Waite Meets Bush, Reviews Hostage Talks

British hostage negotiator Terry Waite held a hastily arranged White House meeting with Vice President George Bush on Tuesday and emerged insisting that he sees “a way forward” in his efforts to gain the release of four of the six Americans held captive by Muslim extremists in Beirut.

Waite, an envoy of Robert A.K. Runcie, the Archbishop of Canterbury, said that although progress has been made toward ending the plight of the hostages, their situation remains “highly dangerous.” He said he did not convey to Bush any secret message from the kidnapers, and he declined to elaborate on specifics of his meeting with the vice president.

A State Department official cautioned against reading too much into the hourlong meeting.

“From what I understand, . . . I couldn’t point you in the direction that fantastic progress has been made,” said the official, who spoke on the condition that he not be identified by name. “I wouldn’t take the fact that he’s talking to the vice president as evidence of any progress.”

Waite has said he met twice this month in Beirut with the kidnapers, believed to be members of Islamic Jihad (Islamic Holy War), an extremist Shia Muslim faction. The kidnapers have demanded the release of 17 Arab guerrillas jailed by Kuwait on terrorism charges as ransom for the freedom of the Americans.

Kuwaiti authorities Tuesday reiterated their opposition to releasing the 17, convicted in a series of deadly 1983 bombings in that country, so that the American hostages can go free. “We refuse to connect the two issues,” Reuters news agency quoted an unnamed Kuwaiti official as saying.

Invited by Bush

Waite, who said he came to the White House at Bush’s invitation, expressed his support for the Reagan Administration’s policy of not attempting to pressure the Kuwaiti government into breaking its laws and releasing the guerrillas.

“There is a way the U.S. can bring about the release without compromising that policy,” Waite said, refusing to go into specifics.

And, carefully choosing his words, he indicated that there may be a way around the impasse that would satisfy the kidnapers while allowing the Kuwaitis to save face.

“As the demand (of the kidnapers) has been put, I do not believe it can be met,” Waite said. “But there is a way forward.” Although he did not elaborate on what that might be, he indicated a desire to meet with Kuwaiti authorities and discuss the matter “on humanitarian grounds.”

Situation ‘Highly Dangerous’

“The situation remains highly dangerous,” Waite cautioned. “We are not through yet at all. Why I am being so careful in what I say is because a false word on my part or a false step could lead to disaster.”

Waite began his mediation efforts after Runcie received a letter purportedly signed by four of the hostages asking for his help in gaining their freedom. The four are Father Lawrence Jenco, a Roman Catholic priest; David P. Jacobsen and Thomas Sutherland, two officials of the American University of Beirut, and Terry A. Anderson, the Associated Press bureau chief in the strife-torn city.

Islamic Jihad claims to have killed a fifth hostage, U.S. diplomat William Buckley, and there has been no word for months about the sixth, American University librarian Peter Kilburn.