U.S. Acts to Bar Lebanon Travel : No American Safe From Terrorist Acts, State Department Warns

Warning that “no American can be considered safe from terrorist acts” in Lebanon, the State Department on Wednesday invalidated U.S. passports for travel to the strife-torn Middle East country where at least eight Americans currently are held hostage.

The restrictions, besides discouraging Americans from going to Lebanon, are intended to put pressure on the estimated 1,500 U.S. citizens still there to leave. Their U.S. passports will become invalid in 30 days, State Department spokesman Charles Redman said.

The action, ordered by Secretary of State George P. Shultz five days after three American professors were kidnaped in Beirut, underscored the Reagan Administration’s frustration in coping with terrorist acts in a country whose central government has been unable to maintain order.

Redman said that Shultz acted because of “the imminent danger and the limited ability of the U.S. government to assist citizens in distress in Lebanon.”

“This determination is not lightly made,” he said. “We are loath to impede the travel of American citizens in any way. Nevertheless, the situation in Lebanon, and in West Beirut in particular, is so chaotic that we do not believe any American citizen can be considered safe. . . .”

Violators of the new rules will be subject to prosecution, Redman said, with maximum penalties of as much as five years in prison and a $2,000 fine, although officials acknowledged that such legal action would be difficult to carry out.

Until Wednesday’s announcement, such restrictions were in effect on travel to only one other country--Libya.

Hostages’ Families Exempt

Exempted from the new restrictions are the immediate families of the eight Americans who are among 25 foreigners believed kidnaped in Lebanon. Another American, CIA station chief William Buckley, was tortured and murdered after his abduction, U.S. officials have disclosed.

President Reagan’s efforts to win freedom for the U.S. hostages by selling arms to Iran have plunged his Administration into the worst political crisis of his six years in office.

During the Administration’s arms dealings with Tehran, three hostages were released.

Redman said that despite repeated warnings, some Americans in Lebanon “may still believe that their profession, national origin, religious affiliation, links to Lebanese citizens or their own precautions may save them from the dangers.”

Then, referring to the recent wave of kidnapings, he added:

“The events of the past few days have demonstrated that private citizens have neither sufficient information to evaluate the threat against them nor the means to protect themselves.”

Redman said that, while the U.S. government will attempt to aid its citizens held unlawfully in Lebanon, “our ability to secure their release is limited. . . .”

Dual Nationality

State Department officials said they believe that most of the estimated 1,500 Americans still in Lebanon have dual nationality or Lebanese spouses, but they added that they have no precise breakdown. They also said they could not make reliable estimates on the number of citizens of other Western nations still in Lebanon.

Americans who are dual nationals and hold Lebanese passports or passports from other countries can use them to travel unaffected by the U.S. restrictions. But Redman warned that such travel would have to be made on the assumption that the individuals would “be looking to another government for protection.”

Redman said that journalists and others, such as Red Cross and humanitarian workers, can apply for exemption from the new rules on a case-by-case basis.

The U.S. Embassy in Beirut is being kept open with a minimum staff, Redman said. The embassy was the target of a terrorist bomb attack in April, 1983, in which 17 Americans and nearly 50 other people were killed. Since then, the embassy has moved its offices to Christian East Beirut.

In recent days, Senate Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) and his Republican counterpart, Bob Dole of Kansas, have urged that the embassy be closed.

Diplomatic Roulette

Byrd, in saying American diplomats should have been brought home long ago, declared “they are playing Russian roulette with their own lives.”

Dole, meanwhile, said that “the security situation in Beirut has deteriorated so badly that we’re no longer in a position to do anything worthwhile there. We’ll only invite more trouble, more kidnaping, by leaving our diplomats so exposed.”

Restrictions similar to those imposed Wednesday were once in effect for such countries as China, Albania and Yugoslavia but subsequently were eased. Travel to Cuba by tourists is not officially banned but is virtually impossible because the U.S. government prohibits Americans from spending money in the country.