UNEASE IN OMAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000301900097-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 97
• Publication Date: January 2, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000301900097-6
STAT
THE WASHINGTON POST
2 January 1980
Rowland Evans and Robert Novak
Lnease in Oman
MUSCAT, Oman?This anti-commu-
nist, pro-Western redoubt on the Ara-
bian peninsula's southern shore is con-
vinced of Soviet complicity in the No-
vember assault against the Grand
Mosque in Mecca, deepening belief
here that the Russian bear is on the
march in the Persian Gulf.
Oman's leaders claim their intelligence
leaves no doubt: the Mecca attack was
hitched in communist South Yemen
under Soviet auspices as an audacious ef-
fort to overthrow the conservative royal
government of Saudi Arabia, the world's
richest oil state. To Oman, this represents
ultimate arrogance in the Kremlin and
blatant disrespect for the United States
in its Iranian ordeal.
Oman's answer is to intensify its ap-
peal to the rich but nervous Persian
Gulf hereditary monarchies and to
Western powers, particularly the
United States, for new aircraft and
ships to patrol the strategically vital .
Straits of Hormuz against the expand-
ing Soviet presence. But beyond hard,
ware, the Omanis want a tougher U.S.
posture since the United States permit-
ted the shah of Iran to fall and has suf-
fered the humiliation in Tehran.
While the Mecca assault stunned all
Islam, it especially disconcerted the
conservative sultanate of Oman, thanks
to reports from its intelligence service
(which, like its armed services, is run
by British officers). Those reports re-
ject the official Saudi attribution of the
attack to religious fanatics not con-
nected with any foreign power.
Omani intelligence contends that the
cadre for the Mecca assault was trained
in the People's Democratic Republic of
Yemen (South Yemen), the Soviet out-
post on the Arabian peninsula. Al-
though some arms were of British man-
ufacture for the purpose of "deniabil-
ity," they were supplied from South
Yemen. Furthermore, Omani intelli-
gence contends that the attack on
Mecca, if successful, was to be followed
by uprisings at Medina and "other
places in Saudi Arabia."
Similar reports come from intelli-
gence services of other nations-T-717a
even some Saudi officials have hinted
' as much. While U.S. officials reject the
Omani report as evidence of a ten-
dency here to find Russians under
every bed, they concede the Mecca ter-
rorists got arms from South Yemen.
Whatever the degree of Soviet com-
plicity, it was taken here as evidence of
Moscow's arrogance. "It stunned me,"
one Omani official told us. "I would
think the Russians would want to en-
sure the reelection of a weak president
like Carter, or better still, Kennedy,
and not make any trouble. It shows just
how arrogant they are."
Physical evidence of that arrogance
is the crowing Soviet naval presence
here. According to Omani intelligence,
eight to 12 Soviet nuclear submarines
are berthed in permanent pens in
South Yemen alongside several surface
warships.
Until recently, a Krivack-class Soviet
destroyer (bristling with electronic lis-
tening equipment) was on station in the I
Straits of Hormuz, through which pass-
es Persian Gulf oil destined for the
Western world. Lt. Tom Hammon, Brit-
ish commander of one of Oman's two
missile-firing fast patrol boats, told us it
was recently replaced by a Kotlin-class
destroyer. "It doesn't matter," he said.
"They've always got somebody out
there."
With the Iranian navy departed fol-
lowing the shah's fall, the only counter-
weight is Oman's competent but tiny
navy, which patrols the straits. Accord-
ingly, Sultan Qaboos, Oman's 38-year-
old pro-Western ruler, has asked fi-
nancial help from the Gulf states and
the West to buy patrol boats, mine
sweepers, helicopters and patrol
planes.
There was sharp public criticism
from leftist, heavily armed Iraq, which
decries Oman's breaking of Persian ,
Gulf solidarity to endorse the Camp ,
David accord. The Gulf's jittery heredi-
tary states backed away from Oman ,
after Baghdad's blast. But Omani of fi-
dals claim many Arab states?includ-
,
lag Iraq?privately expressed interest
in helping Oman police the straits.. "I
can assure you," one official here told
us, "we want no part of help from
Iraq."
It does want help from the United
States; an aid package of defensive
arms has been approved in the State
Department. The recent U.S. delegation
seeking emergency basing facilities re-
ceived a warm reception here.
Oman's position is a welcome for the
U.S. naval presence "just over the line
of the horizon." Such force?out of ,
sight, but nearby?reassured this thin-
ly populated (around 500,000) nation
whose armed forces, though number-
ing only about 15,000, are excellent by
Mideast standards. Nevertheless, the
sultan's government remains uneasy as
it compares the Kremlin's arrogance
with Jimmy Carter's restraint in this
cauldron of world conflict.
01030, Field Enterpritei,
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000301900097-6