U.S. acts to assure allies

Press, 22 October 1981, Page 8

U.S. acts to assure allies

NZPA-Reuter Washington

Reagan Administration officials have acted swiftly to assure its allies that the United States 'would not abandon Western Europe, in the event of a nuclear wan

The flurry of statements on nuclear-war policy has exposed a raw nerve in America’s relations with its allies and also highlighted fears among some Europeans that .the United States plans to wage nuclear war in'Europe while escaping devastation of its homeThe statements ‘ followed remarks at the week-end by President Reagan which a leading parliamentarian of West Germany’s ruling Social Democratic Party saidMiad fuelled fears that Europe might, become a theatre for limited nuclear war.

Yet Mr Reagan’s remarks at a meeting with newspaper editors reflected the longstanding United States policy of a so-called flexible response to threatened Soviet attack — a policy that has replaced the “massive retaliation” of earlier years. Asked if there could be a

nuclear exchange limited to Europe, Mr Reagan replied: “I don’t honestly know.”

But he said that in a stalemated war “I could see where you could have the exchange of tactical weapons against troops in the field without bringing either one of the major Powers to pushing the button.” In Washington, a State Department spokesman said the flexible response strategy was to maintain the ability to deter the use of force —. both conventional and nuclear — by the Warsaw Pact Powers, preferably at the lowest possible level. At' Gleneagles in Scotland .where North Atlantic Treaty Organisation Defence Ministers are meeting, a senior United States official told reporters: “The United States is in- Europe precisely to demonstrate it would not abandon Europe.” He said he believed any nuclear exchange there would escalate into a full nuclear war. It was not the first time American officials had felt the need to combat claims that the United States was prpared to sacrifice Europe in a nuclear war.

The claims have become more vocal since the Reagan Administration took office espousing a strong antiSoviet line, and are part of a strong anti-war campaign aimed at halting deployment of new American mediumrange nuclear weapons in Europe. In Moscow, the' Soviet President (Mr Leonid Brezhnev) yesterday called on President Reagan to condemn publicly the idea of one country launching a nuclear attack on an other.

The Soviet leader repeated comments he made at the Soviet Party congress last February that it was “dangerous madness” for any side to count on victory in a nuclear conflict.