Escort Service for the Gulf

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By week's end National Security Adviser Frank Carlucci and the Joint Chiefs of Staff had fashioned a plan. According to Administration sources, the U.S. will increase its naval presence in the gulf from six ships to nine. The additional vessels will most likely be frigates, cruisers or destroyers equipped with missiles. Radar reports would be provided by Saudi Arabia-based AWACS and Oman-based P-3C Orions, while air cover would primarily be supplied by a Navy carrier stationed outside the gulf. The Navy ships will probably escort small convoys of three or four Kuwaiti tankers through the gulf every ten days or so. The danger spot for U.S. vessels will be the 40- to 60-mile- wide Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has deployed Chinese-made Silkworm missiles.

Reagan defended his Kuwaiti escort service as the best way to protect oil shipments to the West. Citing the gas lines facing motorists in the late- 1970s, he vowed that "our national economy will never again be held captive." But the Administration has other motives. By assisting Iraq's ally, the U.S. hopes to counter the growing Soviet presence in the gulf. The Administration offered to reflag the vessels only after the Soviet Union aided the Kuwaitis by leasing them three tankers last March. While the Administration insists it is still neutral in the 6 1/2-year war between Iran and Iraq, Assistant Defense Secretary Richard Armitage said, "We can't stand to see Iraq defeated. That specter would lead to instability from Marrakesh to Bangladesh."

Meanwhile, in Baghdad, a team of Pentagon and State Department officials ended its investigation of the Stark attack. After meeting with Iraqi officials, Rear Admiral David Rogers, head of the U.S. delegation, said he was "certain we have the information to piece together what happened." He refused to confirm reports, however, that they had not spoken with the pilot who evidently mistook the Stark for an Iranian tanker and blasted the frigate with two Exocet missiles.

While the architects of U.S. foreign policy struggled to shape their strategy, the widows and families of the slain Stark crewmen struggled to put the tragedy behind them. Last week the remains of 35 of the 37 dead sailors arrived at Delaware's Dover Air Force Base. Under a bruised sky, pallbearers carried the flag-draped coffins from the belly of a cargo plane and into a concrete hangar. After a brief memorial service marked by quiet sobs, the coffins were shipped to grave sites in small towns such as Greeleyville, S.C., and Fitchburg, Mass., all far, far away from the Persian Gulf.