KIDNAPPERS SAID TO DEMAND AMERICANS LEAVE LEBANON

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000403410008-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 27, 2012
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: January 12, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/28: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403410008-5
12 January 1985
Kidnappers Said to Demand
Americans Leave Lebanon
By JOHN. KIFNER
Special to no New Yak Ttmn
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Jan. 11 - An
anonymous caller asserted today that
the kidnapping of an American Raman
Catholic priest here this week was part
of a campaign to force all Americans to
leave Lebanon.
The caller said he represented Is-
lamic Holy War, a shadowy group that
had previously claimed responsibility
for a series of bombings in Lebanon, in-
cluding the truck bombings of the
American Embassy and the American
and French marine barracks.
The caller said that if all Americans
left Lebanon, the abducted priest, the
Rey. Lawrence M. Jenco, would be
freed, along with four other Americans
who have disappeared here in the last
10 months.
Although it had been widely assumed
here that at least three missing Amer-
icans were being held by what is be-
lieved to be a loosely organized cell of
Shiite Moslem zealots, this was the
first formal assertion by a group that It
had carried out the kidnappings.
Same Caller as Before
While it was impossible to verify the
authenticity of the claim, staff mem-
bers at the Beirut bureau of The Associ-
ated Press, where the call was re-
ceived, said the same individual had
previously called on behalf of Islamic
Holy War.
Western intelligence sources have
sal they believe the kidna er-
icans wr beein ~leld"hos a e
release o some or a o a men, ? o
them under death sentance, convicted
in the truck bombings of the American
and ren Embassies in Kuwait
December 1983. Most are Shiite Mos-
lems from Iraq, alliliated with the Ira-
nian-backed underground organization
Al Dawa, or the Call.
Father Jenco, the director of the
Catholic Relief Services operation
here, which helps refugees and other
war victims, was kidnapped on his way
to work Tuesday morning by at least
eight gunmen.
Church officials said the 50-year-old
priest, who is from the Chicago area,
had a severe heart problem and re-
quired special medicine.
The anonymous caller today said:
"After the pledge that we have made to
the world that no Americans would re.
main on the soil of Lebanon and after
militant factions.
"Finally, we address a special warn-
ing to Mr. Nabih Berri that he will bear
the responsiblity of any intervention to
release any of the Americans we hold
because we are the stronger and we
shall remain the stronger, " he said.
Asked by an A.P. employee what the
conditions were for the release of the
hostages, the caller replied, "All
Americans should leave Lebanon."
Asked if this included newsmen, the
caller said: "No, newsmen are ex-
empt. We shall release all five we are
holding without any conditions if our
demand is heeded."
When asked if all five were still alive,
he said, "Inshallah," or"God willing "
In addition to Father Jenco, the
Americans who have disappeared here
are Jeremy Levin, the chief of the,
Cable News Network bureau; William
Buckley, a political officer of the
American Embassy; Benjamin Wier,
an elderly Presbyterian minister, and
Peter Kilburn, a 80-year old librarian
at the American University of Beirut
with several serious medical problems.
Meanwhile in West Beirut today, a
car bomb went off outside a branch of
the Bank of Beirut and Arab Countries,
killing three passers-by and wounding
14 others seriously. _
the ultimatum we have served. on
American citizens to leave Beirut, our
answer to the indifferent response to
this ultimatum was the kidnapping of
Mr. Jenco.
Priest 'Is in Good Shape'
"We announce that Mr. Jenco is in
good shape. We have allowed a cardi-
ologist to examine him on Wednesday,
and he is in good shape."
Then the caller ended his message
with an ominous indication of the ten-
sions within the Shiite community be.
tween Nabih Berri, the moderate
leader of the Amal organization - who
this week helped secure the release of a
kidnapped Swiss diplomat - and more
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/28: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403410008-5