Wary Bush Says Force Is Still an Option on Hostages

President Bush, admitting that there is no reason for optimism regarding the early release of Western hostages, said Tuesday that he would use military force in Lebanon if he thought it would free American captives.

In a strikingly introspective news conference before leaving Washington for a campaign stop in Miami en route to a vacation in Maine, Bush indicated that he did not order armed retaliation in response to the recently announced murder of Marine Lt. Col. William R. Higgins because of concern that an attack would produce unintended casualties and damage.

“I don’t want to be responsible for the loss of innocent life,” Bush said when asked why he did not try to punish the Shiite captors of Higgins, who was seized in Lebanon in February, 1988. “I also . . . would have to weigh, if we considered military action, the lives of the Americans that were being asked to carry out that action.”

However, the President added that he would act if he thought it was possible to rescue the eight Americans held by Muslim factions in Lebanon.

“If I could find a way to take those hostages, get them and bring them out, and that required using the military force of the United States, make no mistake about it, I would do it in an instant,” he said. “I’m not threatening military action because I’ve told you some of the constraints on authorizing military action.”

Asked if the prospects for an early end to the hostage crisis had improved in the three weeks since Israeli commandos seized Sheik Abdel Karim Obeid, a leader of the militant Hezbollah organization, Bush replied: “I can’t say that.”

Although the hostages are held by several shadowy Lebanese organizations, Bush said that he believes the government of Iran could obtain their freedom if it wished to do so.

Asked how the United States would repay Iran for any help it might provide, the President called the question “too hypothetical to answer.” At the same time, however, he made it clear that he is ready for better relations with the Islamic republic and its new president, Hashemi Rafsanjani.

“We don’t have to be hostile with Iran for the rest of our lives,” Bush said. If the Iranians obtained the release of the hostages, he added, “they would be welcome back into the family of law-abiding, non-terrorist-sponsoring nations.”

In an apparent olive branch to Rafsanjani, the Administration announced that it will accept the judgment of the World Court in a suit brought by Iran over the 1988 destruction of an Iranian airliner by the U.S. Navy cruiser Vincennes.

The court, which sits in the Netherlands, can act only if both nations agree to accept its ruling. The United States earlier refused to participate in a suit brought by Nicaragua over the mining of Nicaraguan harbors.

“The President decided that the United States will appear and will litigate Iran’s claims in the International Court of Justice,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. “We’re participating in this in order to show our willingness to support the work of the court in appropriate cases.”

However, Boucher said the United States will argue that the Vincennes acted in self-defense after its crew mistook the Iranian jetliner for a hostile warplane.

“The mere fact that this belief was erroneous does not alone make the actions of the Vincennes unlawful,” he said.

The United States has offered to pay compensation of $250,000 for full-time wage earners and $100,000 for all other victims to the families of the 290 people killed in the incident. Iran, which wants higher payments and objects to other conditions imposed by the United States, has not replied officially to the proposal.

In his news conference, Bush said that he was “literally heartbroken” over the recent outbreak of bloody fighting between Christians and Muslims in Lebanon. He called for a cease-fire, although he admitted that he has been unable to think of any way to force the warring parties to lay down their arms.

“We are in a very complicated situation in Lebanon, where I am not sure (what) any outside power can do other than exhort people in the country to have the cease-fire and to withdraw foreign forces,” Bush said. “It’s a long process.”

He urged Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Algeria to revive their effort to mediate between Syrian-backed Muslim militias and Lebanese army forces loyal to Christian Maj. Gen. Michel Aoun. The three nations, acting on behalf of the Arab League, recently abandoned their peacemaking mission after concluding that the situation was hopeless.

Bush also called on the United Nations to intervene in the crisis. U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar said he will convene a Security Council meeting soon, probably today.

Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.), joining in the call for a truce, urged Perez de Cuellar to try to secure a cease-fire in Lebanon. “We cannot allow the massacre in Lebanon to continue,” he said.

Bush conceded that one impediment to U.S. action in the hostage crisis is a lack of reliable intelligence about the kidnapers and their organizations. He said that the CIA’s network of informants in Lebanon has dried up.

“I’d like to do more,” the President said, “and the various (intelligence) agencies know of my interest in this, but I don’t want to hold out the wrong kind of hope.”

Bush also showed very little enthusiasm for suggestions, made by anonymous Administration officials, that Washington might try to extradite Obeid from Israel to stand trial for his part in the kidnaping of Higgins.

“We have no criminal indictment against Sheik Obeid,” Bush said. Asked if he would favor convening a grand jury to bring such charges, Bush made it clear that he would not. But he added, “If the justice system goes forward and there is an indictment against him, I would be remiss if I didn’t try to see him brought to trial.”

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