Rogers Tells Editors That U.S. Policy on Mideast is Devoted to Reconciliation

Secretary of State William P. Rogers told the American Society of Newspaper Editors today that the policy of the United States in the Middle East is devoted to reconciliation and compromise rather than confrontation. Mr. Rogers cited the Middle East as a situation which required patience and skilled diplomacy rather than military rigidity.

With interest centered on the Far Eastern situation following the shooting down of an American electronic intelligence plane by North Koreans, Mr. Rogers stressed that “in international affairs, the weak can be rash” but, he said, “the powerful must be restrained.” He urged a United States global policy emphasizing negotiation and compromise rather than confrontation that might result in nuclear war. In the Middle East, he said, the United States was actively seeking a lasting peace in that volatile area. He remarked that the Middle East crisis posed a danger of renewed conflict into which the United States could be drawn.

In a speech in Congress today on the Far East developments, Rep. Samuel S. Stratton, a New York Democrat, told the House that the United States should emulate Israeli reprisal tactics in striking at North Korea in response to the shooting down of the American reconnaissance aircraft. Urging an Israeli-style raid, Rep. Stratton said “the Israelis have evoked both respect and cooperation from their enemies by their prompt and pin-pointed reprisals against attacks directed on them. Certainly we in this country can safely do no less.”