BUSH CONFIRMS DEATH OF HOSTAGE WILLIAM BUCKLEY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000200900002-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 19, 2012
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: January 20, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000200900002-2
STAT
ASSOCIATED PRESS
20 January 1987
Bush Confirms Death Of Hostage William Buckley
By BRYAN BRUMLEY, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON
FILE ONLY
Vice President GeorgeBush, confirming for the first time the death of
hostage William Buckley, said Tuesday night the U.S. embassy official kidnapped
in Beirut in 1984 had been tortured and killed.
And, the vice president said the administration will "go the extra mile" to
see that the remaining hostages are freed.
Buckley, identified in published reports as the head of the CIA station in
Beirut when he was kidnapped on March 16, 1984, has been believed dead since the
Islamic Jihad terrorist organization announced on Oct. 4, 1985, that it had
executed him.
Islamic Jihad released a photo it says showed Buckley's body, but the corpse
has never been found and U.S. officials had not confirmed his death. Buckley
apparently died in June 1985.
Bush, in a speech delivered at a terrorism conference in Washington Tuesday
night, did not specify which government agency Buckley worked for, did not say
how he was sure that Buckley was dead, and did not give any details of his
death. The vice president did not deviate from the prepared text released
earlier and did not speak with reporters following the address.
The vice president, referring to the sale of U.S. anti-tank and anti-aircraft
missile arms to Iran in 1985 and 1986, said that "the American people should
know that the president is certain to this very day that he did not authorize
'arms for hostages.""At the same time you should know the concern that the
president feels when an American in terrorist hands is tortured, and in the case
of William Buckley, killed," Bush said.
Marlin Fitzwater, the vice president's press secretary, said the statement on
Buckley's death "reflects an acceptance of the situation as we know it. The
problem is Mr. Buckley's body has not been recovered. It has been difficult to
acknowledge his death in the past," he added.
"The vice president feels there is enough evidence now to acknowledge it,"
Fitzwater said. He would not discuss what if any _ new evidence had been
uncovered.
-
In its fight against terrorism, Bush said, the administration would press for
K the extradition of Mohammed Ali Hamadi, a Lebanese arrested in West Germany last
week in connection with the killing of U.S. Navy diver Robert D. Stethem by
hijackers in June 1985.
"None of us are going to rest until Hamadi is brought to justice," Bush said.
Earlier, State Department spokesman Charles Redman said the government had
officially requested Hamedi's extradition.
, Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000200900002-2
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000200900002-2
Hamadi, 22, is wanted on U.S. charges of air piracy, murder and more than a
dozen other crimes in connection with the hijacking of a TWA jet, commandeered
between Athens and Rome and forced to land in Beirut.
In Beirut, new hopes were raised for the release of five Americans still held
hostage. Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite canceled his flight home to England
on Tuesday to stay in Beirut for face-to-face negotiations with representatives
of the Islamic Jihad. Waite played in intermediary role in the release of three
other American hostages.
To free the Americans, Bush said, the administration "will explore every
channel, run down every lead. We will go the extra mile to free those
hostages."Bush, who headed a presidential task force on terrorism in 1985-86,
drew the distinction between contacting terrorists and bargaining with them, a
point that has been made by other administration officials.
"I believe we must reaffirm our policy with a better understanding that there
is a very thin and delicate line between talking with terrorists and negotiating
with terrorists," Bush said.
"We do not make concessions to terrorists," Bush said, reaffirming a long
declared U.S. policy. "We do not pay ransoms. We do not release prisoners. We do
not encourage other countries to give in to terrorists. And we do riot agree to
other acts that might encourage future terrorism."The other Americans still held
in Lebanon are:
Terry Anderson, 39, a native of Lorain, Ohio, chief Middle East
correspondent for The Associated Press, abducted March 16, 1985.
Thomas Sutherland, 55, of Fort Collins, Colo., acting dean of agriculture at
American University, kidnapped June 10, 1985.
Frank Herbert Reed, 53, of Maiden, Mass., director of the Lebanese
International School in Beirut, kidnapped Sept. 9, 1986.
Joseph Cicippio, 56, of Valley Forge, Pa., acting comptroller of American
University, abducted Sept. 12, 1986.
Edward Austin Tracy, 56, of Rutland, Vt., a self-described writer of
children's books. The date of his kidnapping is unclear. It was announced Oct.
21, 1986 by a group calling itself Revolutionary Justice Organization.
Islamic Jihad claims to hold Anderson and Sutherland. Revolutionary Justice
Organization, another Shiite faction, claims to hold Cicipppic and Tracy. Reed
is believed held by a pro-Libya faction, the Arab Revolutionary Cells-Omar
Moukhtar Forces.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000200900002-2