Posted on 04/08/2002 5:50:45 AM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
Former Reagan Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger said Sunday that U.S. troops should not be sent to the Mideast to keep the peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
"No. Only unless there's a total and complete agreement that that's what all sides want. And we don't have anything remotely resembling that," he said in an interview with WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg.
Even if both sides were amenable to an outside peacekeeping force, the Reagan defense chief contended it would be a mistake to send U.S. forces.
"I don't see any reason why Americans should have to do it. There are plenty of other countries that are able to send troops and have sent troops."
Weinberger's comments followed a recommendation Friday, by ex-president Bill Clinton, that a force of U.S. peacekeepers be dispatched to the region.
"We have had troops in the Sinai for 24 years, since Egypt and Israel made peace," Clinton told an audience of businesspeople in Montreal, Canada.
"There has never been an incident, probably in part because we were there. And if they are needed again, we ought to send them."
In his recent book, "The Arena," Weinberger was sharply critical of Clinton for drawing down U.S. military strength during the 1990s, though he made no direct reference Sunday to Clinton's peacekeeping idea.
Weinberger was defense secretary when the U.S. military suffered its worst suicide bombing attack ever while on a peacekeeping mission in 1983, when a truck loaded with explosives blew up a U.S. Marine barracks in Lebanon, killing 243.
Listen to "The Buzz" with Steve Malzberg and Richard Bey, weeknights 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. - and solo on Sunday, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., WABC Radio in New York, 770AM.
Weinberger's comments followed a recommendation Friday, by ex-president Bill Clinton, that a force of U.S. peacekeepers be dispatched to the region.
1- it would not be effective.
2- our troops would become instant sniper bait.
3- the PA hates us already, this US "occupation" of the DMZ would drive sleeper cells to unleash new attacks on US.
4- if Klinton wants it, I don't.
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