European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 28, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes columns Michael Oreskes Accord on Central America reached just in time the bipartisan agreement on Central Ameri can policy announced Friday came not a moment Loo soon. No so much for Central America where it rep resented Little More than a belated adjustment of . Policy to political reality. No the important Impact of the agreement was in Washington where something anything that could be presented As Good news was badly needed both on Capitol Hill and at the White House. These past few months have no been easy for the ene Cutic or the legislators much has been made of president Bush s supposedly slow Start. Indeed he has seemed at times to be lading away. Hut the Congress has done to better. Many members say this has been about the Rockies opening of a session that they can remember. It is not just that Little has been done but thai what has been done has been Rizou unpleasant. Aboul Alt we be done is kill the pay raise and John  said sen. Bob Dole of Kansas the Republican Leader. In january and february. Congress met ins and passed fewer Bills than in inc same period in. I of i the Lait Lime a new president and a new Congress arrived together. The democrats have promised an Agenda of Ichiro a but they have been slow in moving it. Tiik House speaker Jim Wright of Texas is embattled by an ethics inquiry the new Senate Leader George Mitchell is just getting his sea legs As he Drys to keep his Promise of wider consultation with his cot Lii guv in the absence of much real work he partisan strains Are . By a two vote margin last week the frustrated House republicans picked i p. Newi Gingrich of Georgia to be their new whip the second ranking party Job.  colleagues in both parties Call him a partisan bomb Ili rower. Is Lille known for  native skills one of the few Bills he has introduced was in establish procedures for admitting space colonies Lei statehood. Tic is better known As the instigator of the ethics inquiry hat democrats  beginning 10-fear could bring Down Wright. Democrats immediately bunched a frontal attack on Gingrich Siul icy also sent a shot across the Pryst ident i How. Knowing full Well thai the Central Ameri can Accord was virtually Complete. Democrats still is sued a warning that the partisan warfare being waged by Gingrich and his allies was at the very least impolitic Al a time when their president was seeking demo cratic cooperation. If its pikes guns and grenades Down on the House floor it would not be Good for the president said the majority Leader Thomas s. Foley of washing ton. A kind of downward spiral in which one problem leads into the Natl has been developing. It was widely noted thai inc Senate s refusal to con firm Tower As defense Secretary Only increased the Republican lust for Wright s blood. Less commented upon was an equally serious problem for Congress that arose directly from Tower s defeat and Bush s decision to Pluck rep. Dick Cheney from he House where he was Republican whip. Have they thought through the implications of naming Dick Cheney rep. Vic Fazio d-catif., asked about the while  was the glue be tween the youth and the old bulls the conservatives and the moderates. By pulling him out of the process they pulled Oul the most Impo Nani  with Alt this worry As a backdrop it is understand Able that the Central american Accord brought More sighs of Relief in Washington than in Managua. Wright s allies seized on the Accord to Shore him up insisting that the speaker had been right All along in efforts to promote Nicara iian peace talks efforts denounced by the Reagan while mouse As freelance diplomacy. But the Good feelings brought on by the Good Fri Day announcement Art limited the buoyant Welcome Bush received in january has been replaced by War iness and scepticism. After joining with the other Senate leaders for a while House news conference thai morning wit Bush Dole returned to his office. Did the Central american Accord mean Hal things were turning around i Don t see it changing anybody s Altitude around Here he said a now tort  George Gedda new c. America policy repudiates Reagan views 1  Bush s new Central America policy is m Large measure a politically mandated repudiation of resident Reagan a views and accelerates what has been Hie slow but steady demise of the nicaraguan Comras Over the past 1 g months. Hush s action on Friday was. Tacit acceptance of  Hal without bipartisan congressional support no policy can succeed. A inc Cagan  saw in Nicaragua was Scundi med to inc endless darkness of communist a Rani under the sandinista and military Force was the Only instrument capable of inducing ilium to mod Erate their policies. Under the new policy Anh sandinista rhetoric has been a nuked two cars ago the contras were Riding High. Armed with a fresh infusion of . Aid. Iho rebels were it infill rating Nicaragua from Honduras at the rate of i do a a and staging frequent attacks. But b i9$g, an impatient Congress was rejecting further military Aid for the rebels and Reagan Tiad to Settle for humanitarian Aid. Most of the contras re treated Back across the Border Inlo. Honduras now the focus is on using a new package of humanitarian Aid j4.5 million per month for the even Tual demobilization of he Comras and their rein Logra lion   base Camps in Honduras. Under the new approach the Bush administration gels the. Benefits of bipartisanship it coming together of republicans and democrats perhaps for the first time on the Central America Issue and the Prospect of a policy that will be politically sustainable. If a peaceful democratic Nicaragua emerges from the process expected to culminate with elections next february Bush will. Earn plaudits All around As the Man who found a Way to tame an Issue Ilia had festered under his predecessor for  the big question Many conservatives arc asking is whether the combination of non military pressures can be enough to make the sandinista do what Reagan had said could Only be done by military Force demo rat  in effect said of the san Misla promises to Crealo democracy we can Trust them. Arms for the contras Bush in effect is rep ing Well maybe they can be trusted. Food bul not arms for the contras but Only for a  if the sandinista demonstrate Good Faith Congress could Cut off even humanitarian Aid by november two months before the election under the agreement announced Friday. But if the sandinista Are uncooperative. Bush has the option of tightening a 4-  Trade embargo against the sandinista and encouraging Aid donors in Western Europe and Japan to withhold assistance As a final option Bush could try to win renewed military Aid for the. Contras if he concludes Hal inc sandinista arc irretrievably Commil cd to marxist Rule and destabilizing neighbouring governments under that scenario the now discarded Reagan pol icy would seem More plausible in Retro specs. In any Rase just How much top rhetoric has changed from the previous administration can be illustrated by citing some quotes from a Reagan speech in june 1986, the Day before a House vote on a $100 million Aid package for the contras for Over 200 years Reagan said the Security of the United states has depended an inc safely of in threatened Borders North and South. Do we want to be the first elected leaders in . History to put our Bor Ders at risk. The Aid package was approved bul that kind of talk is All but forgotten nowadays. Tiie View of Secretary of stale James a. Baker 111, outlined Friday was Hal Reagan s policy foundered because he could t gel Congress logo along on a consistent basis. "1 think we All have to admit Hal the policy basically failed to some extent because we were of United. We. Had an executive Branch going m one direction and a legislative Branch going in  he said