PLEAS FOR SILENCE ON MIDEAST DEALS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000807260008-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 12, 2012
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: November 8, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807260008-4
CLFAPP
ON PAGE
PLEAS FOR SILENCE
ON MIDEAST DEALS
Ex-Hostage, at White House,
Sees a Threat to Captives
1 By BERNARD WEINRAUB
Special to The New York Times I
WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 - With Presi-
dent Reagan at his side, David P.
Jacobsen, the former American hos-
tage, pleaded with journalists today in
the name of God" to "back off" and re-
frain from reporting the details of hos-
tage negotiations.
"A simple speculation on your part
could cause the death of my dear friend
Tom Sutherland or Terry Anderson or
Joe Cicippio or any of the other hos-
tages," Mr. Jacobsen said in a choked
voice, standing with President and
Mrs. Reagan in the White House Rose
Garden.
Mr. Jacobsen, a 55-year-old hospital
administrator from Huntington Beach,
Calif., was released Sunday after more
than 17 months in captivity.
Reports on Iran
Since Tuesday, when Iran said Rob-
ert C. McFarlane, the former national
security adviser, and four other Amer-
icans had made a secret trip to Tehe-
ran, there have been published reports
that the United States was providing
military spare parts to Iran in a secret
operation to gain the release of Amer-
ican hostages.
There have also been reports that
Secretary of State George P. Shultz
protested the plan. The Administration
has refused to discuss the matter.
Mr. Jacobsen's plea was echoed dur-
ing the day by President Reagan as
well as by Larry Speakes, the White
House spokesman, as Administration
officials continued to refuse to discuss
the hostage issue and warned that pub-
lishing speculation about secret deals
to free the hostages would endanger
their lives.
"Any and all reporting on this sub-
ject is very, very harmful," Mr.
Speakes said. "The reporting onrthis
subject, which is uninformed and
speculative, is running the danger of
affecting the safety of the hostages and
being detrimental to the long-term in-
terests of the United States."
In a videotape in Beirut before he
was released, Mr. Jacobsen criticized
NEW YORK TIMES
8 November 1986
the Administration's efforts to gain his
release.
But today, Mr. Jacobsen and his
family received a warm welcome at
the White House. Looking fit in a blue
suit, Mr. Jacobsen praised Mr. Reagan
profusely as they stood on a porch out-
side the Oval Office.
"I know that you have sought our
freedom from the day our first Amer-
ican was taken hostage," Mr. Jacobsen
said. "Mr. Reagan, you really have my
eternal gratitude. You're the leader of
a truly great country, and I'm proud to
be an American, and I really want to
thank you very, very much. You're
quite a man."
Mr. Jacobsen urged reporters to "be
responsible and please do not engage in
unreasonable and unrealistic specula-
tion."
"Be intellectually honest," he said
firmly. "I ask of you, I plead of You. I
r
am worried what you might say, of
someone else, might result in a deatho
somebody that I love. I don't want that
on my conscience, and I don't think you
want it on yours."
'No Way We Can Answer'
As the Reagans were ushering Mr.
Jacobsen into the Oval office, a re-
porter asked the President about re-
ports that the Administration traded
arms to Iran to gain the release of Mr.
Jacobsen and other hostages.
Mr. Reagan, frowning, replied,
"There's no way that we can answer
questions having anything to do with
this without endangering the people
we're trying to rescue."
Another reporter shouted a question
about Secretary of State Shultz, asking
if he agreed or disagreed with Admin-'
istration policy.
"We've all been working together,"
replied Mr. Reagan.
`And Secretary Shultz supports the
policy, and so does Cap Weinberger?"
asked a questioner.
"Yes," Mr. Reagan said.
When a reporter asked, "Why not
dispel the speculation by telling us ex-
actly what happened, sir?" Mr. Rea-
gan replied:
"Because it has to happen again and
again and again until we have them all
back. And anything that we tell about
all the things that have been going on in
trying to effect his rescue endangers
the possibility of further rescues."
A reporter shouted another question,
but Mr. Jacobsen stepped forward.
'Be Responsible and Back Off'
"Please," Mr. Jacobsen said, "You
didn't hear what I said at the begin-
ning. Unreasonable speculation on
your part can endanger their lives. I
would like to take some time now and
talk, but this is a day of joy for me. I
have my children inside. I want to
share it with them. And I want Terry
Anderson to share the same joy with
his family, and I want Tom Sutherland
to share the joy with his family. And in
the name of God, would you please just
be responsible and back off?"
Mr. Jacobsen then retreated with the
President, his wife and key aides into
the Oval Office, ignoring a reporter
who asked, "How are we to know what
is responsible and what is not?"
Six Americans and 13 other foreign-
ers are still, missing in Lebanon, kid-
napped by various groups. Among
those seized last year were Terry A.
Anderson, the chief Middle East corre-
spondent of The Associated Press, and
Thomas M. Sutherland, dean of agri-
culture at .the American University of
Beirut.
Islamic Holy War, the Shiite Moslem
fundamentalist group that freed Mr.
Jacobsen and is believed to have taken
part in other kidnappings, has de-
manded the release of 17 Shiites im-
prisoned in Kuwait for bombing the
United States and French Embassies
there in 1983.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807260008-4