The World - News from March 16, 1988

Lebanese President Amin Gemayel told a French radio network that Western countries should use whatever means necessary to rescue their nationals being held hostage in Beirut. As U.S. hostage Terry A. Anderson, chief Middle East correspondent of the Associated Press, marked his third year in captivity, Gemayel told France-Inter, a branch of the state-run Radio France Internationale: “Let’s get it over with. . . . We can’t leave things hanging.” Western countries, he said, must speak “the same language as the kidnapers, as the Soviets did in October, 1985, to free their three diplomats.” The Soviets reportedly took ruthless action against extremists suspected of having kidnaped their envoys.