Approved For Release 2000/08/08
: CIA-RDP96-00789R000400040001-3
CPYRGHT
The Washington Post
HOSTAGES IN LEBANON
Twry Anderson, chief Middle East correspond of The Associated Press,
Thomas SutheHand, dean of agriculture at lha American University ol
ftwk Herbert Reed,' diractOf ol the Lebanon International School In Beirut,
Joseph' James Cldppta, acting comptroller of the American University of
Beirut. Sapt.
12, 1986,
Edward Austin Tracy, author, Oct. 21, 1986.
Jaste Turner, visiting professor of mathematics and computer science at
Bairut University College. Jan, 24, 1987.
„
Robert Poihlll, asslslant professor ol business at Beirut University Colloge>
Wann Steen, journalism professor at Beirut University College, Jan. 24,
1987.
Marine Lt Col. William R, Higgins, head of a 75-man observer group
attached to the UN, Interim Force In Lebanon, yesterday.
Alec Collett, March 25, 1983
John McCarthy, April
17, 1986.
Terry Waite. Jan. 20. 1987.
Marcel Fontaine, March 22, l
Marcel Carton, March 22, 1985.
Michel Seurat May 22, 1985.
Jean-Paul Kauflmann, May 22, 1985
Rudolf Cordes, Jan. 17, 1987.
Ralph Rudoll Schray, Jan. 27, 1988.
Mlthileswar Singh (Indian). Jan. 24. 1987
Brian Keenan (Irish). April U, 1986.
Alberto Mollnarl (Italian), Sept. 11.
l985
William Jorgensen (Norwegian), Feb. 5, 1903,
Jan Sianlng (Swedish), Feb. 3, 1988.
,,
, QB7
Two people of unknown nationality were kidnaped Jan, 26, war,
luntr- In uurH loss Mamie Jlhwj tfeimed IMt Michel Sweat had been MMd. lha W|
S
5 SocMSal
irt «k Collett M bwa «
na wnauemroji
MARINE, From A1
Croup
oporntea
six
observation
posts
and
conducts
patrols
along
the Lebanese- Israeli border in con-
Jimrtlon
with
Urn
United
Nallmi#
Interim
Force
in
Ubnnon (UNI-
FIL), created after the March 1978
Israeli invasion ol Lebanon,
A
Norwegian
television
corre-
spondent who traveled with Higgins
through
southern
Lebanon
two
weeks ago told CBS News, "lie was
aware of the risk. He said, 'Wc can
be kidnapi-d. We ran lie shot at. We
“lie was eager to
find out how strong
they [pro-Iranian
Hezbollah] were.”
— Norwogmn television cor responder l
can be robbed. But this is n part of
our daily life.'
”
The
Norwegian
journalist
said
Higgins traveled with him without
an escort or weapons. He also said
Higgins expressed a special interest
in
the
pro-Iranian
Hezbollah
and
reports that the group was increas-
ing
its
activities
in
the
area. “He
was eager to find out how strong
they were," the reporter said.
Higgins became chief ol the unit in
January as part of an agreement
in
which
the
U.S,
senior
military
ob-
server
serves
as commander from
January to June of each year and an
Australian
lieutenant
colonel
heads
I hi- group
fur
l he
rest of
I be
year.
His
i me- year tour
in Lebanon began
last Junr.
The
(Jutted Status has
iirotigmul
36 military officers to U.N. observ-
,
er
groups
throughout
the
Middle
Gunmen in Lebanon Seize
American Marine Officer
Tnimsnsv. Fewwmiy HI.
A19
LEBANON, From A1
neighboring
Arab
countries.
The
organization's 75-man unit
it) Leb-
anon,
which
Higgins
headed,
worked closely with the much big-
ger—and
better known—U.N.
in-
terim Force In Lebanon, the actual
peace-keeping force.
Higgins, according
to witnesses
and U.N. officials here, was return-
ing
to
the
U.N.
peace-keeping
force’s
headquarters
at
Naqurah,
15 mites south of Tyre, when he
was
abducted
at
2:16
p.m.
local
time (7:15 n.m. EST). He was driv-
ing alone
In a U.N. car flying
the
blue-nnd-white U.N. flag, they said,
following
another
U.N.
vehicle,
when
three
men
armed
with
Kalashnikov
assault
rifles
inter-
cepted his car as the
first vehicle
rounded n curve near Ras Ain, four
miles south of Tyre,
Witnesses said they saw the gun-
men shove Higgins Into the trunk of
a red Mercedes and speed off with
him along a dirt road forking off the
main coastal highway.
When the three U.N. officers in
the
first
vehicle
realized
HigginB
was no longer following them, Gok-
sel
said,
"they
turned
back
and
found Higgins' car empty."
The
coastal
stretch where
the
attack took
place
is contested by
the Amal militia and the more rad-
ical,
Iran-backed Hezbollah move-
ment, which in L986 launched rock-
et attacks against
soldiers
of the
U.N. peace-keeping force.
Amal chief Nabih Berd went into
a closed session with key
military
advisers this evening. Hassan Yous-
scf, head of Amal's
external
rela-
tions department,
said, "Amal
will
not leave a stone unturned in look-
ing for and uncovering the perpe-
trators."
Amal has avoided attacks on U.N
troops In Lebanon, whom
it sees at
protectors
against
Israeli
forces
which have
established
a
securit;
zone In southern Lebanon along th
Israeli border.
"We will never acquiesce to thei
being subjected to arty kind of dar
ger
one Amal
official said tod a 3
"This act only
benefits
Israel,
a
though the actual tools carrying or
the kidnaping could be non- Israeli.
A note delivered to a news a get
cy in Beirut today raised new co
cerns about
the
two
Scnndinavit
representatives of the U.N.
Reli
f
and Works Agency kidnaped sou
of Sldon on Feb. 5. The
unsigiv
i
.
-
UNJUU
UpL William Richard Higgins, in undated ill* photo. In southern Lebanon.
not
s accused the two, Jan Stemng,
of Sweden, and William Joer-
ge
sen,
57,
of Norway,
of
being
im dved
In
activities of an
intelli-
ge ce
service
linked
to
a foreign
co
ntry.
'he
statement
said
the. two
w<
ild be released only "when they
ar
proven innocent,"
Swedish and Norwegian foreign
m
ilstry
spokesmen
denied
that
ei
ier man was connected to intel-
lij :nce activities.
The kidnaping of Joergcnscn and
S
:ning prompted the U.N. agency
t<
pull out some of its 14-member
fc
elgn staff from Beirut and tem-
p
rarily move some
of the opera-
t ms to Damascus. The U.N, De-
Unit Commander
4Acti\||ly Sought’ Lebanon Duty
Th*
Marine Msj. Robin Higgins, wl
rusalem and Tiberias in
Isr
three arc
in Damascus,
resent
all
branches
of
tin
armed forces.
The 36 U.S. officers are
1MW troops from
IV wit imm,
|
ing the Soviet
Union,
that
Higgins joined thn
f
in 1967 and served In the
in Vietnam.
He was
a'
I Wren.,' Superior
Service I
in various command
positions and
was promoted to lieutenant colonel
in January 1983.
Higgins "actively sought" an as-
signment with the U.N. unit in l-ch-
imhiii niter several yunra of duty
In
i|rtic-
the Washington
area, according to
one Pentagon official.
...(in
Ilia wife, Marino Mnj, KoWn Nig-
.-.---
.
fntry
gins, works In the Pentagon's
public
Pentagon
colleague.
The
Higgins
the
affair*
office. She was
Informed
of
finally
has
lived
in Woodbrldge
for
idal
her husband
1 * disappearance at nhont
the
past Vh
years,
the
coworker
rupted in a routine staff meeting by a
telephone call from the State Depart-
ment.
A family friend drove the couple's
daughter, Chrissy, 17. to the Penta-
gon
from
WiHKlbrldgc
yesterday
morning
so
that
her
mother
could
relay
the sketchy
details of her
fa-
tlmr'a (tluapimarnnce, according to a
velopment Program also postponed
a
p tanned
assistance program
for
Lebanon pending the release of the
two.
Many observers here were sur-
prised to learn that any Americans
were still in southern Lebanon. The
widespread
assumption
had
been
that
all
official
Americans
had
cleared
out
of
Moslem-controlled
areas
after
a wave
of kidnapings
swept Beirut in L985.
Earlier today. Islamic Resistance
fighters launched an attack against
positions
of
the
Israeli-backed
South
Lebanon
Army
near
the
Christian
town
of
Jezzine.
killing
seven of them.
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Approved For Release 2000/08/08
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CPYRGHT
CPYRGHT
'A12
Tlesdav, AticusT 8, 1989
The Washjucton Post
Man in Beirut Videotape Probably Was Higgins, FBI Experts Say
^^^Bnal^e3?ercI3>Tn!as
concluded
that
the man
depicted
hanging in a videotape released by a
pro-Iranian Shiite Moslem group in
Beirut
last
week
was
probably
American hostage Marine
Lt. Col.
WJliam R. Higgins, and the bureau
considers "within a reasonable de-
gree of medical certainty” that the
person was dead.
In
a
statement,
the
Fill
said
"positive identification could not
bJ
made." but reported that “numcrl
ous observable character! mica werJ
witoil
linlii rithij}
iiinl
llir>
[ininiiir
depicted
III
l lie videotape la Lt. Col]
Higgins.”
The
Fill
also
said
that
"ii judg
•ni< Ml
hus
lice
imirle
with m
a
ren
mm.itilr ilvglff
>1 im-dic.it
i Cl l.lllll I
wwpnpnrfir
eotape is dead.”
The statement was silent about
the timing and cause of death. Hut
senior administration
officials
said
there
is “strong circumstantial
ev-
idence”
that the person had been
killed before being hanged, possibly
before the July 28 abduction by Is-
raeli commandos
of
Shiite
cleric
Abdul Karim Obeid.
(n a ceremony at Fort Myer to
celebrate the 200th amiiversary of
the
War
Department,
President
Hush, his voice breaking with emo-
tion, yesterday praised
Higgins
as
“fl symbol of Mm enurngn that hums
In
llir>
liitvinl
of nvmy Anmili mi
III
uniform.
1 '
Marine Corps Commandant Gen.
Alfred M.
Ciniy
infnrtiu'd
Higgins'
wife,
ftiihin.
of
Hu-
rrNlilts
of
tiu1
VII It III,
I pi-
11 1 inly Min.
1 1 II nil
,lhii talk'd
m wwrpw. wmrnzmm
the release of the
IMS! statement,
"to offer his support and encourage-
ment, ”
White
House
spokesman
Marlin Fitswater said.
“The president said the U.S. gov-
ernment
will continue to do
all
it
can
to
obtain
a
full accounting of
what
happened
to
her
husband,”
Fitzwater
said.
Higgins was
kid-
napped Fob.
17, 1988, in southern
Lebanon, where he was heading a
75-member United Nations peace-
keeping team.
Tho FBI
statement, which was
based on examination of the video-
tape by PHI fnmttln experts
find
<111
1 nil If
(ml 111 linyloin,
| t-|n (isnull'il
the
first
olficiat
U.S.
government
iiSHeHNiiicnt of the videotape, which
showed
a
hound
and gagged
uinn
hanging l*v liw wck from n ropr.
At I ii I in ml la Inn i
i,i in 1 1 us
said
.in-
iromes un ptwsj uijuiiiuu
a m*
ond, much clearer copy of the vid-
eotape
through
intelligence
chan-
nels.
One senior administration official
familiar with the videotape analysis
said the conclusion that Higgins had
been killed before the hanging was
based
on
the
appearance
of
the
body on the
tape, the
fact
that
it
was dressed in winter clothes in the
middle of summer and the failure of
the
hostage-lakers
to
return
the
body. The official said the working
assumption
is
that
Higgins
was
killed sometime after the shooting
down of
nil Iranian Airbus over the
I'omliOl Lull In July lUHH.
Higgins’ abductors claimed they
hanged him last Monday
in
retal-
iation
for
the
Israeli kidnapping of
Oheiil,
mid
Obi -Id
roimrlcdlv
told
Israeli
i minorities that
In-
li.nl ami
WISPUUIWB Ak
IBLIIJILIJ! Jt J WWH
before his abduction.
FBI Assistant Director Milt Ah-
lerich
said FBI laboratory experts
reached
the
conclusion
that
the
body in the videotape was probably
Higgins
by
using new,
computer-
aided
techniques
that
primarily
compare facial features. He said the
pathologists who concluded that the
figure was dead were experts from
outside the FDI who did not wish to
be
Identified,
but
another
source
said the pathologist
were from the
armed forces,
Fitj water
said
Rush
was
"cau-
tiously optimistic" that
tho rpinntn-
lug eight Ameflcntw held captive In
Lebanon
will
eventually
be
re-
leased,
but
the
president
“knows
that it’» probably going to be a long-
er period of time rather than short-
Lebanon’s
Terrorist
Groups
"Analysts Concur
",On Some Specifics
^^TT5^!fKno«ig!^oWrnrflSnRr
frequently disagree with academicl
- and journalistic sources on the na-
ture and history of Lebanon's ter-
rorist groups, but there is agree-
ment
on
the
following
outlines
of|
the most prominent ones:
' Hezbollah
(Party of God)—Re-
' garded by the State Department ai
“ an organization of several thousand
mmilM-rs responsible for most kid-1
napping
of
Americans
and
other]
foreigners. Many other experts bef
lieve
it
is les3 a formal, structure*!
group than a loosely knit ideologies f
. movement serving as an umhrelU|
for many radical Shiite groups. It
i:
closely
allied with
Iran, and
TJ.Sj
officials say
it seeks to turn Lebaf
non
into an
Iranian-styled
Islamic!
republic.
I
n Islamic
Jihad
(Islamic
Holy]
rWar>—The State Department says"
»it
is
Hezbollah
under
a
differetij
name. Others regard
it as one
ol
• several distinct groups linked loose!
ly under the Hezbollah 'ideological
banner. It has strong links with IraJ
and has asserted
responsibility
fo|
Baking part in the 1985 hijacking of
Trans World Airlines flight to Bei-
Islamic Holy War for the Liber-
Ifttion of Palestine—Thought to in-
Iclude both radical Shiites and Pal-
lestinian
guerrillas,
it
is
probably
[tied loosely to Hezbollah. In January
1987,
it
kidnapped
four
profes-
sors—three
Americans
and
one
r, CltvJMSWfc mneo
• Its leadership has never been idcnl
Itified
positively, but many
intellf
Igence sources believe
it has ties
• followers of Sheik Mohammed Hus
Usein Fadtallah,
a
Shiite
cleric whj
Jalso is frequently cited as leader
U Hezbollah.
;
Revolutionary Justice Organize
J tion—Another
pro-Iranian
Shiit
; group,
it claims to hold America
J hostage Joseph J. Cicippio and sev
;;eral
other
foreigners.
Some
ana
• lysts believe
it is Islamic Jihad op
• erating under another name. Other
; contend
it
is
a
breakaway
grou
; that mirrors the power struggle be
'tween pragmatists and
militants
» Iran. According to this theory
, ReJ
• olutionary Justice
is
allied
to
thr
• Tehran
extremists
and
emerge)
after
Islamic
Jihad, responding
• Iranian
moderates, stopped
takinj
T Western hostages in 1985.
U« Organization
of
the
Oppressel
i on
Earth— Also
known
as
Holl
• Strugglers
for Freedom,
it
is thl
J militant Shiite group that claims
I have killed Lt. Col. William R. Hi
I gin*. In January 1987,
it kitliiappe
J two West Germans in an unsucces#
J fit! attempt to force release of M®
•hammed
Ali
Hamadei,
serving
; prison term
in West Germany fJ-
jU.N. Envoy
I
1Will Take Pati
LEBANON. From A1
2 retrieve the body of Higgins,
; sewed as a U.N. truce observer L
southern Lebanon
before he
w|
kidnapped in February 1988.
Z
Higgins
is presumed
dead,
Z though there are still doubts abc
it
5 when he may have been
killed
y
2 feia captors. Goulding said he did i
it
J obtain any solid evidence that H
[-
• gins is dead or alive since his am
il
• in Beirut last week.
In Washington, the FBI said o
• daily (or the first time today that
t
• body seen hanging from a rope
ii
J videotape released by Higgins’s c
"tors was probably that of the Mar
bat there was no way to be ccrt|n
; by simply viewing the videotape.
-
The FBI statement did not
Z when Higgins died, but a PcntaAn
S official suggested he may have did
Z before his captors said he did. T
ie
S official, speaking before the sta e-
• ment was
released,
said the
bi
ly
; shown osi the videotape had non<
of
the
signs
of
hanging,
such
a;
a
• snapped
neck
and
bulging
ey
;3,
• Reuter reported.
While in Lebanon, Goulding
i
etl
".with leaders of Hezbollah, or Pa ty|
S3if God, the
pro-Iranian
Shiite
tremist
group
that
is believed
ev c«t coofc-n-i niawWiioH tost
Revolutionary Commando
Cells,
seems to be the same organization.
Intelligence
sources
believe
it
is
financed and controlled by Libya, hi
has
claimed
to
hold
Cicippio,
butl
that
is disputed
in intelligence
cir-
cles. One of its captives, Peter Kil-
burn, librarian at the American Uni-
versity, was killed in 1986, report-
sity of Beirut. It demands release of
bombing ol Libya.
for
the
U.Sl
One captive, Peter
Kilburn
, was killed
in 1986, reportedly
.
m retaliation for the
U.S. bombing of
Libya.
more than 400
Shiites and Pales-
tinians jailed in Israel and abolition
of the Lebanese Christian military
enclave
established
by
Israel
in
southern Lebanon.
Lebanese Armed
Revolutionary
Front—Composed primarily of rad-
ical leftist Lebanese Christians led
by Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, who
was jailed in Paris for complicity in
the murder of an American military
attache and an
Israeli diplomat,
it
kidnapped a French diplomat in an
unsuccessful attempt to free Abdal-
lah.
The Arab Revolutionary Cells
Functioning under the names The
Omar
Mukhtar
Brigade
and
the
bombing ol Libya.
m Islamic
Liberation
Organiza-
tion—Composed
of
Sunni
Moslenl
fundamentalists.
It
kidnapped
fouf
Soviet
diplomats
in
1985
and
dej
manded that Moscow pressure Syrii
io
lilt its siege of the northern porl
city of Tripoli. The Soviets reacteX
by killing some of its members, ami
the hostages were released.
Christian
Lebanese
Forces—
I
The
militia of the right-wing, pref
dominantly Maronite Christian Pha
lange
Party,
it regards
itself as
conventional
fighting
force
rathe)
than
a
terrorist
group. But
it
tel
portedly
was
responsible
for
th!
kidnapping and apparent
killing ol
four Iranian diplomats
in 1982,
ai
act
that
many
observers
believ|
triggered
Lebanon’s
subsequenj
plague of hostage taking.
The South Lebanese Army—An|
other
conventional
militia
that
predominantly Christian and backeJ
by
Israel as a buffer in an endavi
aiong the Israeli-Lebancse border!
It
kidnapped
Finnish
troopf
serving
with
U.N.
peacc-kecpim
forces in 1965, but released them
few days later after Israel was sutl
jeered to heavy complaints from th|
United States and other nations.
rs Solution to Hostage Crisis
lilt Diplomacy and Some Time
wield control over
the captors
of
the Westerners missing in Lebanon,
lie also met with prominent Mos-
lem religious figures and Lebanese
and Syrian officials.
Timor Goksel, spokesman for the
United
Nations
Interim
Force
in
Lebanon. tUNIFIL)
said
Goulding
will travel to Israel to meet Defense
Minister Vitzhak Shamir and Dep-
uty Foreign Minister Binyamin Ne-
tanyahu after spending the night at
UN1F1L headquarters in Naqoura.
Goulding
told reporters
after
a
meeting with Hoss that he thought
the United Nations could play a role
in dealing with the hostage problem
because
“it
has
to
be
solved”
through "a long process of quiet and
patient diplomacy," and
a “cooper-
stive effort" of all international and
humanitarian organizations.
Tension over the safety
of hos-
tages and possible U.S. or
Israeli
military retaliation had eased over
the last two days amid reports of an
Algerian
drive
to
undertake
con-
tacts with the captors of foreigners
in Lebanon. especially Americans.
Algerian
Ambassador
Khaled
Hisnawi met this morning with Shi-
ite cleric Sobhi Tofeiiy
this morn-
ing,
a leader
in Hezbollah's consul-
tative
council,
in a
bid
to purs
s
contacts with the group.
A Lebanese
political source sa a
Algeria has been asked
to act
s
“postman'’
between
Iran
and
t
e
United States to help iron out sna
in the intricate diplomacy,
Last week, the Algerian amb;
sador expressed the view that
t
e
captors
of
foreigners
in
Leban
could he acting freely and withe
directives from Tehran. But Shi
groups
involved
in
the
hosts
trade in Lebanon are known to ha
links to certain wings of the Irani
leadership, such as the radical
j
terior
minister,
Ali Akbar Moh
shemi.
In an
impassioned
appeal tod
from the gravesile of the decead
leader
of
the
Iranian
revoluti*,
ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, M«i-
lashemi declared that thousands^'
Shiite Moslems wore ready to brr
down
the
superpowers
and
c
tioned
that
any
dilution
of
Kl
mcini's anti-American drive wo
enslave Iran.
“The imam [Khomeinij always
I
tacked. He always had an offensM
posture towards the United Stats,'
Moh task end said
in
a speech Sp
day that was quoted on Tehran
dio today.
-L
Abductors’ Motives Still MurlgpYRGHT
Conflicting Claims and Demands Add to Longstanding Puzzle
By John M. Gonhko
WiihiBpcn Pot! Stuff ttrilci
^)^meronsHr>an^cHafl?o!^
the
hatreds
behind
(he
apparent
slaying of U.S, Marine Lt. Col. Wil-
liam
R.
Higgins
is
like
watching
some grisly contest where neither
the rules nor identities of the op-
ponents are known but the stakes
are life or death.
That has been the situation since
July 28 when
Israel's abduction of
Shiite Moslem cleric Abdul Karim
Obeid triggered a new chapter
in
Lebanon's
hostage
saga. The
se-
quence since then has Included the
purported
revenge
killing
of
Hig-
gins, threats to kill another Amer-
ican hostage, Joseph J. Cicippio, and
la wave of rumors about secret ne-
gotiations for # major hostage swap.
The
accompanying
barrage
of
confusing
assertions and demands
from different organizations claim-
ing to hold foreign captives has un-
derscored anew why diplomats, in-
telligence
analysts
and
academics
have been unable to sketch a ration-
al picture of the hostage-taking phe-
nomenon that has engulfed Lebanon
since 1982.
The experts agree on one point:
no single organization 13 responsible
(or the abduction of foreigners ,
al-
though some
of
the groups
have
links and common sponsors. More
J than adozen. different, groups have
I' lakffl
lioStagt! a,
in' "some
cases
claiming responsibility for the same
kidnapping. And, in what makes the
effort to free the captives extreme-
ly
difficult,
the
kidnappers
have
acted from
different
motives and
made differing ransom demands.
When
Higgins,
head
of a
U.N.
peace-keeping
mission,
was
kid-
napped
on
Feb.
17,
1988, two
groups asserted responsibility, and
others later boasted that they were
his captors. Ultimately the July 31
claim that he had been hanged
in
retaliation
for
Obeid's
abduction
came from the Organization of the
Oppressed on
Barth, a
pro-Iranian
Shiite group with a strong anti-lsr
raelj bent.
Subsequent statements alternat-
ing threats to kill Cicippio or to ex-
change
him
for
Obeid
and
450
Arabs
imprisoned by
Israel
have
come from the Revolutionary Jus-
tice Organization, another
radical,
pro-Iranian
Shiite
group.
Even
more
confusing, many statements
and media reports have put respon-
sibility for the fate of both men and
other hostages on yet another Shi-
ite group, the Hezbollah or I'arty of
God.
Some experts explain the confu
sion by claiming that the kidnapper!
erating
under
different names or
jhnt
they are
loosely
.'illird in«vc-
nmnts under
the umbrella of Hez-
blllah.
But
these experts are
far
f|^m unified about what that means.
The State Department, in it* an-
£
report, Patterns of Global Ter-
«n, lists Hezbollah as a terrorist
nization dedicated
to creation
an Irani an -style Islamic republic
Lebanon. It says the Revolution-
a|y Justice Organization and anoth-
prominent
terrorist
group,
Is-
1 Artie
Jihad,
are
Hezbollah
using
<|fferent names,
However,
in an
article for
the
And Corporation, two experts
c
lEbanon’s
Shiites,
Brian
Michael
jlnkina
and
Robin
Wright,
de-
s|ribed Hezbollah as a state of mind
re than an
actual
organization
v|th
a
formal
structure.
They
•ote:
"Even the various cells that
fait
I
der the Hezbollah umbrella are
ir
ect
satellites
centered
around
ferent Islamic clerics in different
ighborhoods.
Membership
in
tzbollah is self-declared, and lead-
ship is decentralized.
“Hezbollah does not qualify as an
c|g,inixjiUon
in
the
conventional
:nse .... Thus, an individual may
once be a
Shiite
militiaman,
a
ijeniber of Hezbollah and an oper-
ive
of
the
Islamic Jihad,
taking
cf-der?
directly
or
indirectly
from
^
.
goWhmentirvTehrarzW
United
States
intercepted
radio
the
most
politically,
economically
iind
snriiilly disadvantaged of Leb-
anon's population groups.
Their sense
of alienation
is re-
flected
in the name chosen by the
principal Shiite
political movement
and
its
militia military arm: Ainal.
which means Movement of the De-
prived. But Ainal’ s claims to lead-
ership of the Shiite population have
been challenged increasingly in the
1980s by the Hezbollah movement
,
whose
devotion
to
the
extremist
attitudes of the Tehran government
has won
a sizable following, partic-
ularly
among
the
street
gunmen
and
militia
fighters
produced
in
great
numbers
by
years
of
civil
strife.
The
experts say
Hezbollah
has
created a climate ripe
for exploita-
tion
by
the
Iranian
government,
with
its drive to
replace Western
influence
in
the Middle East with
political and
social
ideas based on
fundamentalist Shiite theology.
For years, Iran has encouraged
the Shiite groups engaging
in kid-
napping and other terrorism. Most
of the money used by groups linked
tinder the Hezbollah banner comes
from
Tehran,
analysts
say.
The
Iranian Revolutionary Guards who
are known to help train Shiite ex-
tremists
in
camps
in
Lebanon's
Bekaa valley also come (com Teb-
Hostage-laking
hi
the
Middle
st was known as early as the 6th
ntury
B.C.
when
Persian
kings
)k captives to ensure the loyalty
vassal states. The United States
ffrst encountered the phenomenon
the end of the 18 th century when
Arbary pirates seized the crews of
(fnerican vessels and held them (or
insom.
The
current Lebanese wave
of
) stage-taking
is an outgrowth
of
e
civil war
that has
pitted that
c
untry’s
principal
groups—
(
iristians,
Sunni Moslems,
Shiite
oslems,
Druze
and
Palestinian
dugees—against each
other.
At
fferent
times
since
the
kidnap-
ngs
began
in
July
1982,
all
of
ese groups have taken hostages,
I
ost
of them
Lebanese
citizens,
upending on circumstances, they
ive been encouraged and abetted
the radical Arab states seeking
Jfluence
in
Lebanon:
Iran,
Syria
^vd Libya.
By far the most active have been
i
e Shiites, who are believed to be
e largest of the feuding religious
ctions among Lebanon's 3.5 mil-
>n people. Historically, the Shiites,
ho are concentrated
in southern
tbanon
from
the
Israeli
border
irth to the densely packed south-
messages from Tehran ordering its
Lebanese agents
to
kidnap Amer-
ican journalist
Charles
Glass, who
later was released. However, U5.
officials
and
other
experts
add,
while Iranian influence
is consider-
able, Tehran does
not have
total
control over the Lebanese groups
and often is unable to order the dis-
position
of hostages
according
to
Tehran’s whims of the moment.
In
some
cases,
hostages
have
been released to satisfy a
political
need at the time such as the secret
U.S. supply of military equipment to
Iran
revealed
in
the
Iran-contra
scandal.
In other
cases,
hostages
have disappeared without
a
trace,
their months or years spent being
shuttled between Beirut slums and
the Bckaa camps so they cannot be
rescued.
Since 1982, at least 130 foreign-
ers have been
taken
hostage. Of
these, 97 were released or escaped-
Sixteen, including eight Americans,
are
still prisoners or unaccounted
for. And the apparent killing of Hig-
gins brings to 14
I tic hostages
be-
lieved to have died in the shadowy
struggle
played
by
people
about
whom so little is known.
"Around the world, there are m
merous Hezbollah cells, created
t
-
the holy breath of Imam, which ci
>
the death of the superpowers at
I
|
world arrogance,” said Mohtashen
,
who
i* widely admired among Si
-
ites holding hostages in Lebanon.
Mohtashemi's remarks stood
in
contrast
to
conciliatory words
of
President Ali Akbar Hashemi Raf-
sanjani.
The new president
said
Friday
that Iran was wjlling to help in the
hostage
stalemate
if
the
United
States proved
sensible
in
its
ap-
proach.
In a letter to Hezbollah, which the
group
released
to
Western
news
agencies,
Mohtashemi
described
Obeid’s abduction as an unforgivable
act of "terrorism" and a “crime.’'
Approved For Release 2000/08/08
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Approved For Release 2000/08/08
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CPYRGHT
The Washington Post
Cfoup Holding U.S. Hostages
Warns Against Interference
By Nora Boust-any
Washington Post Foreign Service
BEIRUT, Oct 6—A shadowy group holding at
least two Americans hostage warned tonight that
their safety
is
in jeopardy
if foreign “colonial”
powers interfere
in Lebanese politics—a veiled
reference to France.
Today's statement by the Revolutionary Jus-
tice Organization came three days after the
Is-
lamic Jihad
for the
Liberation of Palestine re-
leased an
Indian-born
U.S.
resident
alien held
captive with three other Americans, amid hopes
that more hostages will be freed before the U S
presidential election next month.
The statement was accompanied by a photo-
graph of Joseph James Cicippio, 57, the acting
i
comptroller of the American University of Bei-
rut, who was kidnaped near
his
faculty apart-
ment building on campus two years ago
"We shall use all kinds of methods and cards to
foil the plots of international quarters,”, the state-
ment said. This includes the safety of hostages
which will be at the heart of our plans for coun-
terattack.”
The
clandestine
organization,
which
intelli-
gence sources have said appears to be closely
inked to Islamic Jihad and other
militant, pro-
Iranian Shiite Moslem groups, lashed out at “the
arrogant attempts
of
colonial
intervention”
to
internationalize”
Lebanon's'
current
political
stalemate.
French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas has
proposed that U.N. troops supervise the election
of a new president by Lebanon's parliament. The
position has been vacant since Sept.
22, when
hard-line Christian opposition to two pro-Syrian
candidates blocked parliament from
electing
a
successor
to President Amin Gemayel, whose
term ended that day.
In what he called a move to avert a constitu-
tional vacuum, Gemayel named
a Chnstian-Ied
military cabinet to assume executive power. But
Uhe Moslems have continued
to recognize
the
previous cabinet,
leaving the country with tw
>
rival administrations but no president
French suggestions
that U.N.
protection b
provided
for
Lebanon's
legislators when
the
convene to
i vote for a new president have beei
welcomed by Christian politicians and criticize
by Moslems allied with Syria.
The Revolutionary Justice group charged tha
there was
a NATO-Iraqi-Israeli scheme” intend-
ed to partition Lebanon and to compromise “Syr-
ia and other struggling regimes.”
. 1
•
v.
Western diplomats here and in Damascus said
the United States has been working with France
and other European powers to steer Lebanon out
;of the crisis.
The Revolutionary Justice Organization
also
has claimed responsibility for the abduction two
years ago of Edward Austin Tracy, a writer and
book salesman.
; The photograph
it released today showed Ci-
cipm wearing
a dark track
suit, smiling and
siting on a blanket with his hands in his lap. He
looked clean-shaven and relatively cheerful
i
Nine Americans are still being held hostage irf4
Lebanon. Mithileshwar Singh, a professor at Bei-
rut University College, was released this week
after 20 months of captivity, raising hopes for
^
le
Tase of his American colleagues—Robert
rolhill, Jesse Turner and Alann Steen—seized at
the same time,
Washington Post staff writer John M. Goshko
reportedfrom the United Nations:
Secretary of State George P. Shultz today de-
ned that the United States is secretly negotiating
-vith Iran for the release of American hostages in
^ebanon, and he said that individuals claiming to
>peak for the U.S. government are misrepresent-
ng themselves and should “butt out;”
There are no discussions, no direct talks tak-
ng place with Iran,” Shultz told a news confer-
ence in response to 'persistent 'rumors that the
ieagan
administration
or
representatives
of
ice
President
Bush
are
offering money
or
/eapons to win freedom for nine Americans held
' y^tremist Lebanese,Moslem groups.
Photo delivered to Beirut newspaper vesterday^*
shows American hostage Joseph James Cicippio?
“The
fe are always individuals who nominaEe
themselves to
. get. involved,” he added. To 'tSe
extent that they, do,so,: they misrepresent them-
selves. We know of some individuals who so ra-
resent themselves in one way or another. In*no
way do ^ey. represent, the United States.”
£
. .Frankly I wish they would butt out,” he said
his .voice rising in anger.
'
•AskedT secret
talks might be taking place
without his knowledge, Shultz noted that after
me administration was besieged by the arms-for-
lostages scandal. President Reagan put hinwn
*arge of Iran policy. Since then, Shultesaid, ffie
Jnited States has followed
a
policy of dealffle
yi h Iran only indirectly through third countries
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayfi,
vho,
like Shultz, has been attending the
U3s'.
jeneral Assembly meeting here, said at a sep-
tate news
conference,
“I
categorically dly
here
is any
negotiation
between 'The, Uni&d
* tates and Iran and no talks about the hostages'"
I
< eny it totally.”
•
-
:;Y
"
-
£
CPYRGHT
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