From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: CENSORED: SYRIAN OFFERS TO FREE HOSTAGES IGNORED BY THE US
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Distribution: na
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 09:15:35 GMT

SYRIAN OFFERS TO FREE HOSTAGES IGNORED BY THE U.S.

Despite a promise to "leave no stone unturned," the Reagan ad-
ministration failed to pursue a series of Syrian offers to help get
American hostages out of Lebanon, according to a confidential Pentagon
memo and sources involved in the affair.

The Syrian overture centers around Robert D. Ladd, an American
businessman with CIA contacts.  According to the memo, Ladd, in the
summer of 1985, was introduced (through an associate) to Fasih Mikhail
Achi, a visiting judge from Syria's inspector general's office.  Achi
claimed that "The Syrians were prepared to assist in the release of the
hostages if the U.S. president (Ronald Reagan) called Syrian President
Hafez al-Assad and requested his support.  After a call from the U.S.
president, the Syrians would facilitate the release and transfer of the
hostages without any quid (pro quo) from the U.S."

According to Ladd, he arranged for the Syrian to be interviewed in
Washington by representatives of the DIA and the CIA, and that Achi was
interviewed three separate times over two days in July 1985.  In the
interviews Achi said that he spoke for Gen.  Ghazi Kenaan, the head of
Syrian military Intelligence in Lebanon.  A former Pentagon official
told the Examiner that a subsequent identity check of Achi by the CIA
and the DIA verified his identity as an aide to Kenaan.

After a month passed with no answer from the Americans, Ladd says he
brought the Syrian offer to Lt.  Col.  Oliver North of the NSC, but
North's promised follow up never materialized.

Achi contacted Ladd again in February 1987 to renew Syria's offer.
Ladd, in turn, attempted to persuade U.S. officials to have a meeting
in Paris, at which Achi could prove that his overture was both genuine
and feasible.  "They told me there wasn't enough substance from Achi to
run it upstairs," said Ladd, "But Achi was willing to provide the
substance in Paris.  They wouldn't even meet him for that.  " A former
Pentagon official familiar with the affair, and speaking on condition
of anonymity, agrees with Ladd, "That part should have been followed
through.  There was no reason not to.  ..we meet all the time with
"walk-ins" who have less than what Achi had.''

Ladd says U.S. intelligence officials reluctantly agreed to meet Achi
in Paris late summer of 1989, but CIA canceled the meeting without
explanation.  Despite the cancellation, Achi called Ladd yet again and
said the hostages would be delivered if Ladd would come to Damascus for
them.  In early August, American intermediaries were finally ready to
fly to Damascus when Achi called to withdraw the offer.  An internal
tug-of-war had developed over the hostages.  Although Associated Press
ran a summary of the Examiner's story on July 22, not one national media
outlet picked it up.

(SSU CENSORED RESEARCHER:  RACHAEL KINBERG)

SOURCE:SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER 110 Fifth Ave..  San Francisco, CA 94103

DATE:  7/21/91

Title:  "Hostage Offer Ignored By U.S."

AUTHOR:  Jonathan Broder

SOURCE:  EXTRA! 130 West 25th st., NewYork, NY 10001

DATE:September/October 1991

Title:  "Bush, Syria and the Hostages"

AUTHOR:  Jane Huntar

COMMENTS:  Author Jane Hunter noted that the issue was ignored by the
mass media "even after AP picked it up from the San Francisco Examiner."
She added that the general public would benefit from more coverage about
the Syrian hostage offer since it would help the "Iran-contra affair"
shrink into "the far larger, more scandalous picture of secret foreign
policy activity during the Reagan-Bush administrations."

Hunter, who is also the editor of Israeli Foreign Affairs, rhetorically
asked, "What if George Bush, as vice president, had made another offer
of arms for hostages -- not to Iran, but to Syria?  What if he and other
Reagan administration officials later rebuffed Syrian offers to free
those hostages?  Wouldn't a congressional investigation into
allegations of such events be worth front-page headlines and network
news coverage?"

Noting that although the story appeared in the Washington Jewish Week,
on June 27, 1991, and the San Francisco Examiner, on July 21, and
portions of it later were carried on the Associated Press wire, Hunter
charged "it didn't even register with most of the press corps.  For most
national media outlets, the story didn't exist.  "

Hunter went on to say the television networks and the leading na-
tional newspapers missed the story.  "Although Associated Press ran a
summary of the Examiner's story on July 22, not one of the national
media outlets picked up on it....  According to editors and reporters at
a number of national media outlets contacted by EXTRA!, the story was
probably lost in the shuffle of vacations and breaking news concerning
the Iran-contra affair, the Gates nomination to the CIA and the 1980
October Surprise.  Most said they were not familiar with the story."

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