Barnstorming Across the Middle East

Richard Nixon has always been at his best when he leaves Washington and its bedeviling problems far behind and jets round the globe. Long ago, he called foreign policy his "strong suit" and the high points of his presidency have consisted of opening new and promising chapters in U.S. relations with old enemies. Never a particularly adroit campaigner at home, he has been boffo in such distant places as Peking, Moscow and Bucharest. Thus it is completely in character that the President this week is beginning a pellmell, week-long tour of five Middle East countries, with the hope of cementing friendships in a strategic region that until recent months had been largely hostile toward the U.S.

Beyond question, the President's trip also serves as a tactic in his efforts to ride out Watergate: he hopes to convince the nation that he is the indispensable man to turn America's foes into friends. Henry Kissinger may try to brush the subject aside--"Foreign policy is not conducted in relation to Watergate" --but Nixon knows that a successful tour of the Middle East, splendidly covered by American television, will be a diplomatic extravaganza that will, at least temporarily, divert attention from the impeachment proceedings.

On Course. Still, there are some valid reasons for the President to set out now on a hegira through the Middle East, the first state tour of the Arab nations by any American President. Addressing graduating midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy last week, Nixon noted that the October war of last year made it "clear to us and clear to the moderate leadership of the Arab world that a positive American role was indispensable to achieving a permanent settlement in the Middle East." Referring to Kissinger's successful efforts in breaking the Israeli stalemate with Egypt and Syria, Nixon said: "What seemed to be an insurmountable roadblock has now been removed, and we are determined to stay on course until we have reached our goal of a permanent peace."

Nixon's tour of the Middle East will be a dramatic demonstration of a major turning point in U.S. foreign relations, but White House aides are openly worried about the security risks that the President will be running along the way. One adviser was frank enough to admit: "We may get a grenade or two."

The major threat to Nixon is considered to be those Palestinian terrorists who want to wreck any chance of a peace settlement in the Middle East because they fear that it will ignore their claims to statehood. U.S. intelligence officials report that three planned attempts on Kissinger's life were aborted in Syria during his recent negotiations.

Although most of the details are understandably being kept secret, the host countries are all planning to take extraordinary security precautions, working out arrangements with teams of American experts who were touring the region last week. To guard the President, the U.S. Secret Service will reinforce its normal White House contingent by calling in agents from around the U.S.

Living Proof. Appropriately, Nixon's first stop after a brief rest in Austria will be Egypt, the most powerful of the Arab countries and the most eager to be firm friends again with the U.S. President Anwar Sadat, who has bet the survival of his regime on working out a peace settlement with America's help, plans to meet the President at the Cairo International Airport on Wednesday and then ride with him in a motorcade through a welcoming crowd expected to be at least 1 million strong. Anxious to show off his prize guests even more--they are the living proof that his policies are working--Sadat will take the Nixons the next morning on a slow train to Alexandria, 140 miles away. They will spend part of the time in an observation car so that the Americans can wave to the three to five million Egyptians who are expected to swarm along the tracks. "If our security people had a vote," said one White House adviser, "I'm sure we wouldn't go on that train trip."

Midday Friday, the presidential party of 350 persons, including 130 newsmen, will fly to Saudi Arabia, where President Nixon will spend l 1/2 days with King Faisal. Although the King was the prime mover behind the oil embargo after the October war, he has nonetheless maintained his ties to the U.S. Last week Kissinger and Faisal's half brother, Prince Fahd, signed an agreement in Washington that had the aim of assuring the U.S. a steady flow of oil while Saudi Arabia gets American technical assistance to spur on its economy. During his talks with the King, Nixon is expected to discuss further cooperation between the two countries, as well as the attempts to bring stability to the Middle East.

Then, Saturday afternoon, the excursion moves on to Syria, where just a few months ago the United States was still being reviled as an agent of Israel and Zionism. Last week flagmakers in Damascus worked overtime to turn out enough Stars and Stripes to garland the streets and state functions. Thousands of paratroopers, infantrymen, police and security agents will line the 28-mile route from the Damascus International Airport to the Government Guest Palace, where the Nixons will stay.

Nixon and President Hafez Assad are expected to discuss the Geneva peace conference and possibilities of U.S. aid for Syria, whose main patron has long been the Soviet Union. Last week Kissinger said that the $100 million now in the Administration's foreign aid bill as a "special requirements fund" could be used for Syria. Assad and Nixon will probably announce the resumption of diplomatic relations, which Syria broke off when the U.S. helped Israel during the 1967 war.

On Sunday afternoon, Nixon will leave for Jerusalem, where the President will have the job of assuring the new government of Premier Yitzhak Rabin, one of Nixon's favorite ambassadors while he was serving in Washington from 1968 to 1973, that the U.S. still supports Israel despite its new friendship with the Arabs. To back up his words, Nixon is expected to announce a new $500 million grant to Israel.

Monday afternoon Nixon will leave for a brief visit to Jordan, which maintained friendly relations with the U.S. during the stormy years. The entourage will head for home, stopping overnight in the Azores on Tuesday and returning to Washington Wednesday. The President will have only six days to rest up and prepare for his June 25 departure for Moscow and the week of summit meetings with Soviet Party Chairman Leonid Brezhnev.

The talks there are expected to focus mainly on SALT II--the stalled arms-limitation negotiations. The President last week had his hand strengthened for any bargaining on military matters when the Senate, adopting a position urged by Kissinger, rejected a proposal by Senator Mike Mansfield for the withdrawal of some American forces from Europe. The Administration maintains that the Soviets should pull back combat units from Eastern Europe if the U.S. reduces its strength hi West Germany.

Sweet Atmosphere. Looking ahead to the visit, both Moscow and Washington took steps to sweeten the atmosphere. In his Annapolis speech, Nixon made it plain that he did not think it proper, as voted by the House and advocated by Senator Henry ("Scoop") Jackson, for the U.S. to insist that the Soviet Union liberalize its emigration policies before granting Moscow trade concessions. The Soviets have denied many Jews permission to leave the country.

While maintaining the U.S. should never "acquiesce in the suppression of human liberties," Nixon said: "We would not welcome the intervention of other countries in our domestic affairs, and we cannot expect them to be cooperative when we seek to intervene directly in theirs." Two days later, Valery Panov, former star of the Kirov Ballet, announced that he and his ballerina wife would be allowed to go to Israel. For two years Panov, who is Jewish, and his wife, who is not, had been asking to leave Russia together (see PEOPLE).

As another friendly gesture, Kissinger went out of his way, before the Nixon party departed for the Middle East, to reassure Moscow about American goals in the region. Noting at a press conference that the Middle East was "an area of great concern" to the Russians, Kissinger said: "We have no intention --indeed, we have no capability--of expelling Soviet influence." With the diplomatic niceties out of the way, the offers and counteroffers planned and plotted, Nixon and Kissinger could depart on their diplomatic barnstorming tour in the expectation that it would be a pleasant change from conditions at home.

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