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

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000100200137-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 30, 2011
• Sequence Number: 137
• Publication Date: January 29, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2011/08/31: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100200137-0
DPI
ENEW YORK TIMES
January, 1985
29
U.S. Aide, Abducted in Beirut, Seen on Videotape
By BERNARD GWY.RTZMAN
Special to TIM New Y Jrt 710"
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,
who failed to report to work on Dec. 3
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 Qi estioos
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.
Ww"
William Buckley, a U.S. diplomat, In videotape apparently made recently.
Ater' channels. It was shown, however, ,
-, to. - Cable : News Network executives,
they said.,
president Rein. commenting to-
`?ttay, said he could not reveal details of
American diplomatic efforts, but said,
%elieve me, this is very much on our
bftdC"
~;.~. State, Department official said,
a"We honestly don't know for sure who
wee' are dealing with, or where the pris-
.opera are, or now many there are, or
Release of those prisoners was also maioe it easier to conduct quiet diplo.
the demand made by the hijackers of a matic efforts through the Syrians and
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 buildiaga In
Kuwait in December 1983.
Continued
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 new$
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 order to
Approved For Release 2011/08/31: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100200137-0
 Approved For Release 2011/08/31: CIA-RDP91-00587ROO0100200137-0
what we are supposed to do to get them
released."
Anonymous. phone calls in Beirut
have said the five Americans were
being field officials believe Islamic Holy War. ethis is a name used by
a number of extremist Shiite groups in
Beirut.
The videotape released today was
first shown to reporters by Visnews; a
television news syndicate founded by
Reuters, the British Broadcasting Cor-
poration and the national broadcasting
companies of Australia, Canada and
New Aland.
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,'L'Ori-,',
eat-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
enunent take action for our release
quickly."
Mr. Hamilton said his agency had not ;
received any written statements with
the tape.
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 leh-VEEN in-
Stead of,LEHV-in.
"Apparently they are not being held
in the same. room," 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 be was
asked by reporters today what the
United States was doing to obtain the
prisoners' release, said, "That's some-
thing we can't talk about." - -.-
-But believe me,"'he 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 produe
tive for us to talk about what we're
Asked if the efforts were making-
progress, Mr. Reagan replied, "I'm not
going to tell the sere."
,Mr. Levin disappeared last March 7
and was assumed to have been abuct-;
ed. Mr. Buckley was seen being kid-
napped as he left his apartment house
on March 16. Mr. Weir was sees being
seized by gunmen last May 8.
Approved For Release 2011/08/31: CIA-RDP91-00587ROO0100200137-0