East bases UP TO 3,000 US troops could be bas. ed in the Middle East by next April. This shock news was recently revealed in the Economist magazine (4 April).
Washington has run into a lot of trouble since it first announced plans for a Rapid Deployment Force the Gulf.
But now a solution has ap peared. The RDF is to be disguised as "multinational peacekeeping force' token participation countries Australia and Lealand.
The excuse if provided under the terms of the Camp David agreement between Egypt and Israel Israel is due withdraw from the peninsula. That will be the cue for the Americans to go in to "patrol' the area.
It is proposed that the US would be handed three major bases and smaller military callies 'he major bases ar lytam (giving the U first air base on the southern Mediterranean coast since it was thrown out of Libya); at Etzion, near Eilat (one of the biggest air bases in the world); and at Sharm-el-Sheikh.
The camps along the Gulf of Agaba are described by the Economist primarily storage ties, where equipment and a logistics nucleus wall pre-positioned for possible crisis action' one possible snag is that wevot has sanction such a handover. This is not because President Sadat objects to an 0 Miles American presence. After all, he has already agreed to provide 'facilities for the Americans at Oena in UDOCI Ras Banas near the border with Sudan What Sadat fears Arab reaction to a plan which further threatens line St Catherine's Monastery the aspirations the Palestinian masses and is clearly a dagger pointed at the heart of the 1*11211 revolution Thatcher's present Middle East visit, followin! hard on the heels of Haig's tour earlie this month, is intended to smooth the way.
ISRAEL Nager JORDAN Eilat ° Aqaba Etzion + ' Sharm el Sheikh Once US troops are established, how long will it be before some British involvement is proposed (perhaps the troops due to be withdrawn Belize)? Imperialist hands off the Middle East!
Solidarity with the Palestianian revolution!
----- pull-quotes -----
Suez Abu Rudeis EGYPT
Sin Present Israeli
SAUDI ARABIA