Reagan ‘Moment of Joy’ Tempered by Missing 7

President Reagan, welcoming the release of the 39 American hostages from TWA Flight 847, Sunday demanded freedom for seven U.S. kidnap victims still held in Lebanon and served notice on terrorists that the United States will fight back against “cowardly attacks on American citizens and property.”

The United States “will not rest until justice is done” to those who hijacked the TWA plane and killed 23-year old Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem, Reagan vowed.

In discussing future steps, however, Administration officials focused on plans for deterring terrorists rather than retaliating against the TWA hijackers. And one senior official said that inflicting retribution on Hezbollah, the radical Shia Muslim faction whose members are believed responsible for the Beirut crisis, is not feasible because innocent lives would be endangered.

Reagan, no doubt reflecting the views of millions of Americans who followed the release of the hostages on television, called the outcome “a moment of joy.” But he cautioned that, as long as seven Americans remain in the hands of kidnapers in Lebanon, it was “no moment for celebration.”

The President’s toughly worded statement, which was televised from the Oval Office, contrasted sharply with the restraint he displayed in managing the 16-day crisis--perhaps the most intense of his nearly five years in the White House.

Reagan insisted that “we make no concessions--we make no deals.” However, aides said he had taken personal charge of the maneuvering for the hostages’ release. All this involved diplomatic exchanges with such Middle Eastern leaders as Syrian President Hafez Assad, who in the past has been described by Administration officials as a Soviet puppet, and Nabih Berri, whose Amal militia has been waging guerrilla warfare against Israeli troops in southern Lebanon.

And for all his expressed intent to bring the terrorists to justice, Reagan emerged from the crisis with no clear policy for punishing the TWA hijackers.

Secretary of State George P. Shultz, who discussed U.S. policy in a briefing immediately after the President’s speech, outlined a four-point plan for preventing future terrorist incidents through improved airport security, better intelligence and other measures aimed at making future hijackings more difficult. He also suggested that the United States might want to close the Beirut airport, which provided a haven for the hijacked TWA plane.

Several nations had been involved in efforts to free the hostages, with Syria having the “central responsibility” and Algeria offering “an example of constructive cooperation against the direct challenge of lawless terrorists,” Reagan pointed out.

He also mentioned the support of Jordan and Saudi Arabia and said the United States has been in close touch with Israel and a number of governments in Europe and the Mideast, “all of which displayed great concern for the safety and release of the hostages.”

“We will remember and offer our thanks to all who helped us and who stood with us,” the President said. “And, yes, we’ll remember those who did not.”

According to White House spokesman Larry Speakes, Reagan may welcome the hostages when their plane lands on American soil if they return as a group--but he does not plan to stage the kind of red-carpet White House ceremony he provided for the 52 American hostages who returned from Iran seven days after he assumed office in 1981.

The hostages probably will arrive in New York or Washington, and Reagan “will go wherever they come in,” Speakes said, adding: “Certainly, they would be welcome at the White House,” but “the President wants to greet them where they arrive. He knows they are anxious to get home.”

Speakes offered no other reason for not holding a welcoming ceremony at the White House. But the serious and somber tone of Reagan’s televised statement suggests that the President does not think that under the circumstances, with one American hostage dead and seven other Americans still captive, such a welcome would be appropriate.

Some Administration officials have said privately that the United States must find a way to strike back at the terrorists, and even as the hostages were being released Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) reiterated that Reagan has not promised that the hijackers will escape retaliation.

Declaring his information came from White House aides, Dole declared, “There are no guarantees on what may happen later on.”

Shultz told reporters he feels that the terrorists in Lebanon already had paid a price for their actions. When pressed for an explanation, he said Lebanon and the Beirut airport had been revealed as “outcasts” in the world community.

“Certainly, Lebanon is a place with a very considerable degree of chaos, and I think that’s a heavy price for that community to pay,” he said. “They are very much part of it, and this is not over yet.”

Administration officials suggested that while the United States is still searching for a way to seek retribution, its primary focus now is on securing the release of the seven American kidnap victims still in Lebanon.

Amal Shia leaders in Beirut, who arranged the release of the TWA hostages, have said they had nothing to do with the kidnapings and had no way to release the seven Americans.

The hostages thanked Berri after they reached Syria on Sunday for securing control of them from the hijackers and negotiating their release. But in Washington, Shultz said the United States is still trying to determine whether Berri indeed was simply a mediator or part of the terrorist conspiracy, saying, “He has portrayed himself in various roles.”

Berri originally had agreed to release the hostages Saturday but suddenly canceled the plan and demanded that Washington issue a pledge of no retaliation. An Amal official said the demand was in response to comments Reagan made during a speech in Chicago on Friday when he called the hijackers “thugs and murderers and barbarians,” and warned, “Terrorists and those who support them must and will be held to account.”

In response, the State Department late Saturday issued a statement reaffirming the “longstanding support” of the United States “for the preservation of Lebanon, its government, its stability and its security and for the mitigation of the suffering of its people.”

Although the statement did not explicitly renounce retaliation, it apparently satisfied Berri and the more radical Shias involved, and about 12 hours later the release plan was back on track. Robert C. McFarlane, Reagan’s national security adviser, said the statement “apparently was a factor” in breaking the deadlock.

Throughout the 16-day crisis, Reagan--although described by associates as “preoccupied” with the hostages’ safety--stuck close to his regular schedule, except for canceling a 10-day California vacation originally planned to begin last Friday. Aides said it was a determined effort by the President to avoid the mistake they accuse former President Jimmy Carter of making--becoming so enmeshed in a hostage crisis that he was perceived as being held hostage in the White House.