ABC News, The Weekend Report. Here's Tom General.
Good evening. There was a sharp escalation in one Central American conflict today,
and U.S. helicopters flying with the expressed approval of President Reagan played a major role.
The choppers, unarmed but flown by American crews,
were used to fly Honduran soldiers to a border conflict with Sandinista forces.
The Sandinistas from Nicaragua frequently have crossed the border into Honduras
in pursuit of the U.S.-backed Contras.
Usually Honduras leaves them alone, but not this time.
Correspondent Gene Mazurve has the latest.
President Reagan agreed Saturday while at Camp David to provide the assistance
in response to a request from the Honduran government.
And Sunday afternoon, U.S. military helicopters began ferrying Honduran soldiers
to within 15 miles of the Nicaraguan border.
Monday, the U.S. will airlift supplies to those Honduran troops,
including weapons and ammunition.
The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee does not disagree with the decision
to help a close U.S. ally.
And if there was an incursion that affects their sovereignty,
then I think it's possible and responsible for us to assist them.
The Hondurans allege that a Sandinista force of over 1,000
has been staging incursions into their territory
and hitting not Contras but Honduran troops.
The Nicaraguans deny it.
The Nicaraguan army is not within Honduras.
The Hondurans have responded by staging air raids against the Sandinistas.
They claim to have hit only targets within Honduras.
But the Sandinistas say Nicaraguan towns have been bombed
and that U.S. aircraft may have been used.
A State Department official denies that the U.S. took part in any airstrikes.
U.S. helicopters involved in the airlift are not armed
and have been instructed not to approach areas of possible hostile actions.
The vicinity of the fighting is remote
and the charges and counter-charges hard to evaluate.
But both the Nicaraguan and Honduran governments
are promising to take reporters to the scene on Monday,
both determined to demonstrate that they are telling the truth.
Jean Mazurv, ABC News, the State Department.
A member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee,
Congressman Michael Barnes tonight criticized the administration's use
of helicopters in that conflict, saying it is enormously dangerous
and can only lead to disaster for the United States.
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A Newsweek poll just out indicates only 10 percent of Americans believe
President Reagan's claim that he didn't know that the money from the secret
Iran arms deal was going to Nicaragua's Contra rebels.
And only 23 percent believe Mr. Reagan is doing all he can to uncover the facts
in that case.
Some of those facts could come to light tomorrow when Secretary of State Schultz
becomes the first major administration figure to testify about the deal in an
open session on Capitol Hill.
Meanwhile, the president won praise today from some congressmen for admitting
publicly that mistakes were made in the way the Iran arms deal was carried out.
More on that now from Sheila Kast.
At the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, President and Mrs. Reagan spent
the evening honoring six famous entertainers.
The president has not amplified the admission he made over the weekend that
mistakes were made in implementing his Iran policy.
The chairman of the House committee, which will start hearings on the Iran
flap in a few hours, said Mr. Reagan's statement was long and coming and went
only part way.
To admit that there were mistakes in implementation is the understatement of
the world.
I mean, the problem was that you had substance of policy here that was
cockeyed.
But Republicans and even some Democrats called the statement the right strategy.
I think it helped a lot.
I think it drew the distinction that the policy he thought was all right, but the
implementation was a mistake.
Others in Congress questioned the policy of arms sales to Iran as well as the
implementation.
But on This Week with David Brinkley, a Democrat on the Senate Intelligence
Committee argued the arms sales and the transfer of funds to the Nicaraguan
rebels were consistent policies of the president.
I don't think it serves the country well to catch the evil if you could catch
him because it is policy and not criminal activity involved.
There's no indication the president turned the tide in Congress by admitting a
mistake.
This week's hearings may test that and it may also show whether congressmen mean
it when they say they're as eager as the president to get the whole story out
quickly.
Sheila Kast, ABC News, The White House.
Thank you for joining us.