Bush Says He’ll Speak to Anyone to Free Hostages

The Bush Administration, despite its stated policy of refusing to negotiate with terrorists, signaled Wednesday that it is prepared to deal--even with terrorists--if that will help secure the return of eight American hostages held in Lebanon.

Publicly, President Bush outlined in a series of statements what a senior White House aide called a new definition of his policy to encourage “maximum dialogue” with Iran and to emphasize that he is “willing to talk to anybody and pursue any avenue” to free the hostages.

And privately, a State Department official went even further, declaring that “in theory, we are prepared to deal even with the Hezbollah (the militant pro-Iranian group), if that is what it takes to get the hostages out.”

Prepared to Bargain

Although Administration officials insisted that the policy is merely being redefined and not substantively changed, their statements appeared to leave little doubt that one way or another, the United States is prepared to bargain with terrorist groups holding the hostages.

The Administration might not deal directly with Iran or terrorist groups, but it seems willing to strike a deal by negotiating through a third party. Also, the Administration clearly is hoping that Israel will be able to work out a hostage swap.

A team of Israelis reportedly is seeking an intermediary to help it negotiate a hostage swap with the Hezbollah movement. The Israelis are holding Sheik Abdel Karim Obeid, a Hezbollah leader abducted from Lebanon by Israeli commandos on July 28. They hope to swap Obeid and possibly other prisoners for the release of the American hostages and three Israeli soldiers held by terrorists in Lebanon.

Foreign Report, a private intelligence newsletter published by the Economist of London, will report in today’s issue that while Israel would prefer a party such as the International Red Cross to be the intermediary, Hezbollah is said to prefer Algeria, which “is considered unreliable by Israel.”

Israel’s first priority is the safe return home of the three Israeli soldiers, if all three are indeed alive. The Israelis have “certain evidence” that one of them is alive, sources said, but they are concerned that one or both of the others might be dead.

“It’s possible that one reason the terrorists haven’t been talking much about swapping prisoners with Israel is that all the soldiers aren’t still living,” said a U.S. intelligence source.

The Bush Administration has made several statements in the past two days outlining what White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater called a new “definition” of its stated policy opposing negotiating for the release of hostages, beginning with a comment in an interview that appeared in Wednesday’s Boston Globe.

Asked if he had not forsaken the no-negotiations policy, Bush told the newspaper: “If I can talk to somebody and get the release of an American hostage and do it without--in my view and in the view of the experts--putting others at risk, I’d be glad to do that.”

Later, at the White House, Bush told reporters that, despite the new interpretation the Administration has placed on its policy, he doesn’t think there has been any “subtle change” in his position.

Diplomatic Channel

But he added: “I hope I am open-minded enough to talk to and to exercise every diplomatic channel I can to free these Americans. And no American is going to be content until these Americans are free.”

Fitzwater told The Times that Bush is now defining the policy in a way that should make it clear to the Iranians that the United States wants to establish clear lines of communication through an intermediary to facilitate a dialogue on the hostage issue.

“You can say it’s a signal to Iran, and we clearly want to encourage maximum dialogue,” Fitzwater said.

He said the Administration hopes the election last week of Hashemi Rafsanjani as Iran’s new president signals a change of attitude on the part of the Iranian government.

“Our policies haven’t changed,” he said, “but we want to state them in a way that maximizes the opportunity for dialogue. We haven’t done that before.”

Meanwhile, a senior intelligence source said that “a lot of very delicate things are going on” in pursuing negotiations with Iran through third countries to try to seek the release of the hostages.

Algerian Role

Algeria, which has played a major role in negotiating for the release of hostages in several other cases, including when a TWA jetliner was hijacked in the summer of 1985, has emerged as a prominent intermediary in current discussions, the source said.

Japan, Switzerland and other European allies with Middle East connections, as well as Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Jordan, also have tried in various ways to help the U.S. secure the release of the hostages, sources said.

Administration officials said Bush has solicited the help of a number of countries until the process sorts itself out and both sides can agree on an acceptable intermediary.

“Algeria could deal directly with Hezbollah and the Iranians, while the Swiss and Japanese do the formal diplomatic stuff,” one State Department official said. “No decision has been made yet about who’ll do the main mediation.”

The United States is waiting for Iran to make the next move, the official said, adding: “We’re not going to make specific proposals to them. We want them to make an offer to get the hostages free.”

With the United States engaging in discussions directly with Syria and indirectly through third parties with Iran, a White House official said one of the more hopeful signs is that “the dialogue has tended to move away from individual hostage cases to government-to-government relations.”

‘Lot of Chaff’

“And there are signs, a lot of statements by various people in Iran and Syria, that we find different and significant and encouraging,” the official said. “On the other hand, there is a lot of chaff out there, and the trick is to give it time to sort itself out.”

Bush, during a brief question-and-answer session in the Oval Office, said he is getting mixed signals from Iran. But he sounded cautiously optimistic that, with other parties aiding the United States, progress might be made in seeking release of the hostages.

He promised to pursue every diplomatic channel to obtain their release and said they are “too precious for me to be sticking my head in the sand.”

While political concerns have caused some parties to remain ambivalent or silent in the past, Bush said, they are now willing to help because they are “so infuriated or angered or repulsed” by a videotape released by terrorists last week that showed the body of an American hostage, identified as Marine Lt. Col. William R. Higgins, hanging from a rope.

The videotape, said Bush, as well as a videotape of another American hostage, Joseph J. Cicippio, pleading for his life after repeated death threats, have made people say: “There’s a common thread--look, this is too much. Enough is enough.”

Times staff writer Robin Wright contributed to this story.