Jacobsen Blasts U.S. Action on Daniloff : Lebanon Captives ‘at the Bottom of the List,’ Hostage’s Son Says

The Huntington Beach son of an American being held captive in Lebanon said Monday that the release of Nicholas Daniloff shows the Reagan Administration has put the other hostages “at the bottom of the list.”

“We’re extremely happy for Mr. Daniloff,” Eric Jacobsen, 30, told United Press International after hearing that the U.S. News & World Report correspondent, detained on espionage charges, had been released by the Soviets.

“But then again we’re angry to see his release is a direct result of the Administration’s intense effort, their making it the issue it was, and their refusal to do the same for the other hostages.”

David P. Jacobsen, 55, of Huntington Beach, director of the American University Medical Center in Beirut, was kidnaped in May 1985 as he walked to work.

Islamic Jihad Claims Role

He is reportedly being held by the Shiite Muslim extremist group Islamic Jihad, which also claims to have kidnaped six other Americans.

“It’s hard not to feel that we’re on the bottom of the list of priorities for the Administration,” Jacobsen said. “We’re not being treated equally as the Daniloff case was. It’s inconsistent and inequitable.”

The other hostages include Terry A. Anderson, Associated Press correspondent; Thomas Sutherland, American University dean of agriculture, and U.S. diplomat William Buckley, who has been reported killed although no body has been found.

Two other hostages, Father Lawrence Jenco and the Rev. Benjamin Weir, have since been released by the group, and another, Peter Kilburn, a librarian at the American University, was found dead in April.

Jacobsen said he had spoken to Peggy Say, Anderson’s sister, who said she also was angered by the Adminstration’s quick efforts to release Daniloff.

“We’re on the same wavelength,” he said. “It’s been 16 months for my father and 18 months for her brother, Terry.”

“All we want is for them to do for my father and the others as they did Mr. Daniloff,” he said.

Jacobsen, who has been a bitter critic of the Administration’s policy of refusing to negotiate with terrorists, said he will probably not renew contact with State Department officials regarding the release of his father and the other hostages.

“I don’t see any reason for it anymore. It’s like beating your head against a brick wall,” he said. “They don’t need to hear from me, they should just do it.

‘Same Thing Every Time’

“I’ve been to Washington almost a dozen times, and it’s the same thing every time I make an issue to see results,” he said. “The excuse that dealing with a government is different than dealing with a shadowy group is just that--an excuse. It’s not difficult to find the right people to talk to.”

He said the Administration’s willingness to deal directly with Daniloff’s captors in order to assure his release flies in the face of its policy of not making deals for hostages.

“The President cannot go before the press anymore and say we don’t negotiate for hostages. The Administration had backed itself in a corner with that one, now it may have backed itself into another corner,” he said. “It’s time to act.”

Jacobsen, a stock market broker in Huntington Beach, caught the first glimpse of his father since his kidnaping when fellow hostage Jenco was freed in July and brought with him a videotaped message from the elder Jacobsen, who chastised the Reagan Administration for not doing more to gain his release.