Listen To This3lesson 17

Two of the American hostages being held in Lebanon appeared in a videotape released today, appealing to the Reagan Administration to work as hard for their release as it did to get Nicholas Daniloff out of the Soviet Union. Hostage David Jacobsen: "Don't we also deserve the recognition, the respect and the honorable treatment by the United States government? Don't we deserve the same attention and protection that you gave Daniloff?" Jacobsen, who works for the American University Hospital in Beirut, has been held for sixteen months. Also appearing on the videotape was the Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson, the first time he's been seen since his capture eighteen months ago. Anderson and Jacobsen had said they were also speaking on behalf of hostage Thomas Sutherland. And they spoke of the death of William Buckley whom Islamic Jihad has claimed to have killed. Sutherland blamed President Reagan for Buckley's murder. "President Reagan made his first mistake in the hostage crisis and Buckley died. Mr. President, are you going to make another mistake at the cost of our lives?" President Reagan today defended his efforts to gain the hostages' release. Speaking to reporters as he left for Camp David, Mr. Reagan said there has never been a day that the administration has not been trying every channel. But he said there was no comparison between the case of Nicholas Daniloff and the hostages in Lebanon "because he was held by a government and we don't know who's holding the hostages." Daniloff himself commented on the hostages' appeal, saying his heart goes out to them and they will not be forgotten.


The White House today gave its view of the upcoming meeting between President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Iceland. And officials made it clear that the US intends to pursue a much broader agenda than the Soviets are proposing. NPR's Jim Angle reports. "White House spokesman Larry Speakes emphasized today the US does not see the Iceland meeting as a discussion primarily about arms control. 'That issue is important to both nations and the world, ' he said, 'and the US will be diligent in its efforts to seek common ground that could be the basis for progress in arms talks.' Speakes emphasized, however, that the US agenda will be broader than that, even though Soviet statements about the meeting have focused largely on arms control. Speakes says the US will raise all the issues as it usually does, including regional conflicts and tensions in Afghanistan, Africa, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Speakes said that the US will also raise its concern over human rights issues. Speakes' statement on the Iceland meeting today sought to keep expectation to its minimum. The President's goal, he said, is that both sides gain a better understanding of each other's position at this time and move forward toward a summit in the United States. But Speakes said that the US will be satisfied with the meeting if we accomplish better understanding. If no date is set for a summit in the US, he said, that could be done later. I'm Jim Angle at the White House."


From Beirut today, the tired voices of two American hostages, a crudely made videotape of journalist Terry Anderson and American University employee David Jacobsen was released this morning by their captor, the Islamic Jihad. The two men read from texts that seemed to have been written by the captors. They sounded bitter as they assailed what they called the Reagan Administration's refusal to act to secure their release. And Anderson confirmed the death of his fellow hostage, American diplomat, William Buckley. Islamic Jihad claims it murdered Buckley in October of last year, but no conclusive proof of his death has ever been found. From Beirut, the BBC's Jim Muir reports.
"This was the first time since he was kidnapped by gunmen in March last year that Terry Anderson, the Beirut Bureau Chief of the Associated Press, has been seen on video. He looked fit but thinner and paler than when he was abducted. He bitterly accused the Reagan Administration of ignoring the plight of the American hosetages in Beirut while surrendering to the Russians over the Daniloff case."
"'How can any official justify the interest, and attention and action given that case and the inattention given ours? Do the American people know why we are in captivity? Why the marines and others were killed in bombings at Beirut Airport and the Embassy building? Why they can't roam freely about the Middle East but are always in danger? All this is the result of Reagan's policy, a policy against the people of the Middle East. Our captivity is one part of the result of this policy. William Buckley's murder and the killings of many, many others are another part. Your lack of freedom to travel is another result of that policy. We are not surprised that Mr. Reagan is not paying attention to our case. More than four hundred Americans have been killed in Beirut without causing him to feel any responsibility or to change that policy. We are surprised that the American government has put pressure on some of the European governments not to negotiate in such cases as ours and has surrendered itself in the Daniloff case, releasing a Russian spy, Zakharov, who was working against our people. We are more surprised that the American people still listen to what Reagan says. How long must we stay in captivity? How long will the American government not pay attention?' The same message was put across strongly by one of Mr. Anderson's fellow captives, Mr. David Jacobsen, Director of the American University Hospital in Beirut, who was kidnapped in May last year. He said that the conditions of the hostages were very bad and had worsened over the past two months. But he said the worst pain came from being ignored by his government. The Islamic Jihad is demanding the release of a group of Moslem extremists jailed for bomb attacks in Kuwait. But both Washington and Kuwait itself have refused to negotiate over their release."
From Beirut, the BBC's Jim Muir.


Embo has been a controversial leader charged with mismanaging UNESCO while taking the agency in an anti-Western direction. The Reagan Administration cited those reasons when pulling the US out of UNESCO in 1984. Last year, the same charges were behind Britain and Singapore's decision to withdraw. Those three defections forced UNESCO to cut its budget by thirty percent and intensified the crisis around Embo's leadership. Jean Gerard, now US Ambassador to Luxembourg, is the former US delegate to UNESCO. Gerard recommended the US withdraw, because she felt UNESCO's programs were moving away from international cooperation toward confrontation.
"Take, for example, the New World Information Order, where in their documents they say that the press should be an instrument of the state. Now this, of course, is totally contrary to our concept of a free press. There are more and more programs which emphasize statist type of solutions to problems. In education, for example, in the teacher-training program in Afghanistan, it's run solely by Soviet teachers with a Soviet coordinator. So, in essence, we were paying for the indoctrination of the Afghan people, which again is not my idea of what an international organization ought to be doing."
"To what extent do you think Embo is responsible for the directions that you disproved of in UNESCO?"
"I think some of them, of course, were already there, but I think they have been very much accentuated under his tenure. And instead of taking the opportunity to reform the organization, to make it work more efficiently and in a more unbiased way, when we gave our notice of withdrawal, there was a great clamor that there was no crisis and initially very little need for reform aside from some cosmetic reform, and a general resentment of the idea."
"Can you describe Embo as a leader, what his personality was like, what his characteristics were as a leader?"
"I would say he's certainly very dynamic. He has a great deal of charm, he has a very personal type of management style, and, I think, he tended to take criticism personally. When we had discussions with him about the budget, the Assistant Secretary of State and myself in 1983, since we pointed out that his figures were very different from the figures that we had under discussion, he then said that the United States, in essence, was behaving in a racist manner, that we had deep psychological problems."
"Do you think his resignation is a sign that UNESCO wants the United States and England back?"
"It's not, as I understand it, a resignation. It was a statement saying that he would not seek a third term. That does not preclude, of course, some countries from urging him to be the candidate, and the Executive Board nominates the candidate to the general conference."
"Do you know if there was any direct pressure on Embo to not seek a third term?"
"I know quite a few countries in their governments have been saying that they do not favor his having a third term. That includes the Nordics, who went and informed him of that a few months ago. That includes Japan. And so if you call that pressure, there certainly were several countries that indicated that they were not in favor of his having a third term."
"Does Embo's decision to not seek a third term represent a success for the US's decision to pull out of UNESCO?"
"I wouldn't say it in those words frankly. I think it's a pity he didn't take the opportunity to be the champion of reform. On the other hand, that's his decision."
"What would it take for you to recommend to the United States that this country rejoin UNESCO?"
"I think to have a good Director General, to see a serious constructive reform take place both in the management and in the programs. I think that's the kind of thing that would influence many people to take another look at it." From Luxembourg, Ambassador Jean Gerard, former US delegate to UNESCO