Hostages’ Kin Meet McFarlane, Ease Criticism

Relatives of some of the seven Americans still held hostage in Lebanon met Wednesday with national security adviser Robert C. McFarlane and later eased their criticism of Reagan Administration efforts to free their loved ones.

Peggy Say, sister of Terry A. Anderson, an Associated Press correspondent kidnaped in Beirut last March, apologized for saying earlier that the Administration’s efforts at “quiet diplomacy” had failed.

“I am encouraged that there are several kinds of initiatives being made,” declared Say, who left the White House carrying a briefcase bearing a bumper sticker that read “Set the Captives Free.” However, she and other relatives of hostages would not discuss what specific initiatives might be under way.

But the relatives said the Administration should consider directly contacting those holding the Americans, believed to be Islamic extremists, if “quiet diplomacy” fails.

“We don’t want to be enemies of the Administration--we want to work with them,” she said. “It was a very good meeting today. . . . And I think it’s the beginning of what, hopefully, can be some very constructive talks.”

Earlier in the day, White House spokesman Larry Speakes told reporters that the Administration “will not forget our missing citizens, nor will we rest until they are safely reunited with their families.”

Speakes said the White House would be willing to talk to the captors, but he reiterated the U.S. policy of making no concessions to terrorists. He and State Department officials also said that the United States does not know whether the hostages are being held by a single clan that seeks the release of a relative held in Kuwait, as some reports have indicated.

Hoping for ‘Some Flexibility’

John Jenco, nephew of Father Lawrence Jenco and a spokesman for the four families represented at Wednesday’s meeting, said he hopes that the government “can show some flexibility.”

Besides McFarlane, representing the Administration at the meeting were Robert M. Oakley, director of the State Department’s office for counterterrorism and emergency planning, and Oliver L. North, a deputy director for political-military affairs at the National Security Council.

Besides Anderson and Jenco, the head of Catholic Relief Services in Lebanon, the kidnap victims whose relatives attended Wednesday’s meeting were the Rev. Benjamin Weir, a Presbyterian minister and long-time Lebanon resident, and David P. Jacobsen of Huntington Beach, director of American University Hospital in West Beirut.

The other missing Americans are William Buckley, a political officer at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut; Peter Kilburn, a librarian at the American University of Beirut, and Thomas Sutherland, dean of the university’s agriculture school.