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3. In the light of these figures, I believe that the following
should now be undertaken:
a) Direct Financial Support.
We should renew attempts to seek direct financial contributions
to offset UK expenditure on Operation Granby. Since our deployed manpower now amounts to some 8% of that of the US, a
fair rule of thumb might be to look for contributions to our
costs of about 8% of those obtained by the Americans.
We should approach:
Germany. I have already recommended separately that you
should write to Chancellor Kohl to seek financial
assistance, to follow up his earlier contribution of
equipment to the value of DM60 million.
Japan. As a major importer of Gulf oil, Japan is a leading
beneficiary of the allied action in the Gulf. Their
inability to contribute militarily to the allied effort puts
the Japanese under considerable moral pressure to help us
financially. Of their total commitment of US $2 billion, we
have so far received US $50 million; we believe this falls
far short of what we might expect under the rule of thumb
described above. I have sent a message to the Japanese
Foreign Minister to ask for a further contribution.
EC Countries. Most of our EC partners have contributed
forces to the multi-national effort in some capacity or
other. But apart from France, none are participating
directly in hostilities to the extent that they face
the losses of men and material that our forces can expect.
Belgium should be approached for a further financial
contribution as a priority: our Embassy have reported that
the Belgians already feel guilty for letting us down over
EDDAAJ
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