KIDNAPING VICTIM RETURNS TO U.S.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000100200124-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 30, 2011
• Sequence Number: 124
• Publication Date: February 19, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2011/08/31: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100200124-4
WASHINGTON POST
19 February 1985
Sir
Kidnaping Victim Returns to U.S.
~( By Barbara Vobejda
I V hmgtun Past Sraff Wr,ter
Television journalist Jeremy Lev-
in, who was kidnaped 11 months
ago in Lebanon, told about 50
friends and relatives who welcomed
him back to American soil yester-
day, that he holds no ill feeling to-
ward his captors.
Levin, accompanied by his wife
Lucille and two children, appeared
pale, but was smiling as he stepped
off the Air Force C135 transport
plane at Andrews Air Force Base
waving a small American flag:
"My former captors, I want you
to know I'm not bitter. I'm not an-
gry. But I am glad to be free," said
Levin, Beirut bureau chief for Cable
News Network before his capture
by Moslem militants last March.
Levin, 52, urged that four other
Americans believed held in Lebanon
be released.
His voice shook with emotion
several times during a short state-
ment to reporters, as he expressed
his relief at being free.
Addressing his remarks to all
Americans, Levin said, "Boy, I
missed you." He called himself a
"born-again American," and said his
experience had been an "inward.
journey" that left him deeply reli-
gious.
Levin, who had shaved the beard
he grew in captivity, arrived from
Frankfurt, Germany, where he and
his wife were reunited last Satur-
day. Many of those who greeted
him waved yellow streamers rem-
iniscent of the welcome for the
American hostages after their re-
lease from Iran.
The Levins did not go to their
Northwest Washington home after
leaving Andrews with a police es-
cort, but headed for a secluded
"hideaway," where the veteran jour-
nalist \ ill have an opportunity to
rest, according to an official at
CNN, which helped orchestrate the
brief ceremony yesterday.
Judy Borza, public relations di-
rector at the network, said when
Levin is ready to return to work, he
will be assigned temporarily to
Washington or Atlanta.
Levin was greeted by a delega-
tion from the Air Force and the
State Department, including Assist-
ant Secretary of State Kenneth
Dam, who pledged to continue to
work for the release of the remain-
ing captives. The four Americans
missing or kidnaped in West Beirut
in the last year are William Buckley,
a U.S. diplomat: the Rev. Benjamin
Weir, a Presbyterian minister; Pe-
ter Kilburn, a librarian at American
University of Beirut, and the Rev.
Lawrence Jenco, from the Catholic
Relief Service office in Beirut.
In his remarks, Levin said his
freedom was a good omen for the
other captives, but urged: "Let my
brothers go."
He praised those, including many
Syrians, he said, who had worked
for his release, "while I literally sat
in dark and gloom, a prisoner in
irons and misery."
Levin, who has been quoted as
saying he was held alone and some-
times blindfolded, gave no further
description of his experience as' a
hostage.
Also, there was no new informa-
tion to determine whether Levin
escaped or was freed by his captors,
according to State Department
spokeswoman Sondra McCarty.
While Levin has said that he es-
caped from his captors Wednesday
night, some State Department-of-
ficials have suggested he may have
been allowed to escape because.bf
growing pressure from sevef l
countries and private citizens.
Approved For Release 2011/08/31: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100200124-4