Reagan repeats limited N-war is possible

Press, 12 November 1981, Page 6

Reagan repeats limited N-war is possible

NZPA-Reuter Washington President. Ronald Reagan has repeated his controversial declaration that it would be possible for the United States and the Soviet Union to fight a nuclear war in Europe while sparing their own homelands from destruction. A similar statement made last month provoked widespread alarm in Western Europe and provided ammunition for the growing anti-nuclear movement there. During a televised news, conference yesterday, Mr Reagan said: “I could see where both sides could still be deterred from going into the exchange of strategic weapons if there had been battlefield (nuclear) weapons, troop-to-troop, exchanges there (in Europe).” He emphasised that this was only a hypothetical possibility and that the maintenance of Western military power was the best means of assuring peace. He also said he did not

know whether the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation war contingency plans currently called for firing a “demonstration” nuclear shot to stop a Soviet advance into Western Europe. The Secretary of State (Mr Alexander Haig) and the Defence Secretary (Mr Caspar Weinberger) last week publicly differed over whether the “warning shot” scheme was part of N.A.T.O. policy. Mr Reagan said ’ there seemed to be “some confusion” on the issue. A White House spokesman, Larry Speakes, said after the news conference that Mr Reagan had been fully briefed on the matter and meant to say he knew the answer but did not intend to discuss it publicly. Despite this public dispute between his top advisers, and Mr Haig’s unprecedented allegation last week that a top White House official was waging a “guerrilla campaign” against him, Mr Reagan insisted that there was no animosity among his aides.

“There is no bickering or backstabbing going on. We’re a very happy group,” he said amid loud laughter from reporters in the White House East Room. “The picture that has been given of chaos and disarray is a disservice to the country and to other countries and allies as well. “I think our accomplishments have been astounding,” Mr Reagan said. Mr Reagan also stood by his recent statement welcoming parts of a Middle East peace plan put forward by Saudi Arabia and w-hich has been rejected by the Israeli Prime Minister (Mr Menachem Begin). Mr Reagan did not endorse all the plan’s eight points. But he said he accepted the Saudi call for Middle East nations to live in peace and believed that, for the first time, it implied Arab recognition of Israel’s right to exist. “I believe it is implicit in the plan, the recognition of Israel’s right to exist, and

this is why I refer to it (the plan) as a hopeful sign,” Mr Reagan said. But Israeli officials say it does not specify that this would include Israel, which the Saudis have never recognised as a nation. The Saudi peace plan called for Israeli withdrawal from all Arab lands occupied in 1967 and the creation of a Palestinian State with Jerusalem as its capital. Mr Reagan’s welcome for the plan last week angered Mr Begin, who called it a prescription for Israel’s liquidation. Mr Begin also strongly opposed the planned sale of American radar surveillance planes to Saudi Arabia. Mr Reagan also emEhasised yesterday that the United States remained committed to the Camp David peace process as the basis for Middle East peace. Mr Reagan’s new endorsement of Camp David contrasted with statements by leaders of the European Economic Community indicating a lack of faith in the current peace process.