After Hostages Released : Wilson Would Favor Retaliation by Military

U.S. Sen. Pete Wilson told a state American Legion convention in San Diego Saturday he would support military retribution for the TWA hijacking and hostage incident, after the release of the 39 Americans held captive in Beirut.

Wilson’s tough talk came hours after the arrangement to fly the Americans out of Lebanon to Damascus with the help of the Red Cross and a Syrian military escort was called off. The move was delayed after Shia Moslem leader Nabih Berri’s demanded that the United States promise not to retaliate militarily after the release of the hostages, who have been held since the June 14 hijacking.

Berri aides said he was responding to President Reagan’s statement in Chicago Friday that “Terrorists, and those who support them, must--and will--be held to account.” The hostages had been expected to arrive in Damascus early Saturday, but before they were to board the plane, they were taken instead to a school adjacent to the Beirut airport, where they were being held Saturday night.

Wilson (R-Calif.) said he did not fear the effect the Shia response to threats of reprisal would have on the fate of the hostages. “As desperately as I want the hostages home and safe, I am concerned about hundreds and thousands more Americans who are at risk (if terrorism cannot be prevented),” Wilson said.

“I would support a decision to retaliate,” Wilson said. “There has to be a price paid, and we can make the point that where we can’t prevent acts of terrorism, we will not turn the other cheek, we will retaliate.”

Wilson used the hostage issue as a centerpiece for a speech defending proposed increases in defense spending, and mentioned only in passing the allegations of improprieties in procurement procedures at Miramar Naval Air Station, criticizing those who use the issue to justify cuts in the defense budget.

Two weeks ago, Rep. Les Aspin (D-Wis.), chairman of the House Armed Forces Services Committee, suggested during a tour at Miramar that the recent widespread stories of abuses in the military procurement system might be traced to waning public support for increased defense spending.

“The real debate is not about $600 ashtrays (the local furor over procurement policies erupted after it was revealed Miramar officials purchased ashtrays for $630 apiece)--that is a deadly diversion,” Wilson said. “The first priority of a democracy is to survive, and we should remember that when we read newspaper stories . . . (about the procurement scandals).”

Wilson said he supported the “elimination of all waste, fraud and abuse” in the military and said the Pentagon should “proceed with reforms in the acquisition process.”

“It should be a simple reform,” Wilson said, “and not a moral or financial justification for letting down our guard.”