Bush Attacks Carter's Foreign Policy

The United States is menaced by "twin shadows of international lawlessness and aggression," Republican Presidential candidate George Bush told a Kennedy School of Government Forum crowd last night, in his strongest attack to date on President Carter's foreign policy.

Calling Carter's dealings with the Soviets "erratic and often incoherent," Bush termed the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and the capture of the Iranian embassy "the bitter fruits" of Carter's policies.

Hallmarks

Strength, credibility and vision would be the hallmarks of Bush's administration's foreign policy, the former ambassador to the United Nations told the capacity crowd, adding that the nation needs the neutron bomb, the B-1 bomber and heavy increases in defense spending.

Bush labeled his speech "an update" of his foreign policy stance partly in response to "four long months" of the Iran crisis.

Carving out a position to the left of former California Gov. Ronald Reagan, a rival for the Republican nomination, Bush blasted as irresponsible rhetoric "a foreign policy of deadlines and blockades." Reagan last month suggested a blockade of Cuba in response to the Afghanistan invasion.

From former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to current president Leonid I. Brezhnev, Soviet foreign policy has not changed significantly, Bush declared, saying that the Afghanistan invasion was a "logical extension of policies designed to create a change in the world power balance."

Urging the President to "be honest about the reality of the hostage situation," Bush said the Vietnam war had proved that "no administration can expect unqualified open-ended support of a policy about which the public is given insufficient or misleading information."

Carter has been unwilling "to meet force with anything except words and phrases-- because this nation's military power has been reduced to the point where America does not, in fact, have the strength to meet its commitments around the world," Bush said.

Some "ridicule the idea of a 'domino theory' as it applies to aggression," Bush said. However, the American failure to "aid the anti-Communist forces in Angola five years ago" helped cause the invasion of Zaire, Cuban and Soviet involvement in Somalia, upheaval in North and South Temen, and the Afghan invasion, he added.

Bush called for a SALT III treaty "based on an equitable military balance, adequate safeguards for verification, and a real reduction in strategic force levels."

However, Bush said, "you don't get to SALT III by entering into an inequitable SALT II agreement.

Defense spending could be increased without hurting social programs if the economy were revived, Bush said in answer to a question. "We have enough productivity for both," he explained.

The winner of the Iowa caucus and the Puerto Rican primary drew a chorus of boos and hisses when he said he opposed federal funding of abortions because the operations are "immoral.