JACKSON SAYS HE'LL TRY TO FREE U.S. CAPTIVES IN LEBANON

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000100200155-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 30, 2011
• Sequence Number: 155
• Publication Date: January 2, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/31 :CIA-RDP91-005878000100200155-0
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BALTIMORE SUN
2 January 1985
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Jackson says he'll try to free
U.S., captives in Lebanon
NEW YORK (AP) -The Rev.
Jesse L. Jackson said yesterday he
would try to seek the release of three
Americans believed to have been
kidnapped in Lebanon, if he could
determine who is holding the cap-
tives.
Mr. Jackson said he was willing
to go to Lebanon to seek their re-
lease "as soon as it is feasible."
Before any such mission can take
place, he must first determine who
bas custody of the three Americans,
who vanished last March and May.
"If we can find people who make
a difference, we will appeal to them
to set the captives free," Mr. Jack-
son said at a news conference before
his departure for Rome, where he is
to meet with Pope John Paul II.
"I have reason to believe that the
mission is morally the right thing to
do and practically it is feasible," he
said.
Mr. Jackson succeeded a year
ago in persuading the Syrian govern-
ment to release Lt. Robert Good-
man, aNavy pilot who had been shot
down.
Jerry Levin, 51, Beirut bureau
chief for the Cable News Network,
vanished there in March, and offi-
cials believe he was abducted.
Mr. Levin's wife, Lucille, who ac-
companied Mr. Jackson at the news
conference, had asked Mr. Jackson
to intervene on behalf of her hus-
band. She said she had heard indi-
rectly that her husband was alive.
"With God, anything is possible,",
she said, and referred to Mr. Jack-
son as "a priest of God."
Mr. Jackson said he was also
willing to work on behalf of two oth-
er Americans captured by Lebanese
Shiite Muslims: William Buckley, 55,
apolitical officer with the U.S. Em-
bassy in Beirut who was abducted at
gunpoint March 16; and the Rev.
Benjamin Weir, 60, a Presbyterian
minister who was seized May 8.
Mr. Jackson said he did not be-
lieve that the fact that he is no
longer a candidate for president, as
he was when he went to Syria last
year, would make a difference in
any mission. He goes, he said, as "a
minister of the gospel."
"I remain convinced that if we
can talk to people, we can convince
them to choose peace over war," and
convince them to make "a signal for
peace, a signal for dialogue," Mr.
Jackson said.
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/31 :CIA-RDP91-005878000100200155-0