U.S. AIDE, ABDUCTED IN BEIRUT, SEEN ON VIDEOTAPE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302630031-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 13, 2012
• Sequence Number: 31
• Publication Date: January 29, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302630031-7
THE NEW YORK TIMES
29 January, 1985 0111. .021Y
P,PrAPPIARP
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U.S. Aide, Abducted in Beirut, Seen on Videotape
BERNARD GWY.RTZMAN
Special to The New Y itt Times
WASHINGTON ? One of five Amer-
icans apparently kidnapped in Beirut
over the last 10 months was seen today
in a 56-second videotape in which he
called on the United States to "take ac-
tion for our release quickly."
However, the American, William
Buckley, a political officer in the
United States Embassy in Beirut, did
not specify what Washington had to do
to gain freedom for the five.
' On the videotape, Mr. Buckley said
that he and two other missing Amer-
icans were well. He mentioned Jeremy
Levin, the Beirut bureau chief for the
Cable News Network, and the Rev.
Benjamin M. Weir, a Presbyterian
minister.,
He made no mention of the two
Americans most recently listed as
missing in 'Beirut, Peter Kilburn, a li-
brarian at the American University,
on Dec. 3
who failed to report to work
and is presumed kidnapped, and the
Rev. Martin Lawrence Jenco, a Roman
Catholic priest who headed the Catho-
lic Relief Services office, who was
seized on Jan. 8.
Many Unanswered Questions
The videotape, initially released by a
private, London-based television news
agency, appeared to have been made
by Mr. Buckley's captors in the last
week.
The tape did not clear up the uncer-
tainty over who is holding the Amer-
icans, where they are, whether all five
are being held by the Same group and
what the conditions are for their re-
lease.
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,
Visaeln
William Buckley, a U.S. diplomat, in videotape apparently made recently.
It was learned from non-Government
sources today that another videotape
was sent secretly to the State Depart-
ment last July and that the earlier tape
might provide a clue to the unexplained
statement by Mr. Buckley.
That videotape, whose existence was
confirmed by Reagan Administration
officials, showed Mr. Levin, Mr. Weir
and Mr. Buckley, with Mr. Levin mak-
ing a statement calling for the release
of prisoners held by Kuwait.
? Kuwait arrested 17 Shiite Moslems in
connection with explosions at the
American and French embassies and
at Kuwaiti Government buildings in
Kuwait in December 1983.
Release of those prisoners was also
the demand made by the hijackers of a
Kuwaiti airliner that was forced to fly
to Teheran last month. The hijackers,
who killed two American officials
aboard the plane before eventually
being taken into Iranian custody, failed
to win the release of the prisoners.
A senior State Department official
said, however, that it was not definite
the Beirut abductors were demanding
the release of the prisoners in Kuwait
as the condition for freeing the Amer-
icans. Recent telephone calls to news
agencies in Beirut have demanded that
all Americans leave Lebanon.
State Department officials said to-
day that American officials had not
publicized the original tape in order to_
make it easier to' conduct quiet diplo':
made efforts through the Syrians and
er channels. It was shown, however,
-,to Cable News Network executives,
they said. .
? r? President Reagan, commenting to-
'day, said he could not reveal details of
American diplomatic efforts, but said,
'Believe me, this is very 'much on our
Th State Department official said,
"ittre honestly don't know for sure who
Vie are dealing with, or Where the pris-
,quers are, or how many !here are, or
Cptinued
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302630031-7
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302630031-7
what we are supposed to do to get them
released."
Anonymcius phone calls in Beirut
have said the five Americans were
being field by Islamic Holy War. Many
officials believe this is a name used by
a number of extremist Shiite groups in
Reirut .
? The videotape released today was
first shown to reporters by Visnewa, a
, television news syndicate founded by
Reuters, the British Broadcasting Cor-
poration and the national broadcasting
companies of Australia, Canada and
New Xealand.
, Its managing _editor, Kevin Hamil-
ton, would not say how Visnews got the
? -
tape. It was subsequently shown by
NBC News on the program "Today." ,
In the tape, Mr. Buckley, who is 56
years old, was shown wearing a brown
jacket and standing before a blank.
wall. He held up the Jan. 22 issue of a
French-language Beirut daily, 1.:Ori-1.
ent-Le Jour.
"Today, the 22d of January 1985, I -
am well and my friends Benjamin Weir,
and Jeremy Levin are also well," Mr._:
Buckley said. "We ask that our Gov-
ernment take action for our release
quickly." .
Mr. Hamilton said his agency had not .
received any written statements with
the tam.
Mr, Levin's wife, Lucille, said in an
interview on the "Today" program
that she thought the tape was "a very
good sign:" She said it was a signal for
negotiations, but she pointed out that
Mr. Buckley had mispronounced the
name of her husband as le.h-VEEN in-
stead of ,LEIIV-in"."
"Apparently they are not being held
in the same mom," she said. "Two
men who've been held together for a
year would at least get their last names
correct."
- A state Department official, who
also noted the mispronunciation, said it
was possible that Mr. Buckley was ,
sending some kind of signal by the mis-
take.
President Reagan, when he was
asked by reporters today what the
United States was doing to obtain the
prisoners' release, said, "That's some7
thing we can't talk about." -
"But believe me,""' be continued,
"this is very much on our minds. We
haven't forgotten that they're in cap-
tivity. I don't think it would-be produc-
tive for us to talk about what we're
doing."
Asked if the efforts were making -
progress, Mr. Reagan replied, "I'm not
going to tell the score.'
Mr. Levin disappeared last March 7-
and was assumed tohave been abutt-
ed. Mr. Buckley was seen being kid-
napped as he left his apartment house
on March 16. Mr. Weir was seen being
seized by gunmen last May 8.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/13 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000302630031-7