REAGAN: U.S. ‘Limits Reached’ : ‘Our Limits Have Been Reached,’ President Says

President Reagan, displaying new frustration over the continuing hostage crisis in Beirut and over terrorist attacks in El Salvador and West Germany, declared Thursday that “our limits have been reached.” But Administration officials reported no progress in Beirut and announced no direct action to respond to what Reagan called “a war against all of civilized society.”

A day after 13 people, including six Americans, died in an attack on outdoor San Salvador cafes and three people were killed in an airport bomb explosion at Frankfurt, West Germany, Reagan met with his senior foreign policy and defense advisers in a hastily called conference on terrorism. Meanwhile, 40 Americans remained captives of Shia Muslims in Lebanon for a seventh day.

Reagan directed Vice President George Bush to focus on the issue during a previously scheduled European tour next week and then to head a government-wide task force on how the United States should deal with terrorism.

In a written statement, the President urged caution and said: “What we do in these circumstances must not be done in pointless anger. These events call for reasoned responses to lawless actions by those who do not abide by the norms of civilized society.

“Our actions must be appropriate and proportionate to the criminal acts which have been taken against our citizens.”

Vowing that the United States’ response “will never be capitulation to terrorist demands,” Reagan continued: “We are slow to anger and magnanimous in helping those in less fortunate circumstances. . . . But we also have our limits--and our limits have been reached.”

White House spokesman Larry Speakes, taking issue with the suggestion that the President’s remarks about terrorism had not been matched by action, responded: “Well, wait and watch.

“Our first priority . . . is to secure the swift and safe return of those being held there in the Middle East. What happens after that remains to be seen,” he said.

In addition to an early-morning call from his national security adviser, Robert C. McFarlane, on the attack in El Salvador, Reagan dealt with the ongoing crisis during a daily briefing by McFarlane and then in the meeting on terrorism.

The 65-minute session in the White House situation room was attended by Bush, Secretary of State George P. Shultz; Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger; William J. Casey, director of the CIA; Gen. John W. Vessey Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III; White House Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan, and McFarlane.

Meets Red Cross Chief

In the late afternoon, the President conducted a brief, long-scheduled meeting in the Oval Office with Alexandre Hay, president of the International Red Cross. The humanitarian organization has offered to play a role in securing the freedom of the hostages, captured by Shia Muslims when Trans World Airlines Flight 847 was hijacked as it left Athens last Friday. The hijackers have demanded the release of 766 prisoners, most of them Shias, held by Israel.

“I said to the President, we are ready to help,” Hay told reporters as he emerged from the meeting.

He said that with the permission of the United States and those holding the hostages, the Red Cross would visit the captives. Robert B. Sims, a deputy White House press secretary, said, “If the Red Cross was able to determine the condition and health and well-being of the Americans held there, we would appreciate that information.”

So far, the International Red Cross, which has offered to gauge Israel’s plans for the Shia prisoners, has been unsuccessful in spurring negotiations to resolve the crisis.

In Beirut, five hostages said at a news conference that they are well and that they did not think their captors intended or wanted to kill them.

“We as a group, most importantly, beseech President Reagan and our fellow Americans to refrain from any form of military or violent means as an attempt, no matter how noble or heroic, to secure our freedom,” said hostage Allyn B. Conwell of Houston.

‘Confusing,’ Reagan Says

Later, Reagan said of that news conference: “It was confusing. We don’t know what the purpose was.”

The State Department denounced the session as “a cynical exploitation of innocent victims of terrorism.”

“The hostages clearly were speaking under duress,” deputy spokesman Pedro Martinez charged, reading a prepared statement.

In addition, responding to reports that six to 10 hostages apparently thought by the captors to be Jewish are being kept apart from the other hostages, Martinez said such a separation is “repugnant and reprehensible.”

White House officials have said that the Administration’s overall approach to winning the hostages’ release is to put the spotlight on Nabih Berri, the Lebanese justice minister and leader of the Shia Muslim Amal militia, while also trying to apply diplomatic pressure through other Mideast leaders. Berri has said that he has control of the hostages, and White House officials agreed that despite the chaotic political situation in Beirut, they have no reason to doubt this.

“If Berri turned them over to certain death or prolonged captivity,” the United States would hold him responsible, White House spokesman Larry Speakes said.

Won’t Pressure Israel

Administration officials strongly reiterated their refusal to ask Israel directly to free its prisoners and said that no such request has been made privately.

“There is no change in the U.S. position,” State Department spokesman Bernard Kalb said. “We will not make concessions to terrorists nor will we encourage others to do so.”