t The Washington Star Ca. Copyright 1881 Hostages Tell Ex-President Declares 52 True Heroes ~ Says Suffering Worse Than He Had Known 7 -By Phil Gailey Washington Star Staff Writer - é art % WASHINGTON, D.C., THURSDAY JANUARY 22, 1981 . WIESBADEN, West Germany —”” “true heroes”. who had suffered physical and mental torture, far, worse than he had previously t lieved. : : Carter, acting’as President Rea-"” gan's emissary, came away from his. Former President Jimmy Carter . held a tearful reunion yesterday.” with the 52 freed American hostages, embracing each and calling them meeting with the Americans at the. US, Air Force hospital here“clearly outraged,” as an‘aide put it, ‘by the - stories of mistreatment they ‘tdld.- ence, “and that és that. 9 Americans in Jran Wefe ‘mistrea much worse than has been pre . viously revealed. The acts of.. \ barism which were perpetrated on > our peopl : “ condoned.” . Some of the former U.S. officials traveling with Carter said. that placing the hostages before. mock firing squads apparently had been a more common occurrence than they had realized from the reports received through diplomatic chan- nels. But beyond that, they refused to provide specifics. ‘or Carter, who was deprived of the opportunity of greeting the lib- erated Americans as president by a last-minute snag in the negotiations with Iran, the meeting was the emo: tional climax to the 444¢day crisis that haunted the-last days of his | presidency. . Ironically, one of the first sights Carter saw upon his arrival at the ~ hospital was a quotation from the inaugural address of Ronald Reagan, who took the oath as president only ~ 33 minutes before the first planeload of hostages left Tehran for freedom. A large banner draped from the third-floor balcony read: “You're free. After all — we are Americans.” Behind the banner some of the former’ hostages -- now referred to as “returnees” — stood in sub- freezing weather to greet Carter with waves and, in the case of one Marine braving the night air in a T-shirt, a sharp salute. After a briefing from hospital of- ficials, Carter went to a meeting . _ See CARTER, A-7 “One very seriots fact is becoming: evident,” Carter told a news confer fistreated e by Iran can never. be 4 i Returnee Bruce Laingen of Bethesda and former President Jimmy Carter embrace at Wiesbaden, : Reagan Holds Off on Pact Until He Reads Fine Print Rejection of Deal. Said to Be Unlikely” By Walter Taylor Washington Star Staff Writer Officials said yesterday the Rea- gan administration will review the fine print on the hostage agreement with Iran before deciding whether to honor its provisions. Spokesmen at both the White House and the State Department held out the option of repudiating - one or more elements of the agreement hammered out by US. negotiators in the closing hours of the Carter administration. : Privately, officials of the new ad- ministration said it was unlikely that President Reagan would abro-_ , See PRESIDENT, A-7 " Last-Minute tranian Hitch Said Legitimate Ster Wire Services," WIESBADEN, West Germany — Former officials of the Carter admin- istration yesterday said that they are convinced Iran “had a legitimate gripe” in raising last-minute ques- tions that delayed release of the 52 American hostages until after Jim- my Carter was out of office. And they publicly urged the Rea- gan administration to honor terms of the agreement with Iran. On the flight here, where Carter held an emotional meeting with the released hostages, former U.S. offi- cials traveling with him described the last agonizing hours of the hos- tage negotiations. ; \ ; ° See CARTER, A-8 Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00788R002100450005-6 Phone (202) 484-6000 Claanified 464-6000 Circulation 484-3000 Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00788R002100450005-6: ll of Abuses; Barbarisn His Captors ‘Was Physical, SPiv ont orture - By Maureen Dowd. «>and Sazanne Bilello aco) Washington Star Staff Writers ': Sothe of the freed American hos-. po tages yesterday told of physical and Sfatted Press internatlo Haig Approve For State Post On 93-6 Vote » By a vote of 93 to 6, Alexander M, Haig Jr. won confirmation .from the Senate yesterday as secretary of state. . But there was political skirmish- ing between Capitol Hill and the White House on President Reagan’s first full day in office, Even while they were welcoming Vice President George Bush, the new president of the Senate, sen- Sen. Helms is blocking Carlucel'’s nomination, A-3. . FBI unable to corroborate charges against Donovan, A-3. ators on both sides of the aisle were warning they would keep their in- dependence and exert pressure on the White House when they felt it . necessary. Senate Minority Leader Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, who voted ~ against the nomination, complained See GEN. HAIG, A-6 - psychological abuse at the hands of their. iranian captors. ~ *~ Life'as a hostage was not full of “the “luxury hotels” and medical spe- ° “ejalists that Jranian officlals ‘bragged about or the cordial guards sand overflowing bowls of fruit like those seen in the Christmas films, ' tthe, former, hostages said in transatlantic telephone calls from West, Germany to relatives and els, ‘there were YAK (former ‘iranlan secret po- ice) Pulsons and‘Jsolation cells in dank basements that prisoners nick- named “Mushroom Inns.” . - ' ‘There were guards who played Russian roulette with female. hos- tages, held mock executions and . conducted midnight raids, wearing White masks and fatigues and carry- ng automatic riftes. At ‘the U.S. Air Force hospital in Wiesbaden, West Germany, Freder- ick “Rick” Kupke savored the feeling of slipping between crisp white sheets for the first time in 14 months and remembered his hard cot in an Iranian prison. Kupke, 34, a communications spe- clalist, is one of the 52 former hos- tages who are recuperating from their long Iranian ordeal at the Air Force ‘hospital in Wiesbaden. - “Rick had it real bad, but he’s so roud to be free that he says he’s ‘eeling no pain now,” said his father, Arthur Kupke of Francesville, Ind., who talked with his son three times yesterday in a transatlantic reunion. Other former hostages found dif- ferent pleasures. After a diet of beans and rice in captivity, Bert Moore delighted tn ordering out for an ice cold beer. And for Jimmy Lopez; who had been forced to sleep in acloset for several months, happ!- ness was a haircut and shave. — Keeping the phone lines buzzing all through the night and all day yesterday, the hostages-turned- heroes were bright and cheery with their relatives, chatting mostly about the,euphoria of freedom and the family milestones they had missed. But the slick surface of the chit- See HOSTAGES, A-7
Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00788R0021004 ane: grammer» 500 Hostages Describe _ Dark Side - Continued From A-t chat soon began to chip away, show- ing the pain and shock beneath. “Those guards were psychotic," one hostage, his: voice edged with bitterness, confided {n his brother, ~ hm bey were SOBs." said. Col. \ Leland Ftolland, who told his 79-year: old mother Clara he had Spent a.” month in a “dungeon.” oe _ A State Department spokesman 05«6.7 put it slightly more diplomatically yesterday, accusing the militants of “serious mistreatment” of some of . the Americans, . ' The “students” stole the hostages’ .~ personal effects and raided Hol- and's house in Tehran, taking everything they could carry, from furniture to frozen meat. “.- . “Most of us lost everything,” Rich- ard H. Morefield, consul general at the embassy, told his wife in: San: Diego. “I walked out with my wed ding ring, and{ had tofight for that." ‘ The militants lied constantly, their captives soon learned, telling the hostages innumerable tall tales , about their families and about why “the Great Satan,”:as they dubbed . America, was letting thein languish ~ After a few-months, the hostages were so-confused by a cat's cradle of lies and propoganda, that they “ended up believing nothing.” politi- cal officer:-Michael J. Metrinko, 34, of Olyphant, Pa., told his brother, Peter, who lives in Arlington. :« Each prisoner was treated differ- ently, according to their relative im- portance in. the embassy; their alleged spying activities and their comportment. = . .... os - Marine Sgt. Johnny McKee! Jr. told his parents in: Balch S| rings, Texas, that he had assumed until yesterday that his mother was dead, something interrogators had told him in a vain effort to extract-in- formation. ‘ . 4 When the Marine gave only his fame, rank and serial number, a guard knocked out one of his teeth, Another hostage, 49-year-old Mal- * colm Kalp of Fairfax County, told his brother he was beaten, put- in solitary confinement for months and cut off from any communication with his family because he tried to ,escape Several times, -. . * “They knocked me around a cou; ple of times in the beginning,” Rob- ert 0. Blucker of North Little Rock, Ark, told his mother Hazel Albin. “But toward the end, I don't think they wanted to beat anyone Up un- less they could help it.” -> - Lopez, who lost 50 pounds durin; - the ordeal, was forced with severa Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00788MO02xnux spins -6 ~ others to sleep in a closet for several months, and Metrinko, Kupke and several others spent long solitary stretches in jail. moe ‘ After the first few months, how- ever, the torture was more mental than physical. . The guards would bring in the baskets of mai! from familles, open {t and hold up snapshots and letters, and then, before the hostages’ bitter gazes, burn the coveted stacks of mail from home. ‘ Richard Queen, who was released: after nine months because he con- tracted multiple sclerosis, yesterday they were forced to line up against the wall and were stripped and searched
Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00788R002100450005-6 a , Queen also described a mock eX: ‘ ecution the hostagés were subjected to when the militants pulled the friggers of empty guns. on Another hostage who was released early, Elizabeth Montagne, now ao assistant on the China desk at the ' State Department, talked of “threats i with guns,” including an ‘incident i when the militants played Russian. \ « poulette-aith her.and another em- ‘ i bassy secretary toing.to get informa- ; tion. oe ors William Quarles, one of the*13 | hostages released earlier, visited his” | former colleagues at the hospital yesterday afternoon. Quarles: said that ane .of. them told. him “they |” :, had been kept separated and were < moved ali over t country, Some | flown to different parts, some taken by car.” ead ug TP Nearly all of the hostages. were . reported to have .been- moved out A-? _ of the U.S, Embassy ‘compound ms ~ : shortly after the abortive rescue at: tempt ip Apri, Toe _ Most hostages reported belng | blindfolded and moved at least four times;-Rick. Kupke told his, family he was-moved 19 times. gs. '.. The hostages. tried tg fing ways.. to commin{cate with sécret codes. f-- 3 * Col. Thomas Schaeffer, .a military = . | attache, sald the hostages. used a: ig Russian tapping code with each oth: Fa er to pass messages. se, 2) A ‘. John W. Limbert, 4 former State. Department official from Washing: an 2 . ton whose son was.a' hostage, sal that John Jr, alone in’ a tell: for nine months, wrote camouflaged let- ters home. “When he told-me he was working on knotty chess prob- lems, I. understood that he was in solitary confinement.” . | Bruce Laingen, the-charge d’af- 1 faires who remained with two other ¢ hostages in the relative comfort of © the Foreign Ministry, was able to I call home the first few months. De- © ‘spite the fact that the Iranians mon- ‘t ifored the line, Laingen and his wife & Penne in Bethesda were able to pass U surreptitious messages — that were later passed on to the State Depart- a ment — by speaking in Thai. . ; 1° Washington Star Staff Writers Lindsay Gruson, Christopher P. Win- ner, Patrice Gaines-Carter and _ Diane Brockett also contributed to ‘ this article, ‘ f ‘ Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00788R002100450005-6