~~~~-~-Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789Rebodaeedo0b 1-3 Foc aR ER RTE ON TN TN ag TRE RT inca bierecuappnmenaneLpuigitostinty sina An gate bist ln apatite y UO ore U.S. Rejected CPYRGHT y .4,,, . LEZ? LUV ac THe Wasi CPYRGHT Proposed Sale Of [5s to fran Brokers Hinted Deal Might Help Hostages ~ a By David B. Ottaway i Washington Post Staff Weiter ty arms merchants sought last spring to get the Rea- gan administration to approve the $170 million sale of 16 aging F5 fighter jets from Chile to Iran in a deal they suggested might lead to the release of American hostages in Lebanon, U.S. officials said yester- day. State Department spokesman Charles E. Redman said the admin- istration’s answer “in no uncertain terms” was “no.” “We're not going to be a party, or arrange in any way, for arms to be transferred to Iran,” he said. Redman cast the episode as a successful example of the admin- istration’s campaign—formally known as “Operation Staunch’—to cut off arms supplies to Iran. He denied part of a report by ABC News, which broke the story Tuesday night, that a promise of Iranian cooperation to gain the re- lease of nine U.S. hostages figured prominently in the proposed deal. “The hostage element sccms to have come up only briefly and very flectingly in the last stages, and it seems to have been raised by the brokers, not by the Iranians,” Red- aid. “As you can imagine, again, when that issue was raised, the answer was just as clear: no deal,” he said. White House spokesman Marlin “ltzwater, speaking to reporters wboard President Reagan's plane flying between Columbus and Toledo, Ohio, said it was “another example of a private individual try- ing to get involved in the hostage situation for private gain. It is not helpful to the hostages or our re- lations in the Middle East.” See KHOMEINI, A17, Col. 1 International _ U.S, Rejected Plan to Sell Chilean I'9s to iran KHOMEINL, From Al Redman said the deal was pro- posed by a group of arms dealers, which ABC News said included lranians, Israelis, Argentines, Brit- ons and a Cuban-American, “who - thought that [ran might be a pos- sible destination” for the Chilean air force F5s. He indicated that various middle- men tried to approach the admin- istration to gain approval for the transfer and were all emphatically told: “There’s nothing going down of this kind. It’s just not happening.” Redman said the queries came “in the space of a few weeks’ in late March and early April and involved, among others, an Argentine. ABC News identified the man as Jose An- gel Mondino, and said he wrote a letter in June to National Security Adviser Lt, Gen. Colin L. Powell pressing the issue. ABC also reported that: Cuban- American Raymond Molina was contacted by arms merchants who thought he had close ties to the Central Intelligence Agency. Molina told ABC News he refused a $5 mil- lion offer to act as a go-between, but passed on their proposal to the CIA. U.S. officials confirmed another part of the report that said the State Department asked the Israeli government to stop the involve- ment of the Israeli arms dealer. The Chilean government, which needs U.S. approval for any trans- fer of the U.S.-made warplanes, in- . formed the United States of the at- tempt and said it would not go ahead without Washington's ayree- ment, Redman said. The latest report of fran’s des- perate attempts to obtain large mil- itary items such as aircraft ap- peared to lend credence to a secret Iranian government document ob- tained and being distributed here by the Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mujaheddin of Iran, The document indicates that fran decided to accept a cease-fire with Iraq in July after the hard-line com- mander oof = the — Revolutionary Guards Corps concluded that no military victories over superior Iraqi forces were possible before 1993 because of Iran's acute short- “age of heavy weapons. ON nen Las pap BND a ae st ay BBN heat AP RE EERE CP ere NETON POST The document indicates that. this assessment by Revolutionary Guard Commander Mohsen Reza’i was the crucial argument used by Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah . Khomeini, to justify his decision at an eight-hour meeting of about 40 top Iranian religious, political and military leaders July 17, the day be- fore Iran announced its decision, The document, which appears to be a summary of the meeting, says Ahmed Khomeini, the ayatollah’s son, read a message from his father to the group saying, “Now that our military officials, both army and Guards Corps, and all experts on war openly admit that the Army of Islam will not achieve any victories whatsoever in.the near future... I accept the cease-fire.” Reza’i, who was reportedly one of the few Iranian officials willing to continue the war, had prepared an assessment of Iran’s long-term mil- itary prospects and needs and ap- parently sent it to the ayatollah. According to the document, Reza’i said military offensives could come by 1993 only if Iran had “250 brigades, 2,500 — tanks, 3,000 armored personnel carriers, 300 aircraft and 300 helicopters.” Khomeini then commented, “This commander (Reza'i} believes our ability to procure sufficient and timely funds and resources to be the most important factor in gaining success and... he says we must keep on fighting. But this is a hol- low slogan.” . A US. official sald the adminis- tration had not seen the document and could not comment on it. But he confirmed that a number of high-level meetings took place July 16-18 to inform the Iranian leadership of Khomeini’s decision. The document tends to confirm some U.S. assessments of [ran’s Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R000400040001-3 Tuursvay, Ocronen 20, 1988 AT? weaknesses and reasons for accept- ing the cease-fire, but does not suv- stantiate others. For instance, it con- firms the low morale of Iran’s front- line troops; the waning ardor of Iran- ians to fight; the army’s poor logis- tics; infighting between the army and Revolutionary Guards, and the gov- ernment’s extreme financial straits. It also tends to substantiate U.S. claims that “Operation Staunch” was . succeeding and was a factor in Iran’s decision to stop fighting, despite the secret White House shipments of arms to Tehran in 1985-86 to try to gain the freedom of U.S. hostages. But the document makes no men- tion either of Iraq’s repeated use of chemical weapons or devastating, long-range missile attacks on Teh- ran and other cities as factors in the collapse of Iranian morale. Staff writer Bill McAllister contributed to this report.
Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R000400040001-3 CPYRGHT Jeb 22, PF LF MS AME a. fae ore AR Lebanese Shiites Clash Over Search for Marine e pro-lranian Shiite Moslem group that kidnaped a U.S. Marine officer Wednesday told the Shiite Amal militia yes- terday to stop searching for him,‘and other pro- -Iranian militants fired on militamen car- rying out the search, A statement released here and signed by the Organization of the Oppressed on Earth called on “our brothers-in Amal to understand the dangerous spying role” of Lt. Col. William | Higgins, who was kidnaped while in. southern Lebanon as part of a U.N; truce-monitoring group. A pro-lranian’ cleric said in Tyre that Higgins had been smuggled out of southern Lebanon. Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants shot at Amal militiamen: searching the southeastern village of Ain Tineh.. The Amal fighters fired back with rocket-propelled ‘ grenades. Amal has detained dozens of pro-Iranian militants as part of the search, which it says is fheant to tefend the role in southern, Lebanon of the United Nations, Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R000400040001-3 Biren: tare anette
aval nee For Release Z0B0/6800B17T CIA-RDP96-00789R000400040001-3 oat qs 2 Loe Search for Higgins Intensifies Iranian Militiamen Seized in Roundup By Nora Boustany Special to The Washington Post BEIRUT, Feb, 20—A clamp- down on Moslem fundamentalist groups backed by Iran spread from southern Lebanon to the western Bekaa Valley today as Shiite mili- tiamen pressed their search for a kidnaped American officer attached | toa U.N, observer force. Suita a ““ eaders of the mainstream Shiite | Amal militia hinted that Marine Lt. Col. William Higgins, who was kid- naped Wednesday in southern Leb- anon, may have been seized in an effort by supporters of Iran to re- activate talks on an exchange of hostages for weapons needed by Iran. An official of the Palestine Lib- eration Organization said the PLO aiso had evidence to suggest Hig- gins was kidnaped for use in a po- tential deal with the United States. “We believe Iran wants to make a new deal with the Americans using Higgins,” said PLO official Salah Khalaf in an interview with Reuters news agency in Tunisia, In Beirut, a senior member of Amal’s _ politburo, | Mohammed Beidoun, said he suspected that “the basic aim behind Higgins’ ab- duction was a pressure campaign . concerning hostages and weap- ons.” ’ As the search for Higgins re- sumed, Amal members stormed strongholds of pro-Iranian extrem- ists in southern Lebanon for the fourth straight day, Tension between the moderate Amal and radical Hezbollah (Party of God) mounted in the western Bekaa as the rival militias set up checkpoints near the town of Machghara, Shiite officials said to- night. There was still no trace of Hig- See LEBANON, A28, Col. 1 U.N. ‘Troops, Amal Intensify Search In Lebanon for Kidnaped American LEBANON, From A19 gins, the chief of the Lebanon unit of the U.N. Truce Observation Su- pervision Organization (UNTSO), abducted by gunmen south of Tyre. His abduction has been claimed by two groups, the previously un- known Islamic Revolutionary Bri- ades and the Organization of the ppressed on Earth, which also claimed responsibility for the June 1985 hijacking to Beirut of a TWA airliner, Using two helicopters and police dogs, dozens of troops of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) combed the countryside about eight miles southeast of Tyre. UNIFIL troops and Amal militia- men focused their search on a num- ber of rural towns in that area after receiving tips from local infor- mants. An Amal commander said the militia last night entered the southern village of Jibsheet, a Hez- bollah stronghold, and rounded up suspects after a standoff with some of its armed residents. Amal officials said a number of Iranian Revolutionary Guards had also been taken in for questioning, Justice Minister Nabih Berri, who is the leader of Amal, ridiculed al- legations that Higgins was a CIA agent, In a television interview, he said Higgins “may be an intelligence agent [for the CIA] and he may not. But ... a lot of westerners kid- - naped before were accused of being spies. Some of them, for example some Frenchmen, were later re- leased. Did they stop being spies? What kind of pretext is this?” A communique by the Organiza- tion of the Oppressed on Earth, de- livered yesterday to the offices of an international news agency, re- jected American peace efforts in the region and the dispatch of U.S, envoys here. Secretary of State George P. Shultz is expected in the region in the next 10 days. CPYRGHT Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R000400040001-3
CPYRGHT > Jerrorism Lews to Have Day tr Comt Lebanese Man First to Stand Trial in U.S. for Hijacking Abread ollowers such as Yunis expected to Yunis’ capture involved person- do as they are told. nel from the departments of Justice, Yunis’ arrest in September 1987, State and Defense, and from the __U.S. laws aimed at curbing intex- |[ the first under the long-arm anti- CIA, FBI and Drug Enforcement national terrorism will undergo terrorist statutes, was announced Administration, along with a critical their first major test in federal |] with great fanfare by then-Attorney assist from a Lebanese informant foourt here with the opening today |] General Edwin Meese III. Butsome and one-time friend of Yunis, Jamal of the trial of Fawaz Yunis, a 28- |] authorities on terrorism have ar- Hamdan. ear-old Lebanese accused of tak- |] gued that Yunis was only a bit play- Hamdan, who had escaped from a ng part in the 1985 hijacking of a || er and that the hijacking in which he Lebanese prison after. being con- Royal Jordanian Airlines jet in 3ei- fl allegediy took part hardly ranked ‘ victed’ of murdering his. sister-in- among the world’s major terrorist law and who was suspected of other ~ Federal officials, relying on 1984 || incidents and mostly involved inter-. «crimes, was-enlisted ‘to ‘lure -Yunis and 1986 statutes giving U.S. au- {nal Arab bickering. - . :to Cyprus-on the pretext of taking thorities jurisdiction abroad in ter- On June 11, 1985, five heavily . “part ina-drug deal and party aboard rorist incidents involving Ameri- llarmed men seized the Jordanian a luxury yacht. ans, hope to make an example of |lairliner in Beirut. With about 70 . .The yacht, Skunk-Kilo, had been unis to terrorists worldwide. passengers aboard, including four leased ‘by:the U.S. government; and * Yunis—a Shiite Moslem and ||US, citizens; they commandeered”. FBI agents posed as the drug: deal-| Amal militiaman who, according to || the aircraft for a 30-hour voyage to ers. After motoring in a dinghy.to federal officials and court docu- [lCyprus, Tunisia and Sicily before the yacht—carefully positioned -in ents, was lured into the custody of Hlreturning to Lebanon. international waters off Cyprus— BI agents in Cyprus with the The hijackers, who severely beat Yunis immediately was arrested. promise of a lucrative drug deal—is |]several Jordanian sky marshals Agents threw him. ‘to’ the ‘deck, expected to argue that he was [aboard the plane, threatened to kill breaking both his wrists. erely a foot soldier following or- |{the hostages one by one unless all - Hamdan, who is not expected to Hers in the factional wars ravaging {Palestinian guerrillas were re-  appear.at the trial, and. several of ebanon and cannot be held respon- Ilmoved from Lebanon. his family merhbers have since been Bible for laws broken in the hijack- After the plane landed in Beirut, granted residency here under the ng incident. a hijacker who called himself “Na- federal witness protection program. The trial, which will be translated [lzeeh” and was later identified as Yunis’ journey to Washington took nto Arabic, could last more than a [Yunis held a news conference in four .days ‘by sea and air, during onth. Federal prosecutors plan to [which he threatened to deliver the which FBI agents elicited from him all more than 20 witnesses, includ- [corpses to an Arab League leader. a crucial statement outlining the ng two American passengers of the |JAll aboard the aircraft were re- hijacking and ‘his alleged participa etliner and airline personnel from |lleased before terrorists blew up the _ tion in it. he Middle East and Italy. plane and escaped. Yunis’ court-4ppointed attorney, Yunis, who faces a possible sen- Among those expected to testify Francis D. Carter, former head of ence of life in prison, could try to ere about the hijacking are Landry the D.C. Public Defender Service, urn the trial into a Lebanese civics . Slade, a professor at the Amer- is expected. to tell jurors that his Rsson, arguing that the Amal and flican University of Beirut, and his client, suffering seasickness -and gther militant factions are legiti- een-age son, who were aboard the __ intense pain from his broken wrists Mate political organizations, with  |birliner, and without a lawyer, was in no con- By Ed Bruske Washington Post Staff Writer i 8 s facing ‘a. possible life ‘sentence. dition. to give an accurate. state- “ment. : ter: earlier had challenged: the “USS. government’s right to seize foreign suspects abroad, but the long-arm statutes were upheld in court. . Carter has ‘raised the issue of whether Yunis can be held respon- sible for the hijacking as an Amal militia underling. Under the U.S. military code, soldiers accused’ of breaking ‘the law while following orders can be excused if the order | is not per se:unlawful or if the sol- dier believes he has no alternative. Carter has told the court that he intends to introduce evidence: that Yunis was acting on. orders from Amal authorities. who directed the hijacking. Carter said he hopes to f call an expert in Lebanese affairs to testify that the Amal is one of sev- eral groups that act as legitimate : ruling military entities in the ab- . sence of a cohesive central govern- ment. t CPYRGHT Approved For Release 200008/8RGHAFRDP96-00789R000400040001-3
: Approved For Release @ 30081 THE WASHINGTON Post _- . Truce Between Rival Shii ite Factions Collapses & f “THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 1989 Azig % a ore Giicarine | Syrian-Iranian Agreement Reflected Damascus’ Efforts to Maintain Political Balance :, By Nora Boustany Washington Post Foreign Service BEIRUT, Jan. 25—A truce orked out in long talks between yrian and Iranian officials to halt inter-Shiite warfare between rad- fighters in southern Lebanon col- lapsed within hours of its announce- ment in Damascus today. At least three persons were re- ported wounded in renewed fighting that died down tonight, but left ten- ’ Failure of the agreement reached in the Damascus-hosted talks re- fiected Syria’s difficulties in main- taining a tenuous balance between hily, Amal, and regional affiliation and indebtedness to Iran, the funder [and sponsor of Hezbollah. Fifteen hours of arduous talks that included Foreign Ministers Farouk haraa of Syria and Ali Akbar Ve- layati of Iran as well as top leaders of mal and Hezbollah produced the short-lived peace program. The current fighting between the ival pro-Syrian and Iran-backed Shi- te Moslem groups erupted Dec. 31 in the southern slums of Beirut and spread to a cluster of hilltop villages ‘pverlooking Israel’s _ self-declared kecurity zone in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah still controls the villages bf Loueizeh and Ain Bouswar and ost of now-deserted Jbaa, all adja- ent to the northwestern limits of he border strip controlled by Israeli roops and their local ally, the South ebanon Army (SLA). The pro-Iranian group commands he highest ridges of Jabal Amel, ebanon’s southern mountain range. Hezbollah’s routes to the north- Past and south are cut off by Amal, hich has made it difficult for Hez- bollah’s supporters to move in sup- ose directions. Syrian the supply CPYRGHT ‘ REI Hezbollah leaders meet with officials in Damascus to discuss a truce in the fighting between Shiite factions in Lebanon. “ lines from the Bekaa, however, and Amal and Charaa have accused Hez- bollah of bribing some SLA elements to smuggle in arms and materiel | through the security zone at the height of battles earlier this month. The SLA today deported.40 per- sons, including elderly residents land infants, from the village of She- baa, for allegedly aiding anti-Israeli radical Moslem factions. Asked why the SLA might coop- erate with Hezbollah guerrillas, a estern diplomat said: “Look at ontacts and possible links between ran and Israel, There has been co- operation there before.” He was referring to Israel’s role in the Iran- contra affair. Despite Syria’s discomfort with maving Iran-backed fundamentalists gain the upper hand in southern ebanon, analysts said, it ‘cannot ove decisively against Hezbollah, its link to Iran. The. Amal move- ent,. headed. by.Nabih Berri, has been locked in conflict with Hezbol- jah since April. The Shiite war began last Feb- ary after the kidnaping of U.S. Marine Lt. Col. William Higgins, who was serving with the U.N. Truce Supervision Organization in southern Lebanon. Higgins was ab- ducted in Tyre by Hezbollah forces while visiting a senior Amal secu- rity official there. Amal drove Hezbollah from most of southern Lebanon last spring but failed to suppress the fundamental- ist group in Beirut’s southern sub- urbs in later battles in May and No- vember. Amal is determined to block Hezbollah from reestablishing military bases in the southern vil- lages near the Israeli border and security zone in order to prevent provocations that could lead to re- prisal attacks by Israel. Iran’s resolve to carve out for itself a stake in the Arab-Israeli conflict through Hezbollah bases in southern Lebanon is seen by ana- " lysts as draining Amal’s strength and distracting it from its struggle ’ for greater political rights in Leb- anon’s disputed governing system. Amal politburo member. Mo- ’ hammed Beidoun said in an interview before going to Damascus this week _Beidoun predicted. that his organization would never” allow the south to slip back into. the anarchy that prevailed before. Israeli troops drove the PLO out in 1982. —.- “Syria is caught between two al-3 liances, Both are imperative—Amal2. in Lebanon and Iran in the region. But these two allies are confronting one another in an explosive area of, red lines for Syria,” Beidoun said in ~ discussing Syria’s predicament in southern Lebanon. The Amal official noted that fends" ing wings in the Tehran leadership, mainly dovish parliamentary.speaker © Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on one: side and the more radical Ayatollah— Hossein Ali Montazeri and Interior _ Minister Ali Akbar Mohtashemi on“? the other, added to the complexity of & Iran’s involvement.in Lebanon. 9° ~# “What: Irait-‘failed to achieve” through. the abduction of nine“ American hostages ‘in Lebanon—"” more spare parts for its western supplied arsenal and the unfreezing. of assets in the United States—it‘ will try to obtain through a new big! hostage: southern Lebanon,” ~ teem aeedns 08/0 vlA- RDPIG- 96-00789R 0040001-3 CPYRGHT Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R000400040001-3
4 ~P¥ RGH By Molly Moore - Washington Post Staff Writer F President Reagan said yesterday that the United States will not withdraw military officers from the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon despite the kidnaping of Marine Lt, Col. William Richard Higgins and threats of terrorism. “We are going to meet our obligations to the United Nations,” Reagan said during a photo ses- sion in the Oval Office as he greeted West Ger- man Chancellor Helmut Kohl. “You know I'm not supposed to be taking questions here, but on this particular subject I feel that I must straighten it out.” : The president continued, “Of course we worry, because we know terrorists throughout the] ‘world targeted us as one of their targets.” = The Pentagon acknowledged late yesterda that Higgins was a junior military aide to then Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberge from June 1985 until last June, when he was as Bigned to the U.N. observer group in Lebanon, a job acquaintances said he aggressively sought. © Pentagon spokesman Dan Howard said that ag an aide to Weinberger, Higgins worked with variety of classified documents but was only “ond of 36 individuals who worked in the immediate office of the secretary handling administrativg avork,” fran-Linked Group 1 LEBANON, From Al i (Defense Department officials said they be Weved the two identification cards were authen| fic. : [President Reagan also said Friday that th United States will not withdraw military officers from the U.N, peace-keeping force, despite Hig gins’ abduction. (Related story, Page A18.)] ® Higgins, 43, who heads the 75-man Lebano Graup of the United Nations Truce Supervisio Organization, was seized by gunmen Wednesda| ree miles south of the port city of Tyre as Was driving by himself, behind another U.N. cag, én route from Tyre to U.N. troop headquarters ib Naqurah, near the Israeli border. : (The remaining unarmed military observeys serving with the group that Higgins headed ha een withdrawn from field operations and co! Higgins, 43, of Woodbridge, was chief of the 75-member U.N. observer group, when kid- naped Wednesday:morning in southern Lebanon. Pentagon officials issued the statement about Higgins’ previous job, Howard said, because Ra- dio Free Lebanon had broadcast a report in Ara- bic quoting unnamed Amal Shiite Moslems as saying Higgins had an “association with Weinber- ger.” Pentagon officials had asked news organiza- tions to play down Higgins’ background out of concern the information could possibly jeopar- dize his return. Howard said, however, that U.S. officials do not believe the ‘kidnaping is related to Higgins’ past assignment with Weinberger. Howard also said Higgins would not have been barred from taking the U.N. assignnient after leaving the defense secretary’s office. “There was no restriction that was broken by his accepting this assignment,” Howard said. Defense Secretary Frank C. Carlucci said yes- terday, “We are doing everything, possible” to locate Higgins. He added, “A lot of us in this building [the Pen- tagon], myself included, know Col. Higgins, and we certainly want to do everything possible to get him out.” Carlucci said that although the search for Hig- gins is primarily a “U.N. responsbility, not a US. government responsibility. .. we are concerned Says It Seized Marine fined to their U.N. headquarters in Naqurah, U.N. spokesman Mario Zamorano said in New York.] US. officials have denied that Higgins has links with the CIA. U.N. Undersecretary General Mar- rack Goulding repeated the denial again today. “We don’t recruit spies and we don’t accept spies for this job,” he told a group of journalists in Naqurah. Shiite religious and political leaders in south- ern Lebanon said yesterday that Higgins was kidnaped because he was an American and not because he was working as a U.N. observer. He was wearing his U.S. Marine Corps ‘uni- form along with the U.N. insignia and blue beret at the time of his abduction, The moderate Shiite Amal militia has launched a full-scale hunt for Higgins’ captors. A number of pro-Iranian fundamentalist activists have been rounded up for questioning and eyewitnesses interrogated, the sources said. Moslem security Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R00040004000 about our people and we'll work with the U.N. on it.” Carlucci also said the United Nations “has fanned its forces throughout the area looking for him.” Higgins, a decorated veteran of the Vietnam war as. an infantry officer, was serving a one-year, tour on the Lebanon observer group.Named chief of the unit in January, he was to-serve as chief until his tour ended in June. a Pentagon officials said Higgins’ wife, Marine’ Maj. Robin Higgins, who works for the Defense: Department public information office, had re- ceived no news of any search results yesterday. , , [In Delray Beach, Fla., Robin Higgins’ par- ents, Norman and Rhoda Ross, expressed deep’ pessimism about their son-in-law’s situation, re-*' nel. (“It’s been difficult to. handle this,” Norman Ross.said. “It’s taken away peace of mind.” . [It’s very, very distressful,” said Rhoda Ross, 50, a retired teacher. (Their daughter and Higgins met in officer, training school in Quantico, and were married at a military wedding, the Rosses said. cae [When Higgins went to Lebanon last June, “It was the first time in a long time” they had been apart on separate assignments, Rhoda Ross said.] South of Tyre sources in southern Lebanon said 10 members of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah were detained in a raid in rural villages. Hezbollah claimed in a statement reported on local radios that 150 of its supporters had been stopped by Amal militiamen— ; in the countryside. a Today’s statement by the Organization of the |’ Oppressed of the Earth warned the United States to stay out of Lebanon and the Middle East. “Our choice has made it imperative for ts to let out a deafening scream in America’s filthy face and to tell the Americans: get out of wr country you criminal colonialists ... We dat want your help or your peace,” the statement said. The group has claimed it killed four Lebanese Jews since 1985. Today it paid special tribute to the fight of Lebanon’s Shiite southerners against Israeli occupation. ported the Fort Lauderdale News & Sun Senti- ; Group Says Tt Holds U.S. Marine Iran-Linked Group Accuses Higgins Of Being CIA Spy By Nora Boustany ~__ Special to The Washington Post BEIRUT, Feb. 19—An under- ground group believed to have links with Iran claimed responsibility to- day for kidnaping a U.S, Marine colonel serving with U.N. peace- keeping forces in Lebanon and pro- vided photocopies of two identifi- cation cards bearing his photograph as proof. The Organization for the Qp- pressed of the Earth accused Lt. Col. William R. Higgins of being a spy for the Central Intelligence Agency who used the United Na- tions in southern Lebanon as a cov- er for his activities, [In Washington, the Pentagon acknowledged that Higgins was a junior military assistant to former defense secretary Caspar W. Wein- berger from 1985 until he was as- signed to the U.N. observer group in Lebanon last June. (Pentagon officials said they re- leased the information because Ra- dio Free Lebanon had broadcast a story in Arabic quoting unnamed Amal Shiite Moslems as saying Hig- gins had an “association with Wein- berger.”| A typewritten statement, deliy- ered to a western news agency in west Beirut, said “William Hig- gins,an agent for America’s Central Intelligence Agency, who is using the activities of United Nations ob- servers as a cover for his dangerous role of espionage, is now in the grip of our heroic strugglers,” Accompanying the statement were photocopies of two identifica- tion,cards. One card that showed his picture and signature was a pass for crossing the Israeli border as a liaison officer attached to the Unit- ed Nations. U.N. spokesman Timor Goksel said the number on one of the cards matched the number of a card that had been issued to Hig- gins by the United Nations. 1-4 See LEBANON, A18, Col. 1 CPYRGHT
ata T hree Years i in the +G (a Belly of Beirut A freed French hostage recounts the horrors of his captivity ey weren uma Pro They were nonhuman.” That was how French Journalist Jean-Paul Kauff- mann, quoting fellow hostage Michel Seu- rat, described the pro-Tranian Islamic Ji- had terrorists who held him hostage for three years. The wrenching account of his kidnaping, captivity and release appeared last week in L’Evénement du Jeudi, the French newsmaga- zine Kauffmann worked for when he and French Re- searcher Seurat were abduct- ed in May 1985. The two men became hos- tages by chance aftr missing a Beirut airport bus and decid- ing to take a taxi. When a Mercedes pulled alongside and ordered them to stop, they expected a robbery. In- stead they were forced into the back of the gunmen's car. What followed was three years of intimidation and psy- chological torture. a” Kauffmann waves the copy of War and Peace that he read fa ern w oven — 1985 with his wife and daughters in Bei rut, and then returned to the cell loaded down with sociology books. It was the las time he saw his family. A month later, hq was deathly ill with hepatitis. A Lebanesq Jewish doctor, Elie Hallat, who was also a hostage, pleaded in vain for Seurat’s re diversion CPYRGHT ers told the. hostages he was alive and re- covering in a hospital. Kauffmann later learned from a radio newscast that Hal- lat, doomed by his captors’ rabid anti- Semitism, had been executed. Kautf- mann, Carton and Fontaine were continually moved from apartment to apartment. At one point Kauffmann was | wrapped in bandages like a mummy, : sealed ina metal box and bolted under the chassis ofa truck. When he banged on the side, he was told he would be shot. “Kill me,” he snapped back. “It doesn’t make any difference.” At another puint Kauff- mann and Fontaine were tied together and placed in a cof- fin. When they were let out for a moment, Fontaine peered under his blindfold and saw that they were neara cement factory. “They’re go- ing to kill us here, put our bodies in cement and dump us in the sea,” said Fontaine. Later Kauffmann and Fon- taine were put in a new cell and chained like animals toa spike in the floor. When Kauffmann, after dozens of false hopes, was fi- For more than a year, the hostages never saw daylight. Their only diversion was reading the handful of books provided by their jailers; Kauffmann read War and Peace more than 20 times. At one point, he and Seurat listened while their Shi‘ite captors spent eight days torturing an Arab suspected of being a spy. When it was over, Kauff- mann’s jailer joked, “I damaged him a lit- tle. He had two broken ribs. We broke both his legs. Finally he talked, and we set him free.” Freedom, Kauffmann learned, was a euphemism for death. In one of the most bizarre episodes, A chilling tale of brutality, intimidation and psychology lease. As his condition worsened, a Shi‘it commander volunteered a transfusio “You are becoming a Shiite,” joked 4 captor after Seurat was given blood. ly fact, the researcher was dying. By they French Hostages Marcel Carton ang Marcel Fontaine had been added to th group. “So [am going to die,” Seurat tol4 his friends. In March 1986, the Islamic Jihad a nounced that it had “executed” Seurat. | seems likely, however, that he sua cumbed, at 39, to his disease. But the jai] al torture. nally about to be released, a guard approached and told him it was all over. “What does that mean?” he asked. “Liberty,” said the guard. Given the double meaning of that word, Kauffmann's greatest fears and hopes ricocheted through his emotions un- til the last second of captivity. Driven toan empty field, Kauffmann was joined there by Carton and Fontaine. Arriving a few minutes later at a hotel in Beirut, Kauff- mann heard a French voice shout, “French intelligence services! Clear the way, for God’s sake!” The ordeal was finul- ly over. —-By Willian Dowell/Paris {BSS s recente wget = mee Shi‘ite Against Shi'ite j nthe killing ground that is Beirut, where savage death has become commonplace, the brawls between this faction and that stopped making headline news long ago. But last week’s clashes between the pro-Iranian Hizballah and its more moderate Shi‘ite rival, the pro-Syrian Amal, were hor- rific even by Lebanese standards. In six days of warfare, Hizballah militiamen drove Amal fighters out of large portions of Bet- rut’s southern suburbs. Using tanks, mortars, rockets and artillery, the combatants blasted buildings to rubble and sent civilians scurrying for refuge carrying their belongings on their backs. Snipers fired at anything that moved, including ambulances. At some hospitals, fighters forced doctors at gunpoint to operate on wounded colleagues, and battles broke out in the corridors. By the time a truée was declared Thursday, at least 188 were dead and 2000 OST 8 CTA- hundreds more w olence since Syria dent Ali Khamendgi tween Damascus dd ¥o— TIERS Amal Fighters defend thelr turf =PTPIG-00 SU RU0EZ CPYRGHT nded, making it the worst eruption of vi- troops moved into West Beirut in early 1987. The hostilitles left the surprisingly strong Hizballah fighters i in controlfbf 70% of the disputed territory, a 16-sq.- mi. district of crofvded slums that is home to 250,000 Shi- ‘ites. Fighting wag suspended after telephone consultations between Syrian Pfesident Hafez Assad and Iranian Presi- . But the next day, the fragile alliance be- nd Tehran was taxed as Hizballah fight- ers broke the truce, drawing Syrian troops into the conflict. The victory of Hizballah came after it had suffered a series of mili- tary setbacks in Shi‘ite-dominated Southern Lebanon, first at the hands of Amal, then Israel, which killed as many as 40 of its guerrillas in a raid two weeks ago. Hizballah’s new pow- er will complicate effurts to free the 16 remaining foreign hostages in Lebanon. most of whom are thought to be held in the Beirut suburbs by kidnapers with Ues to the milituat Shrtte faccon, TIME. MAY TE fosd
anhunt for USA’s Sth. hostage ~ Abducted Marine wanted family to ‘always be proud? By Peter Johnson and Robin Garr USA TODAY When William Higgins grad. uated from Southern High School in Louisville, Ky., he Wednesday, when word| came that the 43-year-old Ma- rine lieutenant colonel had been kidnapped in Lebanon, his uncle said the USA should be proud of him, too. “He loves his country,” said Delbert Eagle. “I don’t think they could bring enough pres- Sure or pain to cause himn to be- Friends say the trim, 5-foot- 8inch Higgins jogged in the snow before it was fashionable. They were surprised when he joined the Marines after graduating from Miami Uni- versity of Ohio on a Navy being macho-types, and h really wasn't,” said high school buddy Rudy Fischer. Eagie, 86, said Higgins was more studious than athletic — a boy who “liked to hunt and fish and romp in the woods.” Higgins’ wife, Robin, isa Ma- rine major at the Pentagon. He has a daughter, Christine Lynn, 17, by a previous marriage. e The United Nations’ 5,800- man peace-keeping force in Lebanon Wednesday mounted one of the largest operations in its 10-year history, hoping to U._N. troops are scouring southern Lebanon for Lt. Col. William Higgins, the USA’s ninth hostage in Lebanon, spokesman Timur Goksel says. “We are using helicopters, we have blocked off the roads, we have patrols, we are follow- ing up all the tips,” Goksel tells USA TODAY. He says mem- bers of the nine-nation interim force are covering southern Lebanon in “battalions.” kidnapping. President Reagan Wednes- day said, “We're still investigat- ing”; White House spokesman Robert Hall said, “We will hold the kidnappers responsible for his safety.” Higgins, 43, was yanked trom his jeep — painted white with black U.N. lettering — af- ter falling behind another U.N. HT Robert Kupperman 52, is a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and In- ternational Studies, a non- partisan think tank in Washington, D.C. He has written several books, in- cluding two on terrorism, and has served as an advis- er on counterterrorism to the National Security Council. Kupperman was interviewed by USA TO- DAY’s Paul MeMasters and Barbara Reynolds. Kidnappers often plan USA TODAY: William Hig- gins, the Marine colonel kid- napped Wednesday in Leba- non, is the first US. hostage taken in a year. Why haven't there been more? KUPPERMAN: There are really two reasons. One is that with their captives’ physica isolation and their health. USA TODAY: So hostage are a liability, toa. KUPPERMAN: The hos ers are in a doubiq bind. If they start to kill off the USA TODAY: Who are these terrorists? KUPPERMAN: The Hezhol- lah is a Shiite organization with close ties to Iran and some ties, by contrast, with Syria. They fights with leaders of Lebanese factions led by Nabih Berri and Walid Jumblatt, they have cre- ated an atmosphere more characteristic of factionalism and terrorism than of any orga- nized military structure. USA TODAY: Are most of these groups tied te Iran? KUPPERMAN: ! don’t think there’s any question about it. That doesn’t mean they don’t act somewhat independently, that they aren’t semi-autono- mous. But they have tremen- dous allegiance to Iran. USA TODAY: Higgins was part of a U.N. peacekeeping ferce that presumably could to be there? KUPPERMAN: There are a ‘ariety of military assign- ents, one of which involves a .N.tike military post, that are jangerous. We undertake dan- perous missions from time to ime. Diplomats in Lebanon indertake severe risks, and people clearly associated with USA TODAY’ Why would Higgins be takeg? Was he just a target of oppattunity? KUPPERMAN: That’s al- ways possible. But most of these groups dda lot of plan- involved but the groups that do this hav¢ got to engage in tactical planring. If Col. Hig- gins’ abduction|follows in the USA TODAY: There are those who say we should not have anyone in Lebanon, What do you say to them? KUPPERMAN: I don’t think the U.S. government as a gov- ernment can afford to cower. It needs to have some diplomatic and military presence in a country where we still have some need for a substantial re- lationship. And also in terms of telligence purposes, USA TODAY: Do other countries deal with hostages the same way the USA dees? KUPPERMAN: Most of the policies are identical, but the question is: How tauch do they live up to those policies? It’s clear that we had for the long- matically. In the case of the Iran-contra matter, clearly in the swap of hostages for weap- ons, we violated our own policy very substantially. USA TODAY: Was the vio- yoy LARA? have been engaged in terror- ning for weeks.fferrorist inci- lation worth it? QS alow a ism — hostagetaking, for ex- dents are not dpne purely in KUPPERMAN: We endured PYRG H -——_——_Ep YRGHIH VID By on nay ample. With that and their isolation — not gily the politics a [ot of internal trauma and we came out behind. We washed our dirty linen before the whole world. There’s no ques- tion it damaged our credibility with our allies. I think we've probably recovered from it be- cause the incident occurred jong enough ago that people are now bored with it USA TODAY: Do you think there’s any chance that the USA might be willing to trade arms for hostages? KUPPERMAN: | assume that there are lunatics, and anyone who would assume that would be a iunatic. USA TODAY: How should our ability to exercise some we react to this kidnapping? , wrote that his ambition wasfl ROTC scholarship. The White House and Penta- e Sete pidlers from other control over the region and fur- : e | “for my family to always bell “You think of the Marines as gon are at a loss to explain the or wee m advance ountries. Did he really need’ tier the iistening posts for in.  KUPPERMAN: I think our proud of me.” reaction ought to be at two lev- els: doing all we can by intelli- gence means, diplomatic means to try to save Col. Hig- gins from a very unpleasant time, at least — to learn what the demands are, to under- stand the politics of it and the individual grievances of the particular organization in- 4 there are fewer American tar- hostages, we would go in he CIA take more risks than est time an anti-terrorism poli- volved. But most importantly, I tray his country in any way.” Higgins’ father was near vehicle 10 miles north of the Is- gets. But the most important tarily. On the other hand, if o Lnybody. cy, and the strongest one was think, the US. government has Outgoing, Higgins was cho- ff death Wednesday with heart Taeli border. He had assumed intelligence sources learn thay sen one of the top 10 students in high school, played Quard on the Trojans football team and was senior class vice president. ey questions — and an- swers — on United Nations peacekeeping activities in the Middle East and the Middle East peace process, failure, too ill to understand what had happened to his son. > The kidnapping, 1A, 7A backed Christian militia — and noting signs of trouble. How many U.N. observers operate in the araa? There are three different IDEAST AMBUSH: Marine Lt are involved and what do they do? The United States has 35 citi- zens serving in truce supervi- sion organization, none in the Defense Department file photo via UPI i T Col. William Higgins is the first .S. serviceman to be kidnapped in Lebanon. i command a month ago of a special 75-member, unarmed U.N. Observer Force. Goksel says Higgins, a veter- an of two combat tours in Viet- nam and winner of a bronze star, had just left “a pleasant conversation” with the leader of the Shiite Amal militia in the Lebanese coastal city of Tyre, 45 miles south of Beirut. The best lead: Two villagers saw two men push Higgins into a vehicle and speed away. thing is that after the Iran-con- tra matter, we really are living the hostages are being reason up to our antiterrorism policy. ably treated, we’re very unlike That is, no concessions to ter- ly to do much. The terrorists rorists, So it hasn’t been that will gain nothing. Profitable for them. USA TODAY: Then why| USA TODAY: What does don’t they just let the hostages| that mean? go? KUPPERMAN: These are KUPPERMAN: There is a not inexpensive matters. The pride of ownership that they kidnappers have to take care have. I don’t think the hostages of people. They have to deal will be released very soon. USA TODAY: What do the .N. forces do there? Do they have an impact? KUPPERMAN: They are lore symbolic than anything Ise. They are effective if one ooks at the need for some sym- pol of international influence. Diplomatically, it's potentially omewhat effective in terms of fs ability to actually engage in efights. where we wouldn't even talk to the terrorists, when Henry Kis- singer was secretary of state. USA TODAY: What hap- pened to that? ’ KUPPERMAN: It was re- laxed. Now we have one where we will not grant any substan- tive or meaningful concessions at this point in time, What this Says is that you can have a poli- to lay the law down in terms of telling the American public it’s dangerous there, and that the US. is not going to give in to bandits. USA TODAY: Do you think that Col. Higgins might face a tougher time of it because he’s a military man? KUPPERMAN: It’s always possible. I just hope he’s treat- ed well. What was Marine Lt. Col. U.N. peacekeeping groups other forces. About half spend 5 P k fe William ins doing when there: the U.N. Interim Force most of their time at the >» ULN.’s role in Lebanon, 4A eace eeping orce he was k a 2 . in Lebanon, with about 5,800 group’s headquarters in Jeru- » Profile of Higgins, 44 : He was acting as chief of the people; the U.N. Di salem while the others are in p> USA’s hostages, 7A U.N. observer force in Leba- non, a 75-member group charged with keeping an eye on often conflicting groups — such as the Shiite Amal, Pales- tinian refugees and Israeli- ment Force, with 1,330 people; and the U.N. Truce Supervi- sion Organization, with 295 people. Higgins’ group belongs to UNTSO. How many U.S. servicemen Lebanon. They do not carry arms and largely have been re- sponsible for liaison-type activ- ities. What else Is going on In the search for peace in the re- gion? ing to revive the peace pro- CPYRGHT "pian Urquhart, a “scholarinresi ‘Willan Higeins We dence with the Ford Foundation, de. sponsible for “pa scribes hostage Lt Col. William Hig. gins as “courageous” and says Higgins’ job is “vital to peace in Lebanon.” . * | Urquhart was assigned to the Unit- ed Nations for 41 years. He served as UN, und general for 14 years with responsibility for all ON. . do @ terrific job, a: armed. They're very cy, yet you can violate it dra- USA TODAY - THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1988 - 7A The other eight held in Lebanon Terry Anderson, corre- spondent for Associated Press, was kidnapped March 16, 1985. Thomas Sutherland, agri- culture dean at American University of Beirut, was seized June 9, 1985. Edward Tracy, a writer from Vermont who was liv- ing in Beirut, was abducted Oct. 21, 1986. Jesse Turner, a math in- structor at Beirut University College, was kidnapped Jan. 24, 1987. Frank Herbert Reed, direc- tor of Lebanese Interna- tional School, was kid- napped Sept. 9, 1986. Joseph Cicippio, comp- a Robert Polhill, a business professor at Beirut Univer- Sity College, was seized Jan. 24, 1987. Alann Steen, a journalism a with the two: ae tee, : + Evert if peaceKeeping forces. ‘solve tie | problem, they contain’ peacekeeping forces. Urquhart says the U.N. ‘Truce Su pervision Organization, where Lt, Col cess” for ending violence be- ot it tween Palestinians and Israeli soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, seized by Israel in the 1967 Middie East war. Coon these UN, pocatony eon . ng forces and current U.S.-hacked diplomatic of- fonsive? There is no direct ation. . NO one has even suBeeSt troller at American Univer- sity in Beirut, was kid- Napped Sept. 12, 1986. Professor at Beirut Univer- sity College, was kid- napped Jan. 24, 1987. CPYRGHT CPYRGHT By Marly Baumann, USA TODAY ed seriously that U.N. forces at- tempt to stop protests by Pales- tinians against Israeli rule in the occupied territories. CPYRGHT — Don Kirk Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R000400040001-3
Weap- policy @ Vio- .dured «and we cashed -e the » ques- ibility we've ait be zurred acople 4 think at the ‘trade ssume 3, and ne that should ping? ak our wo lev- intelli- matic Wl. Hig- -easant 7 what minder- md the af the Dn in- antly, I snt has ems of atic it's nat the 2 in to \ think» fa-ea ecause always z treat- USA \ Hpiproved EBEREIATEBOUI08/08 : CIA-RD Terry Anderson, corre- Edward Tracy, a writer spondent for Associated | from Vermont who was liv- Press, was kidnapped | ing in Beirut, was abducted March 16, 1985. Oct. 21, 1986. Thomas Sutherland, agr4 Jesse Turner, a math in- culture dean at Americar} _ structor at Beirut University University of Beirut, wag College, was kidnapped seized June 9, 1985. Jan. 24, 1987, Frank Herbert ort Reed, direc- Robert Polhill, a business tor of Lebanese Interna- professor at Beirut Univer- tional School, was kid- } sity Collec ey was seized napped Sept. 9, 1986. Jan. 24, 16 Jos-ph Cicippio co Alann Steen, a journalism ircizr ApprOKed Bax aelepas-2000L0 B08 GrideRD 7p sity in Beirut, was kid- | sity College, was kid- agnid Sort 12, 1¢35, naoned Jan. 24, 1987. CPYRGHT P96-00789R000 00040001 3. —k LT. COL. WILLIAW I! IEGINS it Pulled from car by guiniacn yy PT ann : a 2 SSG TGLNS 4 dont-of The Aageelatea Prost Kidnapped ® aa 5, BD. Cog cae Thomas Sutherland, 56, agriculture dean at the American University of Beirut. June 9, 1985. Frank Reed, 55, director of the Lebanon Interna- tional Schoo! in Beirut. Sept. 9, 1986. Joseph Cicinaio, 57, acting controller of the American University of E Beirut. Sept. 12, 1986. Edward Tracy, 57, author. Oct. 21, 1986. desse Turner, 40, visiting professor of mathe- matics and computer science at Beirut Univer. sity College. Jan. 24, 1987. = Fouert Polnill, 53, assistant professor of busi- ness at Beirut University College. Jan. 24, 1987. “ we a > a anna, din martanirt ae a Arete LN EET INS , 2) @ 3 Ra flann Steen, 48, journalism professor at Beirut > University College. Jan. 24, 1987. Kiarine Lt. Col, William Higgins, 43; head-of a U.N observer group attached to the U UD N: v uiterim Force i in n Lebanon. Pebil ol?, 1988. = Blot pi Tae ah aE eh i. pon pon Kirk eT mrs ee eee ee