184. Memorandum of Conversation1
PARTICIPANTS
- President Gerald R. Ford
- Abdallah bin Abd al-Aziz-Saud, Second Deputy Prime Minister and Commander of the National Guard of Saudi Arabia
- Dr. Henry A. Kissinger, Secretary of State
- Sheikh Tuwayjiri, Deputy Commander of the National Guard for Finance and Administration
- Ali Alireza, Saudi Ambassador to the United States
- Najib Najjar (Interpreter)
- Brent Scowcroft, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
[There were words of greeting about the bicentennial before the group was seated. The press entered and photos were taken. The press departed.]
Abdallah: The press traditionally takes too many pictures.
The President: They are a pest, but pictures do represent nice mementos of the meeting.
I know you have been staunch supporters of the United States over the years and we are extremely grateful.
Abdallah: This is the duty of friends to each other.
The President: We think our friendship has been of benefit not only bilaterally but in the whole area.
Abdallah: This is the truth.
The President: We are grateful for the strong position that your government took on oil prices. We think it is the right thing to do in terms of the economic recovery and it’s in the long term interests of both producers and consumers. As I am sure you know, we are doing our utmost to be helpful to the political settlement in Lebanon and we want to move as rapidly as possible to a settlement in the Middle East as a whole.
Abdallah: This is a true fact, expressed brilliantly yesterday by the Secretary of State. The dilemma we are in is that rumors are spreading that we are in collusion. As you are aware, these rumors are spread by the enemies of us both—the Communists.
[Page 615]Kissinger: [Tells the story about Jumblatt handing an envelope to Asad—interpreted as a payoff when reported in Jidda.]
The President: True stories spread less rapidly than lies.
Abdallah: That is very true. You have to be patient.
The President: I know you are the Commander of the National Guard. Are there any problems you need to discuss?
Abdallah: Thank you. So far everything is going very well, thanks to the efforts of the Secretary of Defense. I would like to discuss the issues which interest friends. I have discussed them with the Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense and would like to give you a summary.
The President: Please do.
Abdallah: The United States has a great responsibility being the leader of the free world. This responsibility I hope and pray the United States will retain forever, because we as your friends have been embarrassed on many occasions. For example, with Pakistan, Vietnam and Angola. We were told by people to look at the way you abandon your friends. The fact is we have been embarrassed by those accusations by the Arab people. It is known that the United States stands by its friends no matter what the situation is. But this talk was exploited by the Communists. This is my first point.
The President: In the situation in Vietnam and Angola, I wish we could get across the point it is necessary to differentiate between the President and Congress. I think there is a shift in Congress today, because the American people realize there were mistakes and that we can say to our friends we will stand by them and that Congress will support us in the future.
Abdallah: I am convinced you want to do many things and are held back by Congress. I wish and pray for your success and for more reasonableness and understanding in the Congress.
Kissinger: This will test His Royal Highness’s standing with God.
Abdallah: I wish you well and so long as what is in your heart is goodness and faith in your country, God will make you succeed. The world needs badly men like you, because this is a crazy world.
My second point is the Middle East. I hope your Excellency will win, with God’s will, these elections. So your very action and also the Secretary, my friend Kissinger, can start to move things. We leave these things to your conscience. Your forefathers founded this country on justice. You will not do less.
The President: Let me assure you that after the election we will take action in accordance with the aims and principles you have in mind.
Abdallah: That is what we expected. The third point is Egypt and the Sudan. I assure you the stand of Sadat is stronger than ever and [Page 616] he needs more support and aims. We have done all we could and continue to do so. Lately, we have given $700 million. This doesn’t mean they can do away with the assistance of the United States.
The President: We gave $800 million last year and about $700 this year.
Kissinger: Plus about $200 in PL–480, so it is close to $1 billion. We are also helping them to get assistance from Western Europe and Japan.
The President: Last week I talked with Prime Minister Miki. He assured me that Japan would double what they gave last year. I was very impressed with President Sadat. He is a fine leader and we support what he is trying to do internally and otherwise. I also met the President of Sudan recently and was very impressed with him. I was pleased that he was able to put down the eruption. We have many misgivings about Libya.
Abdallah: The world is full of crazy people. Qaddafi is one of them. We are concerned over Soviet bases in Somalia.
The President: We share that concern.
Abdallah: The U.S. has the obligation and I hope after the election you will review your stand with your friends and against communism. The rule of government is prestige—if prestige disappears, the government is lost.
The President: We will take a firm stand against the Soviet Union, in the Middle East and elsewhere.
Abdallah: One more point—Jordan. As I told Secretary Kissinger, we kept our promise to Jordan—it was for $300 million. When King Khalid came to power, he kept it. King Hussein then started to say things against you and us. King Khalid decreed that the amount should be increased to $550 million over a period of ten years. So we hope King Hussein will be a reasonable man and will accept it. If he won’t, we don’t know what more we can do.
The President: We appreciate what you have done. We hope now the Jordanians would buy the American system. How does it stand?
Kissinger: It looks like they will go that way. I think it would jeopardize the monarchy if they tied up with the Soviet Union.
Abdallah: We told them the money was available only for purchase in the United States or from friendly nations.
The President: I think it would be serious for Hussein to turn to the Soviet Union.
I understand you have been most generous in bringing some bicentennial gifts.
Abdallah: If it were not for your regulations, we would have done something more fitting. These are only symbolic.
Summary: Ford, Kissinger, and Abdallah discussed aid to Egypt, the Middle East, the upcoming U.S. Presidential election, and the Jordanian air defense problem.
Source: Ford Library, National Security Adviser, Memoranda of Conversation, Box 20, Chronological File. Secret; Nodis. Brackets are in the original. The meeting took place in the Oval Office at the White House.
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