European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 4, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday tuesday july 4/5,1988 the stars and stripes Page 3 Crowe notes differences in downings ical Jet won t in combat area Washington a a top Penta gon official said sunday there were fundamental differences Between Ameri Ca s Downing of an iranian passenger plane in the persian Gulf and soviet destruction of a korean jetliner in 1983. In answer to questions at a defens department briefing adm. William j. Crowe jr., chairman of the joint chiefs of staff said the main distinction be tween the two incidents was that the americans fired on the iranian jetliner in an area of combat while the soviets shutdown korean air lines flight 007 in an area that was free of hostilities. The fundamental differences of course Are that it was not a War zone Crowe said of the Kal incident. There was not combat in Progress. There was not combat there  in sunday s incident the . Guide missile Cruiser Vincennes shot Down an Iran air jetliner that commanders had believed was a hostile military aircraft. A photo the islamic Republic news Agency said the commercial Airbus had been carrying 290 people and that All aboard were presumed dead. Crowe spoke to reporters at 1 30 p.m., about 10 hours after the incident to acknowledge that the downed aircraft was a civilian Airliner. On sept. 1, 1983, the soviets shot Down Kal 007, after it strayed from its designated route into soviet airspace after leaving Anchorage Alaska on the last leg of a trip of trip to Seoul South Korea from new York. All 269 people aboard were killed. It was t until sept. 6 that the official soviet news Agency Tass admitted that soviet pilots had terminated the flight. The soviets claimed that the plane had been spying for Washington and that their pilots had a duty to destroy it. Crowe said that the Kal pilots received no warning before the soviet at tack while the iranian aircraft failed to heed repeated warnings to steer Clear of the Vincennes. The Kal 007 was not warned in any Way form or fashion Crowe said. Nor was As far As i can Tell or determine any attempt made to  Crowe added that the Kal aircraft had been flying at a very High Altitude when it was shot Down and that the Sovi ets never claimed to believe it had been out to bomb or  it was accused of being an Intelli gence gatherer he said. That was certainly not the  he said the iranian jetliner had been descending and that its flight profile and failure to respond to warnings led us to believe it was a military  Crowe said there were probably a Host of additional distinctions Between the . And soviet incidents that could be identified upon closer  a map to explain the sequence of events leading to the Downing Crowe briefs reporters at the Pentagon on sunday. Study projects . Foreign debt of $2 trillion Washington a the unite states already the world s largest debtor country could see its foreign debt in crease to More than $2 trillion by 1995, seriously cutting into american living standards a congressional study said saturday. The report by the congressional re search service rejected claims by the Reagan administration that the country status As a Large debtor country is no cause for concern. The study predicted that while the country s Trade deficit will finally show an improvement this year after deteriorating for six years this improvement could be Short lived. The report forecast that the deficit inthe broadest measure of Trade the cur rent account would fall to $151 billionths year Down slightly from a record $154 billion deficit in 1987. The report predicted a further de crease to $129 billion in 1989, saying that these improvements were virtually assured Given the declines in the value of the Dollar that have already take place. But the study said the Trade deficit would begin rising again sharply in the 1990s and could hit $326 billion by1995. The study said it based this Outlook on assumptions that the Dollar does not de Cline further in value and that current growth rates and interest rates in the United states relative to other coun tries remain essentially unchanged. The Dollar actually has been rising indecent weeks prompting concern among economists who believe the . Currency still needs to drop for the . Trade deficit to narrow further. A cheaper Dol Lar makes . Exports More attractive on overseas markets and imports More expensive to americans. If the Dollar does not decline the re port projected that the heavy import penetration the United states has suffered through the 1980s will continue. The string of higher Trade balance would mean that the country s position As a net debtor would also Worsen since the current account deficit is directly linked to the country s net investment position. The Money handed Over to for Eigners to pay for imports gets reinvested in the United states. The government announced thursday that total . Foreign debt increased to $368.2 billion at the end of 1987, further lengthening the country s Lead As the world s largest debtor nation. This Means that foreigners now own More in . Investments than americans own i overseas investments. The congressional study projected . Foreign debt would climb to $576 billion at the end of this year and would surpass $1 trillion in 1991. By the end of 1995, the total foreign debt would be$2.06 trillion or one fourth of the coun try s total Gross National product the re port said. A debt of that size would require a annual payment of $96 billion to foreign ers to service the debt an amount equal to 1.2 percent of the projected Gnu for that year the study said. If the Gnu increased by 3 percent in1995, a generally optimistic Outlook one third of the increase would be siphoned off to meet debt obligations to foreigners. If on the other hand we Are Pessi mistic about real growth prospects see ing Only a 1 percent annual increase a Likely then debt service would tend to preclude any improvement in . Living standards in the next decade the report said. Sen. Lloyd Bentsen a Texas wow re Quested the congressional study said it showed that without a dramatic change in the country s Trade policies the size of America s foreign debt will explode Over the next six years. Bentsen was a key sponsor of an Omni bus Trade measure recently vetoed by president Reagan. He is leading the Effort to get a stripped Down version less objectionable to Reagan passed into Law. Even though the Trade deficit will Godown a Little this year and again a Little bit next year unless Trade policies dramatically change then they re going to Start up Bentsen said. The congressional study while presenting a pessimistic View of what could happen is not out of line with projections made by private economists. Mor Gan guaranty Trust co. Said that de pending on what happens to the Dollar world growth rates and the . Federal budget deficit America s foreign debt Burden could be anywhere from $900 billion to $2.5 trillion by 1995. The . Debt of $368.2 billion for 1987 was 36.8 percent higher than the previous year and served to illustrate How fast the foreign debt is accumulating. The United states had an invest ment Cushion of $89.4 billion As recently As 1983, making it the world s largest creditor nation a position now held by Japan. Democratic critics Hope to make the country s slide from the largest creditor nation to the largest debtor nation an Issue in this year s presidential Campaign. They contend that the burgeoning foreign debt is eroding America s Politi Cal and economic standing in the world. But the administration sensitive to the Issue in an election year held a lengthy briefing last thursday when the new debt total was released to argue that the United states should not be consid ered in a class with such Large third world debtors As Brazil Mexico and Argentina. We Are nowhere near getting into trouble Commerce undersecretary Robert Ortner told reporters. He said that foreigners still own no More than 5 percent of the assets in an Economy that turns out $4.5 trillion in goods and serv ices a year. But private economists contend that the growing foreign debt makes the United states More vulnerable to pressure from foreign investors driving up . Interest rates and heightening the volatility of the Dollar