Jets To Jordan

Jordan, like Saudi Arabia, is in Washington's back pocket. The U.S. has been supplying military material to King Hussein for years. Just recently it was revealed that the U.S. has been secretly rearming Jordan with jet fighters. Last January Jordan received 24 jets from Iran. Iran, of course, bought the jets from the U.S. and sold them them to Jordan with State Department approval.

Now the U.S. plans to provide Hussein with 24 sophisticated F5E jet fighters. These are the first modern jets to go to any country sharing borders with Israel. The planes are part of a $120 million military aid program for Jordan expected to go to Congress in the next week as part of President Ford's 1976 budget. The new deals will double the number of combat planes in Jordan's Air Force, one which has been traditionally weak.

The U.S. says it is supplying the jets to Jordan to replace weaponry lost during the Yom Kippur War of I973. It's well known around the world, however, that Jordan's losses during the war were almost negligible, as Jordanian forces engaged in only a brief skirmish during the whole war.

King Hussein is no friend to revolution in the Mid-East. It's expected that his new arms will be turned against the more radical Arab forces, just as in the other reactionary regimes the U.S. is supporting in the Mid-East.