
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 1, 1990                   TAG: 9007010147
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

BUSH PROPOSES ELIMINATING NUCLEAR SHELLS FROM EUROPE

On the eve of a summit of Western leaders next week, the Bush administration has proposed to its allies the eventual withdrawal of the U.S. arsenal of nuclear-tipped artillery shells from Western Europe, senior U.S. and diplomatic officials disclosed Saturday.

The unilateral withdrawal of a stockpile of nearly 1,400 U.S. nuclear weapons from West Germany and four other countries would occur as virtually all the enemy targets for such weapons disappear from Eastern Europe, as a result of the expected withdrawal of Soviet troops and recent democratic political reforms that have crippled the Warsaw Pact military organization, the officials said.

The U.S. proposal, which parallels a vigorous appeal from the Dutch and strong expressions of support by the West Germans, Italians and Belgians, is partly aimed at easing Soviet concerns about potential membership of a united Germany in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The London summit of 16 Western heads of state Thursday and Friday will look for ways to reassure the Soviets that their interests will be best served by continued German participation in NATO.

Most of the nuclear-tipped artillery projectiles are deployed in West Germany, and are incapable of hitting targets more than 18 miles away. With the political unification of East and West Germany later this year, the weapons will be widely viewed as militarily obsolete, officials said.

President Bush plans to meet with senior military and foreign policy advisers at Kennebunkport, Maine, Monday to complete U.S. plans for the summit, and the officials Saturday declined to provide details of the new U.S. proposal, including its timing.

Elimination of the nuclear artillery shells would leave roughly 700 U.S. warheads associated with short-range Lance missiles, and 1,400 nuclear bombs deployed with tactical aircraft in Europe.

The Soviet Union proposed in mid-June that the two sides begin negotiations aimed at eliminating these weapons and their Soviet counterparts. The new U.S. initiative is seen by some as a way to fend off West European interest in the Soviet plan, while preserving the option, now favored by U.S. planners, of deploying roughly 450 new short-range nuclear missiles aboard U.S. and allied tactical aircraft in Europe beginning in 1995.

by CNB