U.S. Invites Soviets to Send Troops to Middle East in a Policy Reversal

The United States formally dropped its longstanding objection to a Soviet military presence in the Middle East on Friday as President Bush departed for a one-day superpower meeting in Finland designed to put forth a common front against the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait.

Reversing decades of U.S. policy, a senior Administration official declared in a pre-summit briefing that it would be “useful” for the Soviet Union to contribute ground troops to the multinational force now arrayed against Iraq in the Arabian desert.

The invitation to Moscow to dispatch military forces to a region in which the United States has long sought to hold it at bay marked a dramatic step forward in a U.S.-Soviet partnership that has evolved rapidly since the Persian Gulf crisis began.

There was no immediate indication, however, that the Soviet Union would send troops, and the Administration stopped short of acceding to a Soviet request that the troops in the region be subject to a central United Nations command.

The U.S. appeal for joint action came as a newly arranged airlift of Americans from Kuwait opened a route to freedom for hundreds of U.S. citizens who have spent weeks in hiding, with the first planeload of evacuees scheduled to arrive in the United States this weekend.

Meanwhile, U.S. officials searched for a way to maintain a comprehensive quarantine against Iraq in the face of mounting pressure from other countries to open the way for food supplies as shortages there begin to take hold.

A ranking U.S. official said the Administration feared that a crack in the sanctions could “set the clock back by months” by easing the economic squeeze on Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. He conceded, however, that the United States has found itself in an increasingly “uncomfortable position” in appearing to use “food as a weapon of war.”

The new Administration statement on Soviet ground troops appeared to be part of a larger strategy to use the Sunday session in Helsinki to present a picture of superpower unity against Iraq and send what the senior official called “a very helpful signal” to Hussein.

Some U.S. officials had hinted previously that the United States might welcome a Soviet military contribution to the anti-Iraq coalition, but the unequivocal statement at the briefing Friday elevated to official policy the U.S. willingness to accept a Soviet army contingent in the Middle East.

The senior Administration official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, said the presence of Soviet ground troops would underline the multilateral character of the forces against Iraq “by adding representation from one of the major powers.”

Asked whether Bush would urge Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev to provide ground troops, the official said only that such a gesture would be “useful” and would make the Administration “very happy.” But he said the step was not “essential.”

The United States has sought since World War II to block any Soviet military presence in the Middle East, and refused as recently as 1987 to permit the Soviet Union to participate in an operation designed to safeguard Kuwaiti oil tanker shipments threatened by the Iran-Iraq War.

In explaining the turnabout, the senior Administration official asserted that Moscow had demonstrated a “fairly impressive departure” from traditional Soviet policy challenging U.S. interests in the Middle East.

“The world has changed fairly dramatically,” the official said, noting that the Soviets had made clear their opposition to the Iraqi invasion. “I think a cooperative approach is warranted.”

At the same time, however, the Administration gave no indication of a willingness to consider proposals by the Soviets and others to organize the anti-Iraq military effort under a United Nations flag--creating the kind of multinational army not seen since the Korean War.

“We need to learn to walk on these kind of cooperative ventures before we can run,” one official said.

And U.S. officials also made clear their continued pique at the presence in Iraq of 193 Soviet military advisers who, in an anomaly left over from Moscow’s past policies, continue to provide assistance to the Iraqi army.

The Administration previously had given wide berth to the question of indirect Soviet aid, suggesting that the advisers might not be free to leave. But the senior Administration official said bluntly Friday that “you can be sure that that issue will be discussed” at the summit.

Meanwhile, as the first airlift of 165 Americans from Kuwait arrived in Amman, Jordan, the State Department expressed hope that a succession of flights in coming days could bring hundreds of U.S. citizens to safety.

A second flight of similar size was scheduled to make its way from Kuwait city through Baghdad to Jordan this morning, and the more than 300 Americans were then expected to return to the United States aboard a military plane.

In Washington, Iraqi Ambassador Mohammed Mashat said Iraq had taken the initiative to “show the world our goodwill” with release of the Americans, but complained that the United States had failed to reciprocate with a similar act to ease tensions.

State Department spokesman Mark Dillen said Friday’s evacuation had proceeded in a “smooth, orderly fashion” and added that the United States remained hopeful that Iraq would eventually permit the departure of “all those who wish to leave.”

But Dillen noted that Iraq had offered exit rights only to women and children, and he warned against over-optimism, saying: “The hopes of hundreds of thousands of people have been raised and dashed by Iraq’s string of inconsistent statements and cynical manipulations.”

Indeed, even as the airlift began, the State Department said at least one more American man had been rounded up in Kuwait and moved to Baghdad, bringing to nearly 90 the total of Americans now in Iraqi custody.

The department also complained that Iraq had not yet followed through on its promise to provide U.S. officials access to an American man shot and wounded Wednesday by Iraqi soldiers in Kuwait.

In providing new details about the airlift, U.S. officials confirmed that the United States made payments to the Iraqi government to cover charter costs for the Iraqi Airways jetliners used in the evacuation. They also indicated that the United States was providing spare parts for the aircraft.

The State Department insisted, however, that the arrangement did not violate the embargo against Iraq. In an apparent claim to a humanitarian exemption, it said that the flights had “the express purpose” of gaining freedom for Americans and others who had been detained as hostages.

At the same time, U.S. officials seeking to blunt international momentum in support of food aid for Iraq mounted an effort to persuade other countries that shortages had not yet reached a critical point, and that there was no need for a relief effort.

The effort at the United Nations came in response to signals that China, Iran and India were preparing to begin food shipments, and to divisions within a special Security Council committee about whether food aid should be blocked as part of the U.N. embargo.