Jimmy Carter interview

Former President Jimmy Carter seriously questions the military aspect of current White House Central America policy. ''I think the President is taking some great risks in a military escalation,'' Mr. Carter said this week in Atlanta in a wide-ranging, on-the-record interview.

Carter also noted that President Reagan ''has tried to educate the American people about the problems in Central America and fulfilled that part of his responsibility.''

Carter discussed a variety of foreign and domestic issues with the Monitor's Washington bureau chief, Godfrey Sperling Jr. It was a rare press interview break in Carter's schedule.

The former President detailed what he judges to be crucial contrasts between his presidential policies and those of Ronald Reagan. He pointed out key areas where he feels the Reagan administration recently has moderated policies on the Mideast, nuclear controls, Soviet relations, and Central America.

On the Kissinger commission, Carter said: ''It is highly unlikely that (it) will recommend something contrary to what Reagan policies already are.''

On a Reagan-Andropov summit conference: ''I would like to see it happen. But I doubt that it will take place in the next year, because the Soviets have never been willing to meet unless the results are preordained. They don't want an unsuccessful summit.''