEN,
former Assistant Secretary of Defense
(International Security Affairs); Chairman,
National Intelligence Council, Central
Intelligence Agency. (NOTE: The military officers
are all now retired.)
The Center’s study does not attempt to weigh
the merits of the Arab-Israeli negotiating
process. Nor does it judge whether Israel should
withdraw from the Golan Heights in pursuit of
peace with Syria. The signatories hold a range of
opinions regarding Israel’s peace policies and
the issue of Israeli territorial concessions to
Syria.
The participants in the Center for Security
Policy study believe that the issue of U.S.
troops on the Golan deserves immediate, serious
scrutiny, before a U.S. commitment is
made. As the study states: “If the subject
is debated now and Congress and the executive
branch decide to oppose a deployment of U.S.
troops on the Golan, Israel and Syria could take
this into account in their negotiations and
devise alternative security arrangements
accordingly. Such a decision would be far less
disruptive if made now than if deferred
until after a Syrian-Israeli deal is
concluded.”
Copies of
Golan Heights: An Assessment of Benefits and
Costs may be obtained from the
Center.
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