Carter to Decide in a Week Whether U.S. Will Sell Concussion Bomb

President Carter said today that he would decide within a week on whether the U. S. will go ahead with the sale of concussion bombs. The President was obviously referring to one of the four categories of sophisticated weapons that President Ford had promised to sell to Israel last Oct. 8. But in his statement at a White House press conference he did not specifically mention Israel or Ford’s pledge.

Asked if he would block the sale of the weapon which can devastate a wide area, Carter said “The sale of the concussion bomb is an item that concerns me very much” and that blocking the sale “is one of the options I have.” He said he has asked the State and Defense Departments to analyze the “political and military consequences of the sale.”

Carter also noted that the previous announcement concerning the sale had not been cleared by either of the two departments. He was apparently referring to the announcement of Ford’s promise to Israel last year. Ford never submitted the matter to Congress for approval as required by law.

REAFFIRMS DEDICATION TO HUMAN RIGHTS

In response to reporters’ questions about the imprisonment of Alexander Ginzburg, the Soviet dissident author and poet, Carter reiterated his dedication to human rights in the Soviet Union and elsewhere. “I reserve the right to speak out forcefully on human rights.” the President declared. He added that this was “not intended as a public relations attack on the Soviet Union.”

Carter said, “I regret the fact” that the Soviet Union has “incarcerated” Ginzburg. But he observed that there has been “progress” in the Soviet Union and elsewhere on human rights. He said an example was that “the number of Jews permitted to emigrate (from the Soviet Union) in the last few months has increased.”

But the President stressed. “We’ve got to be firm and forceful” and not “timid” on human rights. “I don’t want to mislead the American people” and have them “expect overnight success” since it will be a “tedious” process. Carter added.

He said he opposed the concept of “linkage” of human rights with other issues between the U. S. and the USSR. He said that human rights “can be separated from atomic weapons and the reduction of forces in Europe.” He noted that an invitation to Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the exiled Russian writer, would not have affected U.S. arms discussions with the Soviet Union. “We can come out better if I am consistently and completely dedicated to human rights,” he said.