The Bush administration's plan to sell some $50 billion in high-tech weapons to Middle Eastern countries over the next 10 years raises serious policy questions.

The recipients would be Israel and Sunni Arab states Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and four other Persian Gulf nations. The sale, which must first be approved by Congress, would include satellite-guided bombs, missiles and warships. Israel would get $30 billion worth; Egypt would get $13 billion.

It is hard to see exactly what the administration is trying to achieve by this sale. First, it seems incendiary to the point of irresponsibility to dump another $50 billion in arms into a region as full of conflict and instability as the Middle East. There is the Arab-Israeli conflict. There is the Iraq war. There is the simmering rivalry between the Sunni states and Iran. There is the basic shakiness of governments in many of the states of the region, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Yet the Bush administration has put forward several reasons for the proposal. The first is to seek the support of Saudi Arabia and other Sunni states for the government of Prime Minister Nouri Kamal al-Maliki in Iraq. Saudi Arabia, in particular, has until now been working in active opposition to the al-Maliki government, because it is basically Shiite and is considered by the Saudis to be subject to Iranian influence. A large number of the Sunni Islamists who are fighting against American forces in Iraq are Saudis who have crossed the border into Iraq from Saudi Arabia, virtually unhindered by the Riyadh government.

It is delusionary to imagine that Saudi Arabia will change its position toward the Shiite al-Maliki government in Iraq because of new arms.

A second reason the Bush administration wants the sale is to build among the Sunni states a bulwark against Shiite Iran, with its fledgling nuclear weapons program. This objective is not consistent with continued U.S. support of the Shiite occupation government in Iraq, by its nature allied with Iran. The United States will be very much tied to the continued well-being of the al-Maliki government if -- one day -- the Bush administration or its successor wishes to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq, leaving the place under the rule of the al-Maliki regime.

The Sunni Arab states already have ample reason to oppose Iran and the Shiites, without a major U.S. arms sale to them.

A third administration argument is that, if or when the United States pulls out of Iraq current U.S. allies in the region will need reassurance that Washington is still their friend and ally. The arms sale would purportedly serve that purpose.

The deal still has to pass muster on Capitol Hill, not an easy feat, given all these issues. At that point, the billions to be made by American arms manufacturers (which are active with campaign donations) will come into play -- and that could clear the way to passage.