Kidnaped Cleric’s Wife Calls for Action by U.S.

The wife of Rev. Benjamin Weir, an American abducted last year in Beirut, said Monday that the United States government is not moving fast enough to get the Presbyterian minister freed.

Carol Weir said she wants this country “to open up every diplomatic channel to get Ben released. Our government . . . cannot afford to lose the interest and momentum gained by (Jeremy) Levin’s release.”

Levin, Beirut bureau chief for Cable News Network, was kidnaped in March, 1984, and surfaced last month. He said he had escaped from his captors, but there were some indications that the kidnapers may have let him do so.

Weir, 61, who performed Presbyterian missionary duties in Beirut for 32 years, was abducted by three men while walking with his wife from their house May 8.

Members of the Islamic Jihad (Islamic Holy War), a Shia Muslim terrorist organization loyal to Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, is believed responsible for kidnaping Weir and other Westerners, including Levin.

Weir’s wife and his son John, 27, spoke of their impatience with American government efforts as national Presbyterian Church leaders meeting in San Diego announced a campaign to flood the White House with a million letters within the next 10 days. They said they have waited 10 months for the State Department to free Weir through diplomatic channels.

“The period of quiet has ended for us,” said J. Oscar McCloud, general director of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

The Presbyterian officials said here Monday that they received two hand-written letters from Weir in late February urging “the U.S. government to take strong, effective action” to get him and the other hostages out.

McCloud said the contents of Weir’s letters cannot be released until he and Weir’s wife and son meet Friday in Washington with Secretary of State George P. Shultz. However, he said the Weirs and church officials have decided to disregard State Department advice to keep the letters secret beyond that.

Carol Weir said she believes the abductions and recent letters from her husband are desperate cries for help from Lebanese oppressed by the Israeli army, which invaded Lebanon in June, 1982, and still occupies southern Lebanon.

“They (the Lebanese) have legitimate grievances,” she said. “The terrorists represent a people who are suffering and they are making desperate attempts to be heard by the U.S.”