European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 24, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 columns the stars and stripes monday. August 24.1987 Tom Wicker Reagan needs to support Arias peace plan no one should be surprised that inc Reagan administration is backing away from inc new Central american peace plan since president Reagan has never wanted a negotiated settlement on any terms bul his own. This Lime however he has Good reason to think anew. Unfortunately the old pattern seems to be holding. Since the so called Arias plan was agreed to by he five Central american governments Philip Habib the president s special negotiator resigned abruptly apparently because he favored with Secretary of slate Shultz s support the direct talks Reagan still rejects. Senior . Representatives in Central America were told by Elliott Abrams to inform the five govern ments of Washington s misgivings about the agreement based on in fear that Nicaragua will not abide by it. Abrams is the assistant Secretary of state for inter american affairs. Some administration officials Are saying the peace plan cannot work unless the United states Aid to inc contras in Nicaragua is continued even after a cease fire is reached. The president himself said in his weekly radio broadcast that . Support for the contras would have to continue at least until a cease fire takes place. The latter Point May be fatal. The Sandinia tas insist that As Long As the United states supports the contras they la be forced by military necessity to impose the emergency measures they agreed under the Arias plan to dismantle. Already they have said that if the Aid continues they cannot Lake in be Steps toward thus for the administration to continue the Aid is sure to be seen in latin America As proof that Reagan does not want a settlement preferring instead to pro Long the nicaraguan civil War until the sandinista Are overthrown. Already Washington has a Long record of thwarting peace negotiations for example in a secret background paper prepared for a National Security Council briefing on oct. 30, 1984, participants were told we have trumped the latest nicaraguan mexican efforts to Rush signature of an unsatisfactory Contador agreement. We have effectively blocked Concadora group efforts to impose the second draft of the revised Contador Aci " in a note of nov. 23, 1984, Only some phrases of which have been declassified. Robert Mcfarlane then National Security adviser was informed by his Deputy vice adm. John poin Duxler apparently in a list of things to be done continue Active negotiations bul William f. Buckley or. 90 much knew the stooges vol int Wal. Agree on no treaty and agree to work out some Way to support the contras either directly or indirectly. With hold True objectives from Abrams at a 1985 chiefs of Mission conference in Panama from sept. 8 to 10. Made this among other Points in a classified briefing paper we need to develop an Active diplomacy now to head off efforts at latin Solidarity aimed against the . And our allies whether they arc sponsored by the support group the cubans or the that kind of underhanded diplomacy docs not encourage belief thai the administration now genuinely wants a negotiated settlement. And the president s right Wing supporters alarmed by even tentative consideration of the Arias agreement already Are bringing heavy pressures against abandonment of the con Las. But the contras represent ii policy that has failed militarily on the ground in Nicaragua and that May not prevail politically in a showdown congressional vote. Therefore the Arias plan ought to be Welcome to Reagan As an alternative offering the democratization of Nicaragua he claims to want and promising the United moral pressures of the Region and inc Hemi sphere against the soviet military base he claims to fear. To develop that alternative the president needs to lend unequivocal support to completion of the regional agreement including direct talks with inc Sand Islas if need be. That s the Best Way to Advance legitimate . Security interests in Central America and the Best Hope of assuring measures to verify Nicaragua s compliance with its part of the bargain. Aid to the contras obviously has no place in such an Effort Philip Habib docs. Halting the one and bringing Back the other would put Reagan squarely where he most needs to be behind the Arias plan. Pope s letter to Bishops marred by its timing the Pope has addressed the president of the a the United nations. Lional conference of Catholic Bishops citing the Holo there has been genocide during the life of the unit i of National cd nations notably in Cambodia where a heavier cause As the Grimm est recent experience godlessness. He has done so in a letter of striking Impact marred Only by the Liming. When the Pope consented loan interview Wilh Kurt Waldheim a few weeks ago his doing so was offensive not Only to jews but to others who have developed a contempt for Waldheim based in part on his having concealed what he did during the War years and in part on what it is alleged he actually did during the War years. What then happened was that King democracy spoke in Austria and elected him ils president. Al though Llie nations of the uni id had been or clip competent in boycotting Austria s president inevitably he would show up in some of the corridors of ceremonial Power that the Pope s should be one distressed the Many. Bul what actually then happened distressed the most. The Pope recounted in ritual hyperbole that at companies toasts to chiefs of state the glorious achievements of Kurt Waldheim As Secretary general of the United nations. Now. This might itself have brought blushes to the Cheeks of practice men of affairs. Waldheim was Happy in the company of men and women who participate in inc activity of the most Concan raied Center of hypocrisy Ever convened for a Prol raced period in inc history of Mankind. The Only institution one can think of offhand that would sit by idly and perhaps even applaud another Llu Icausi is of the population was extinguished than of the jewish population during the holocaust without protests from the United nations. Indeed the . Is the Willow run of anti semitism As anyone will note who spends a i talc Lime there. I spent rec months there As a . Delegate in 1973. It was like viewing the protocols of Zion As a daily serial still All chiefs of state and All the travelling Pope Are expected to come to the . Every now and then and treat it As though it were a convention of Eagle Sra a Bent on bringing peace and plenty to the world Kurt Waldheim had no problem in heading an institution Hal steadfastly refuses to act on such senti ments As created the holocaust which senti mems arc protected among other things by a nuclear umbrella. There Are no words any chief of state could use in greeting Andropov or Chernenko or Gorbachev that would offend any a live american lobby. What Mars the Pope s letter reminding the con science of the world of the horrors of Naji Germany is its appearance at this particular moment. It is every where understood As propitiation for his meeting Wilh Waldheim. The Lead sentence in the new York times declared it 10 be a conciliatory gesture toward jew angered by his audience with what irritates ii any suggestion that it required such a letter to convince the moralists of Iii world Hal the Pope s attitude toward the holocaust was other than everyone who has studied Pope John Paul knows it lobe the Pope s sincerity in deploring brutality can Nev be convincingly questioned and we arc left with the impression that ii was required of him that he up now lest when he arrives in Florida in a couple of weeks he be boycotted on the grounds Hal his Altitude toward inc holocaust is suspect. There Are christians and probably a Good Many jews who feel Hal whatever the arguments for or against Memling 1 resident Wald Heim and Gar Landing his record As Secretary general of the United nations the Pope s propitiation suggest Hal he had a conscience that deserved to be troubled. The word that comes to mind is that he has been manipulated and there Are those who Don t much like it when the Pope is manipulated. All of which will come and go. One Hopes that the sentiments he expressed will bum in inc mind. In this spirit of peace and Universal fraternal Solidarity i am preparing to renew to you he wrote to the Ameri can Bishops and to the beloved jewish Fum manily in inc United Stales the Joyful proclamation of peace the shalom announced by the prophets and awaited by the whole world. 1 express inc Hope that this peace will Well up like a Stream of living water from the bosom of Jerusalem and thai there May be accomplished la a which was foretold by Zechariah the lord shall be come King Over inc whole Earth on that Day the Lora shall be the Only one and his name the Only one "
