Tuesday, September 22, 1981—A-5

*** SEP 22 1981

# Kissinger has doubts, backs deal

DALLAS (AP) — The United States should never have offered to sell AWACS radar warning aircraft to Saudi Arabia, but it would be a worse mistake not to go through with the deal now, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said Monday.

"I don't think it was a good idea to sell the planes to begin with," Kissinger told a news conference before speaking to a tire industry group.

But "it would be a worse mistake for the Senate now to turn it down," he said. "I think what should happen is that the administration and the Congress, instead of having a confrontation, find some means of working it out to meet everybody's security concerns and not turn it into a test of strength."

Kissinger, who had a leading role in setting foreign policy under the Nixon and Ford administrations, said perhaps additional armaments could be supplied to Israel to quell its worries.

Reagan faces opposition from Israel and many members of Congress to the $8.5 billion sale.