Jackson Tells Plan to Free U.S. Hostages in Lebanon

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, whose dramatic efforts to obtain the release of captured Americans overseas have had a share of success in the past, announced an initiative Wednesday aimed at freeing the nine Americans believed held hostage in Lebanon.

“We must keep the plight of the American hostages high up on our consciences, and to reach out to elements and allies in the region to seek to negotiate their release,” Jackson said at a news conference in this Chicago suburb.

He said he plans within the next few days to begin “making additional contacts in the Middle East and making appeals there to try to determine (the hostages’) whereabouts.”

Trip to Mideast Weighed

Jackson said he might even make a personal trip to the Middle East “if we get the right leads.” However, he added that he does not expect such opportunities to present themselves before next month’s Democratic National Convention in Atlanta.

“We will be making contact with government and non-government officials. We will be making contact with the government of Syria, for example, (and) various people we know in Lebanon as well,” he added.

Jackson said that his instincts and “some conversations” he had in recent days convinced him that “now is a good time” for such an effort.

In addition to making personal appeals to key officials, Jackson said, he also plans to broadcast radio and television spots in the region.

Some analysts believe that with Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini believed to be near death, this could be a pivotal time in U.S. relations with that country, whose Shia regime is believed to exercise a good deal of leverage over the hostages’ captors.

Relationship With Arafat

Jackson, who in the past has had a cordial relationship with such controversial figures as Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat, clearly hopes that the Tehran regime would see him as a more attractive negotiating partner than the Reagan Administration. Reagan’s efforts to trade arms to Iran for the release of the hostages resulted in his worst foreign policy disaster.

Jackson said he has not consulted with Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, who has a secure hold on the Democratic nomination, or the Reagan Administration about his plans, but pledged he would not go outside the law or compromise the country’s interests.

Asked why he thinks he might succeed where the White House has failed, Jackson said: “We’ve done it before.” In January, 1984, he negotiated directly with Syrian President Hafez Assad to secure the release of Lt. Robert O. Goodman Jr., a U.S. pilot who had been shot down during a reconnaissance flight over Lebanon.