Reagan Nicaragua Stance Stirring Confusion in GOP

After years of unwavering support for the Nicaraguan resistance, President Reagan has thrown his own White House and the Republican Party into confusion with his surprise decision to support the current Central American peace process.

Administration officials, Republican presidential candidates and leaders of the GOP conservative movement all appear to be uncomfortable with Reagan’s decision to allow the current appropriation for military assistance to the contras to expire on Sept. 30 before asking Congress for more money.

Until Aug. 5, when Reagan and House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.) agreed to the aid delay as part of a joint plan for a cease-fire in Central America, the President had been absolutely uncompromising in his support for uninterrupted U.S. military assistance to the anti-Sandinista rebels. His personal identification with the contras was so close that he once even declared: “I’m a contra too.”

In fact, Reagan’s decision was so out of character for him that White House and State Department officials have been issuing contradictory statements over the last week in an effort to explain it. And GOP presidential candidates, all of whom shared Reagan’s firm position on contra aid, have been forced to scramble for a comfortable position on the issue of a peace initiative.

Lesser Reforms Proposed

The disarray was heightened when the White House also decided to support a preliminary peace agreement signed Aug. 7 by Nicaragua and four U.S.-backed Central American nations, calling for lesser reforms in Nicaragua and a Nov. 7 cease-fire.

“There is a good deal of confusion at the White House and elsewhere over exactly what the President’s policy is in Central America,” said an aide to Wright who refused to be identified. “Everyone seems to be expressing a different point of view.”

The main source of the controversy is a strongly held fear among many Republican conservatives that Reagan may be abandoning the contra cause because of the humiliation he endured over the Iran-contra affair.

Deep-Seated Suspicions

Although Reagan himself strongly denies that his support for the peace process represents any change in his devotion to the contra cause, the suspicions of these conservative leaders are so deep-seated that they refused to applaud the President last week when he addressed them at the White House.

One meeting participant was quoted as saying she had been “heartbroken and terribly confused” by the White House session, in which Chief of Staff Howard H. Baker Jr. tried without success to explain to conservatives why the President had struck out on a new course in Central America.

Conservatives argue that Reagan’s actions have undercut the contras, who were just beginning to build both military and political momentum after Lt. Col. Oliver L. North’s stirring speeches on their behalf at the Iran-contra hearings.

Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) contends that recent events have been “demoralizing” for the Nicaraguan resistance.

‘Not Professional Soldiers’

“These forces are not professional soldiers,” Helms said. “They have no reason to sit in the jungle while politicians in faraway cities wrangle about the fate of freedom. The only thing 1952997748hope, the spirit of freedom. If that vision of freedom dissipates, the army could well dissipate too.”

At the outset, Reagan’s own peace plan was viewed primarily as a clever way to win continued congressional support for the contras. Without such a dramatic stroke, it appeared that a majority in Congress was inclined to vote against renewing contra aid when it expires on Sept. 30.

Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) predicted at the time that if the Sandinistas rejected the peace initiative--as expected--the President’s hand would be strengthened when his request for continued contra aid came up in Congress. Helms even declared publicly that he hoped the proposal would be rejected by Nicaragua.

A Big Political Risk

As a result, Wright’s support for the peace initiative was viewed initially by many liberal Democrats and contra aid opponents as a big political risk--if not an outright blunder. House Assistant Majority Leader Tony Coelho (D-Merced), one of Wright’s most politically sensitive lieutenants, strongly opposed it on the ground it could backfire on the Democrats if the Sandinistas rejected the cease-fire offer.

But the political winds in Washington quickly changed two days later when Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, meeting with the presidents of four other Central American nations in Guatemala, agreed to the peace plan put forward by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sanchez. Suddenly, it appeared that perhaps the President--not Wright--was being snookered.

Administration officials were clearly stunned by Ortega’s willingness to sign the Arias plan. “The Sandinistas always walked away before and we thought they would walk away again,” an unidentified Administration official told the Associated Press.

When Wright praised the Guatemala accord as a “very positive step,” Reagan had no choice but to do the same. On Saturday, in his weekly radio address, the President pledged: “We are willing to work with our Central American friends as they perfect and implement it, consistent with our national interest and our commitment to those fighting for freedom in Nicaragua.”

Nevertheless, the Arias peace plan would shred Reagan’s legislative timetable for winning renewed contra aid.

Conservatives’ Fear

Under the current circumstances, it seems unlikely that Congress would consider renewed aid for the contras before Nov. 7, the date set for a cease-fire under the Arias plan. And if a cease-fire goes into effect on that date, there will be little congressional support for contra aid as long as talks continue.

The worst fear of the conservatives is that the peace talks will drag on for many months with no resolution while depriving the contras of the military assistance they need to maintain an effective fighting force. For that reason, conservatives are demanding to know how Reagan intends to fund the contras after Sept. 30.

It was in an effort to answer these concerns of conservatives that an unnamed senior White House official, later identified by other sources as National Security Adviser Frank C. Carlucci, told reporters last Thursday that Reagan might request more contra aid before Sept. 30. But Wright, complaining that Carlucci’s statement was a betrayal of his agreement with the President, quickly obtained a retraction from the White House.

Apology to Wright

Only a few days earlier, the White House had been forced to apologize to Wright for Secretary of State George P. Shultz’s statement that the United States would never conduct bilateral negotiations with the Sandinistas. According to an aide, Wright was told that Shultz was not aware that Reagan and Wright had agreed that bilateral talks might be necessary.

The resignation on Friday of Philip C. Habib, Reagan’s Central American trooble-shooter, also was seen as an outgrowth of the Administration’s effort to placate conservatives. Always viewed with distrust by the right, Habib is understood to have left after being told by the White House that he should not go to Central America at this crucial time.

Caught squarely in the middle of this political turmoil were the Republican presidential aspirants, who must bridge what they see as a growing gap between Reagan and the conservatives on the issue of Central America. Unlike Reagan, none of those GOP candidates want to disappoint the many conservative voters who now view what is best for the contras as a political litmus test for Republican office seekers.

Re-Energized by Hearings

“There is no question that the base of conservative primary Republican Party voters is very strong for aid to the freedom fighters and they were re-energized by the Iran-contra hearings,” said Roger Stone, a senior political consultant to the presidential campaign of Rep. Jack Kemp (R-N.Y.).

On Thursday, Kemp called on the President to abandon the peace plan and immediately ask Congress for $210 million in military assistance for the contras.

At the same time, Dole, whose presidential candidacy also depends on wooing conservative voters, took a position that was both supportive of the Reagan initiative and responsive to the concerns of the right wing.

While encouraging Reagan to “give the peace process every chance,” Dole noted that the Arias plan would eliminate U.S. aid to the contras while failing to halt Soviet-Bloc support for Nicaragua. He proposed to solve this problem through direct U.S.-Nicaraguan talks.

Continued Aid Urged

Dole called on Congress to approve continued contra aid before Sept. 30, even though his legislative aides acknowledged that there is no chance that such a vote can take place.

Vice President George Bush also criticized the Arias plan during an interview with a Miami radio station, saying it “accepted on faith” many Sandinista positions. His remarks were interpreted in some circles as a highly unusual break with the President on the issue of Central America. But a Bush spokesman later insisted that Bush “is right in step with the Administration.”

For now, Bush’s strategy appears to depend on expressing support for the President and avoiding a discussion of the details.

In the midst of those competing political pressures, the President and Administration officials still must decide what they intend to do about future funding for the contras. On Sunday, White House Chief of Staff Baker said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the President is still undecided whether he will request renewed contra aid on Sept. 30. He said it is possible the aid request will be delayed beyond that date if the Sandinistas appear to be moving toward a satisfactory peace agreement and a cease-fire on Nov. 7.

But a House Democratic leadership aide, who refused to be identified, predicted that Congress will be unwilling to approve money for anything but food and medicine as long as the peace talks continue. “I don’t think we’re going to be sending them arms,” he said.

He also cautioned: “If there is a breakdown in the talks that is perceived as being caused by something our government did, contra aid is dead forever.”