WHITE HOUSE EXPECTED RELEASE OF MORE CAPTIVES IN 1985 IRAN ARMS DEAL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00561R000100160009-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 23, 2012
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: December 1, 1986
• Content Type: MEMO

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WASHINGTON POST
12 November 1986
White House Expected
Release of More Captives
In 1985 Iran Arms Deal
By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
The White House in September
1985 believed it had arranged the
release of at least two and possibly
all six American hostages held by a
pro-Iranian terrorist group in Leb-
anon after permitting two plane-
loads of arms to be shipped from
Israel to Tehran, informed sources
said yesterday.
But the subsequent freeing of
only the Rev. Benjamin Weir on
Sept. 14, 1985, was the first of sev-
eral bitter disappointments suffered
by President Reagan and his aides,
the sources said. Although during
the next 14 months the Iranians
repeatedly promised more than
they delivered, the White House
was reluctant to believe that Teh-
ran and the pro-Iranian Islamic Ji-
had group in Lebanon were dealing
duplicitously, the sources added.
For four days after Weir's re-
lease, Reagan withheld the news in
hopes that other hostages would be
freed, according to one knowledge-
able source. After his release, Weir
was secretly taken to the U.S. naval
base in Norfolk where he was ques-
tioned for up to 12 hours by U.S.
military officers considering con-
tingency plans for a possible mis-
sion to rescue the other hostages,
sources said.
Such planning was eventually
aborted because of concern that the
hostages were being moved too fre-
quently for U.S. forces to confident-
ly launch a rescue attempt, the
sources said.
The marathon debriefing session
in Norfolk provoked an argument
among U.S. officials on the scene
and subsequently led to a more rou-
tine schedule for interviewing other
hostages after their release.
Weir and five other hostages
were held by the Islamic Jihad,
which wanted to use the Americans
to gain freedom for 17 terrorists
imprisoned in Kuwait for two bomb-
ings there.
After Weir, two more of those
hostages were released, reportedly
after additional arms shipments
were made. The Rev. Lawrence
Jenco was freed last July, and this
was followed by the freeing of Da-
vid P. Jacobsen on Nov. 2.
As in the past, the White House
expected at least one more hostage
to appear when Jacobsen was re-
leased, and was disappointed when
that did not happen, sources said.
Islamic Jihad may now be less re-
sponsive to Tehran because it has
given up three of its hostages with-
out getting anyone released from
the Kuwaiti jails, the sources added.
One source familiar with the pro-
gram said of the White House,
"They were dealing with Iranians
who have been known as tough bar-
gainers for thousands of years." An-
other source added that during the
past year, only the White House
knew the nature of the agreement"
leading to the three hostage re-
leases and that the White House
often "speculated it would be for
more than one person."
The program was initially run by
then-national security affairs advis-
er Robert C. McFarlane, who con-
tinued to take an active role even
after leaving the government,
sources said.
One source said White House
officials were warned by other ad-
ministration officials that "once the
program started, the Iranians would
stretch it out for as long as they
could." Every time the president or
a White House spokesman said a
hostage release "slipped through
our fingers," they meant the Iran-
ians had not lived up to their part of
the deal, the source added.
McFarlane made his first direct
comments on the episode in a four-
page statement made available yes-
terday that emphasized Iran's "stra-
tegic importance" to the United
States.
McFarlane said Iran is important
to the United States because of its
strategic position and that its rev-
olution must be accepted by Wash-
ington. However, he added, the
United States must remain "funda-
mentally opposed" to Tehran ex-
porting revolution beyond its bor-
ders by "overt hostilities or the use
of terrorism."
Although the White House pro-
gram has permitted arms to go to
Iran, contrary to the stated U.S.
policy of embargoing weapons to
Tehran, the administration has
steadfastly refused to ask Kuwait to
release the jailed terrorists.
Islamic Jihad is believed to still
hold hostages Terry A. Anderson
and Thomas Sutherland. The group
said a year ago that it had killed
U.S. diplomat William Buckley, but
his body has never been found.
It was also learned yesterday that
in response to a cash ransom de-
mand, the United States earlier this
year authorized middlemen to ne-
gotiate for the release of Peter Kil-
burn, a librarian at the American
University in Beirut who was seized
by gunmen in West Beirut in De-
cember 1984.
A U.S. official said Kilburn was
picked up originally "by thugs," who
carried out the kidnaping for the
money rather than for a political
cause.
Subsequent negotiations over
money for Kilburn's release were
never concluded, sources said, and
it was unclear how sefious the
White House was about eventually
paying to free the hostages.
Some officials believe that Kil-
burn was sold to a pro-Libyan group
in early April when there were ru-
mors that Washington planned to
take some retaliatory action against
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi
for supporting terrorism.
After the U.S. bombing attack on
Libya in mid-April, Kilburn and two
British men were found dead and a
pro-Libyan group claimed the ex-
ecution was a reprisal.
Three additional American hos-
tages have been seized in Beirut
since September, and U.S. officials
are not certain which groups are
holding them. To date, no demands
have been made for their release,
sources said. Some U.S. officials
believe that kidnapers of Americans
are often apolitical Lebanese gang-
sters who sell their prisoners to
groups such as Islamic Jihad.
In defending the covert arms-for-
hostages program that also aimed
to end Iranian support for terror-
ism, White House sources said that
Islamic Jihad has not captured any
Americans since the mid-1985 dis-
cussions began.
However, other U.S. officials
critical of the program noted yes-
terday that someone claiming to be
Islamic Jihad asserted responsibility
for the kidnaping on Sept. 9 of
Frank Reed.
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On Monday, a little-known group
called the Revolutionary Justice
Organization said it was holding
Joseph James Cicippio, who was
seized Sept. 12, and Edward Austin
Tracy, who was taken Oct. 21.
News reports have said that group
receives Iranian support.
One concern raised by State and
Defense Department officials was
that the program could lead to the
taking of additional hostages to
keep the arms supplies coming.
John M. Poindexter, Reagan's
national security affairs adviser, has
begun briefing key members of
Congress on the general outline of
the plan.
Yesterday, an administration of-
ficial took issue with a report in The
Washington Post that Poindexter
had told legislators that the White
House made "a miscalculation on
who it could trust in Iran."
The official said Poindexter in his
discussion with members of Con-
gress "did not concede miscalcula-
tion" and that he did not feel that
way. The official said the contacts
with legislators were initiated by
Poindexter, who told them that no
attempts were being made to cir-
cumvent Congress.
Meanwhile, McFarlane, whose
secret trip to Iran was initially ex-
posed as part of political infighting
among Tehran figures, warned that
there were "pitfalls" in dealing with
officials of Ayatollah Ruhollah Kho-
meini's regime and particularly the
"authority of interlocutors to make
decisions."
Officials said McFarlane had al-
lowed White House officials to re-
view his four-page statement, which
he wrote.
Staff writer David Hoffman and
staff researcher Michelle Hall
contributed to this report.
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/23: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100160009-5