European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 17, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes columns Flora Lewis two . Wars butt Heads in Central America Tegucigalpa Honduras two wars thai americans 111 Ink of quite separately have begun to converge in Middle America. It is a Mailer of priorities that overlap and distort policy decisions. One is Washington s proclaimed War on  the other is is pros 1 War against the sandinista gov Cut Neil in Nicaragua and communist backed Rells elsewhere in he Region. The conflict has already emerged in a harsh ugly confrontation with Panama s strongman. Gen Manuel Antonio Noriega which is Likely to get worse before there is any Resolution. Now it is surfacing Here i Honduras which has provided he essential bases and Supply routes to keep he Contra insurgency going against Nicaragua. Ilo Duran officials reacted with pained dismay against charges of their military s involvement in the drug traffic to the United states which were published in the new York times. They say their government asked for a permanent representative of the . Drug enforcement Agency in Tegucigalpa Back in .1984. Rejected then because Washington did l consider it an important route in he Irac. The hondurans also delivered a couple of people for trial in the United Stales though without full extradition procedures. Hut a lot has happened since then. American officials seeking to defend boil i lie hondurans and them selves say it in Only recently that this country has become a significant Way Point on the colombian drug Barons Trail because of Dea successes in intercepting shipments on More direct routes. Relations Between . Military Cia and slate department representatives and senior honduran officers Are so close however that there can be Little question of Washington s knowledge of the current situation. One widespread report Here relayed by various Nan american sources is that last october the United Stales told Gen. Humberto Regalado hurrian div chief of the armed forces thai it had Dofi Nilly identified five key Hon turan colonels As involved in the drug traffic. Colonels Are the senior officers there Sonly one general the Boss. The Dea was persuaded not to act on its information according to this report so As not to endanger a honduran cooperation in the Contra War. Instead a Compromise was struck by which the colonels were to be removed from posts where they could be Active. This was a double edged Deal since it left the threat of future revelations in Washington s hands. Hut now. The House vote against further Aid to the contras has opened new questions of who can we Ijeh on whom. So far the report says the colonels remain William Safire Street psrs0a1 where they were. But neither Are the hondurans Mak ing any problems in the frantic . Effort to deliver All the supplies it can before the Legal March i cutoff Date. If the ban remains in Force and the War winds Down the equation change. The honduran base would diminish in importance to the United Stales though presumably military Aid would be continued for Hon Duras so Long As it is squeezed Between the sandinista and the Salvador to rebels. But then the Dea would have More clout in the interminable Washington Bat Les about where America s prime interest really lies. There was a similar conflict of interests during the Vietnam War when the Cia indulged drug traffic from the hinterland in return for local cooperation. The murky latin american drug scene dwarfs that experience. It i closer to Home with More Complex and danger Ous political implications and produces a Cath far beyond the National budgets of Many countries in the Region. The immensity of the Money generated is reflected in the offer by Colombia s Medellin Cartel to pay off the country s Sid billion foreign debt if Bogota cancels its extradition treaty with Washington this is imperialism in reverse on the str can of the United Stales. 11 is the vast . Market for cocaine thai makes it possible. But it has been abetted by .policies attempting to manipulate weak and poor latin countries in service of the Reagan administration s version of the anti communist crusade. The question in t a matter of choosing Between support for Friendly democratic regimes in latin America and fighting drugs. It is finding he Way to. Promote both need. Covert action and proxy War re quire less than scrupulous collaborators with so much Money available in the drug Market linkage become almost inevitable in the tolerance of dirty tricks this is another reason to support the Central american peace plan not Only in its attempt o end civil wars but also in its political and development ambitions. The United Stales with always live next door to Central America and needs a better longer to neighbor term View of what will encourage a healthy Neighb Hood. Backing interests at risk guerrilla War puts greater . Security Isk. N York Tim no emt . Pushing new approach to Mideast peace fact no. I our Secretary of slate is headed to Moscow next week and after returning Home to Brief the president. Will make his Way to the Middle East. From thai we can deduce that George a Iliili s first object is o get the soviets to Tell the syrian to Stop forbidding King Hussein of Jordan from negotiating with the israelis on behalf of at Linian arabs. The King s insistence on holding talks Only at a . Conference Urgan ill to guarantee the outcome on Arab terms now blocks All Progress. Fact no. 2 Israel s prime minister has scheduled a trip to Washington during the ides of March. He thus accepts the resultant pressure on himself to acquiesce in our negotiating framework but he trusts Shultz and can count on our bipartisan political support in an elec Tion year. This willingness to negotiate even under the duress of recent rioting Means that Shamir is aware of the Success of the new Arab strategy instead of continuing to kill and maim jews in terrorist raids Arab rioters now provoke israelis to kill and maim arabs. This turns tic tables of world opinion. Israelis arc also aware of a less publicized fear in the minds of Hussein and president Mubarak of Egypt the same palestinian unrest made much More effective by the willingness of islamic fundamentalists to strike n blow by dying could soon be directed against them. Hussein would be especially vulnerable to techniques now in use in the West Bank if they w Ere adopted by the pales Tinian majority in his kingdom. Fact no. 3 nobody is calling the ideas being bandied about the Reagan plan or the Shutlz plan or anybody s plan. Great pains arc being taken to present this As an initiative without an Initiator. This is lick aus Shultz remembers his Blunder of september 1982, in which he surprised Menachem begin i mining the Camp David Jaccoi by under ords in try Arab Rejch zionists by changing the word autonomy to interim or transitional solutions,1 by not mentioning Camp David and by bringing the soviets into the dealings. The newest Wringe we Are putting for Ward is a speedup of the second or sovereignly phase. The Nail nibbling Hus Sein face with inc new need to drum up support among Young West Bank leaders Beholden 10 neither him nor inc Plo is reportedly demanding thai the deadline for sovereignly talks be moved up to dec. 15, and we seem to be going along with thai. The advantage to december is that it is not november when . And israeli elections Lake place but the disa Dvan ing to impose a settlement and naively Tage is that a timetable like thai is Urca placed his Faith in Hussein s political a sic if the panics courage. Now Shultz is taking the opposite approach. The United slates is evoking memories of the autonomy discussed in the begin Sandal Carter agreement free elections and self Rule by palestinian quickly and decisions about sovereignty and Borders coming years later mean while Mubarak tells kuwaiti newsmen that Egypt was right to porn i for thai Siep Forward. Al the same Lime we placate Are serious about bar gaining. The Arab desire for a Quick deadline is understandable they Lake it As a Guaran tee from the United slates and the .s.r. That when direct talks Between the israeli and jordanian delegations reach the expected impasse. Arabs will be Able to go Over the head of Israel to the superpowers to gel a recommendation hat Israel give up not Only it West Bank Proue iian from another at tack but also its hard won control of Jerusalem itself. Thai would be dictation not negotiation Shamir despite in under on his right is willing to give a fair amount on accelerating the timetable just As he has recently shown a willingness to agree to some non-. International cover 10 the direct talks. But israeli Leaden i both parties need written Assurance from president Cagan thai the United Stales will nol recommend a ,-style settlement Shultz has already Given arabs a enormous Concession by dealing inc rus sians in. He should advise president Reagan to give the explicit no Arm twist ing pledge which would surely be Hon ored by the next president just As the no dealing with Plo error Ifni Promise has been honoured by successive . Presi dents. Such a memo would provide a incentive for arabs to negotiate in Good Faith. Down Teie West Bank Road sooner or later lies self Rule by palestini ans and joint sovereignty by Israel Jor Dan and the arabs and jews who live on the land. Neither Side can take that Posi Tion yet. May inc Shutlz shuttle Hel them bring about that solution sooner. Titi he a Fra