Haig ‘pounds desk’ and hints that he might resign

Press, 27 March 1981, Page 5

Haig ‘pounds desk’ and hints that he might resign

NZPA-Reuter Washington

The American Secretary of State (Mr Alexander Haig) was ‘'very upset and sulking’’ and was “pounding the table’’ because he was not given crisis command authority by the White House and he left his staff wondering yesterday if he would resign, an informed official said. Although President Ronald Reagan reaffirmed earlier yesterday that Mr Haig was his “principal adviser on foreign affairs,” Mr Haig was said to feel the endorsement fell short of what he wanted because Mr Reagan did not explicitly say he was in charge of carrying out foreign policy. Mr Haig is unhappy that Vice-President George Bush was named chairman of a “crisis management team.” An official said Mr Haig literally had been “pounding the table” in frustration and anger at a turn of events that seemed to downgrade his importance in the Administration.

Mr Haig was scheduled to testify today before a Senate sub-committee on foreign aid matters, and could give some clue about his intentions then, the official said.

“It’s been a rather unseemly 24 hours,” said the official. “It will have raised questions in some people’s minds about the competency of this Administration. This Administration, after all, was

hired to avoid this kind of debacle.” He said that while Mr Haig may not have explicitly warned the Administration that he might resign if matters did not turn out to his satisfaction, he left high officials, although not Mr Reagan, with the impression that he might. Mr Reagan, who has been portrayed by some critics as merely a ratifier of decisions made by lower-level officials, moved swiftly to exertcontrol by naming Mr Bush to the post despite Mr Haig’s unhappiness with the plan. Mr Reagan yesterday described himself as “the ultimate crisis manager.” “The Secretary of State is my primary adviser on foreign affairs and in that capacity, he is the chief formulator and spokesman for foreign policy in this Administration,” he said. “There is not, and there never has been, any question about this.” He noted that Mr Bush would be responsible in such domestic crises as earthquakes or floods, as well as in foreign policy crises. Asked about the disappointment Mr Haig expressed to a Congressional committee on Wednesday, Mr Reagan replied: “Maybe some of you were trying to make the news instead of reporting it.” Mr Haig told the committee he viewed reports of Mr

Bush’s pending appointmentwith “a lack of enthusiasm.”

Mr Reagan did not challenge the reports of Mr Haig’s remarks and did not amplify his own reply to the question. At a press conference, Mr Bush said of Mr Haig: “He is going to be a general manager of policy. That is clear. He’s an excellent Secretary of State. I don’t foresee any problems.”

Mr Bush said he would not deal with problems day-to-day but would merely step in when a main crisis developed.

His role would end when the President was able to take over, Mr Bush said. The White House Press Secretary (Mr James Brady) said the types of incidents; Mr Bush may handle ranged I from an isolated terrorist attack to an attack on the I United States by a hostile power.

“During any emergency,; the President would of course be available to make all critical decisions and to I chair the crisis management team as his presence might be needed,” Mr Brady said. “Vice-President Bush’s role is.to chair the team in the absence of the President. He will also engage in for-' ward planning for emergency responses, develop options for presidential consideration, and take the lead in the implementation of those decisions.”