Horner Lobbied for Sale Of Planes to Saudi Arabia

President Horner last fall lobbied for Senate approval of the sale of AWACS aircraft to Saudi Arabia, co-signing a confidential telex on the eve of a crucial Senate vote that strongly urged a handful of wavering senators to cast their votes for the sale "in the best interests of the United States."

The October 28 telex--signed by Horner and 22 corporate executives on a tour of Eastern Europe and the Middle East sponsored by Time, Inc.--argues that Senate rejection of the sale of the electronic reconnaissance planes would "severely damage U.S. credibility in [the] Arab world."

Complexities

A negative vote on the sale would also "substantially diminish U.S. ability to play a critical role" in Arab-Israeli peace talks and "permit the Soviet [Union] to increase its influence in the Arab Gulf," the dispatch--a copy of which The Crimson received this week--contends.

Alone among the 23 signers, Horner did not include her institutional affiliation on the telex, which was received by about 20 senators only hours before the Senate approved the sale by a 52-48 margin.

"It was clearly an individual statement and in no way should reflect on the institution," Horner said this week, adding that Time invited her to join the two-week "fact-finding" tour because she sits on the board of Time. Inc. She explained that she occupies that post primarily because of her "work as a scholar," not because she is president of Radcliffe.

"I can't even imagine how my signing it could affect the institution," she said.

She has not informed University officials that she signed the document, she said, adding that "the only basis on which I would sign it was as an individual." Horner said she has "no idea whatsoever" whether the telex influenced the votes of any senators.

Only one member of the Time party--Vernon Jordon, head of the National Urban League--declined to sign the telex. Jordan was unavailable for comment yesterday, and Horner said she "can't really be sure what Vernon's position was"

Thomas J. Watson Jr. last year's Harvard commencement speaker and chairman emeritus of the IBM Corporation, also cosigned the telex.

Though Homer called herself "an extremely strong supporter of Israel." she said her contact during the trip with Eastern European and Middle Eastern leaders showed her that "on balance, there was considerably more to be lost' if the United States rerieged on President Reagan's pledge of the AWACS.

She denied allegation in today's issue of the New Republic that intense Saudi lobbying efforts influenced many American corporations--including some whose representatives signed the tells--to press for the sale. The telex--as at from Riyadh. Saudi Arabia--was not a "Saudi effort" and the group actually found that some Saudi leaders opposed the sale. Horner said.

Horner added she "saw no danger" in the sale of the AWACS because they are" clearly a defensive piece of equipment--you can't do anything offensive with an AWACS" She would have been "much more concerned" had the United States contemplated selling "nuclear equipment," she said.

But Steven Emerson--a reporter for the New Republic whose article this week details Saudi lobbying efforts for the sale-yesterday denied Horner's contentions that the Saudi were divided on the AWACS issue and that the attract are solely defensive.

Out of all the political issue facing Saudi Arabia: the last eight years, there has been no other issue on which there has been such a firm consensus " Emerson said.

And despite Horner's Assessment, Emerson said there is "no doubt that those were offensive weapons: after all, they were explicitly denied [to the Saudis] in 1978 on that very basis--that they were offensive."

Emerson said his reporting also indicates that, despite Horner's assertion that individual signers affixed their names to the telex privately. "there was a collective discussion" among the four members were aware of whether their colleagues signed the dispatch