U.S. hostage feared executed by captors
By ED BLANCHE
Associated Press Writer
BEIRUT, Lebanon A Shiite Mos
lem terrorist group said today it
would execute American hostage Wil
liam Buckley in retaliation for Is
rael’s raid on PLO headquarters in
Tunisia, a leading newspaper said.
The terrorist Islamic Jihad said in
a statement delivered to the West
Beirut offices of the independent dai
ly, An-Nahar, that Buckley would be
killed after the statement was pub
lished.
The paper published the statement
in its Friday morning editions. The
same text also appeared in a leftist
newspaper As-Safir. There was no
other word on Buckley’s fate.
In Washington, White House deputy
press secretary Larry Speakes said
the White House had “no independent
confirmation” of the report. State
Department spokesman Joe Reap
said, “We have nothing on it. We are
of course checking it.”
The newspaper said that at 1 a.m.
today it received an envelope con
taining the group’s statement and a
color polaroid photograph of Buckley,
but there was no indication when or
where it was taken.
Buckley, 57, one of six Americans
that Islamic Jihad claims it is holding
Soviet arms proposals surprise West
By LARRY THORSON
Associated Press Writer
LONDON (AP) European lead
ers yesterday began studying a sur
prise set of Soviet proposals on
nuclear arms reductions that ana
lysts said appeared designed to take
advantage of divisions in the Western
alliance.
Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev
told French legislators in Paris that
he was offering a 50-percent reduc
tion in the superpowers’ strategic
nuclear arsenals and a ban on space
weapons both proposals aimed at
the United States.
He also made two proposals related
to Europe: a reduction in interme
diate-range missiles and direct talks
with Britain and France on reduction
of their independent nuclear arse
nals.
Britain, France and other Euro
pean governments had no immediate
substantial comment.
The European allies who are ac
cepting U.S. intermediate-range nu
clear missiles will be watching the
Dutch reaction since Gorbachev said
the Soviets had reduced to 243, or the
June 1984 level, the number of SS-20
missiles on “standby alert” in the
European zone.
The Dutch had said they would
accept 48 cruise missiles from the
United States only if the Soviets had
more than 378 such missiles de
ployed.
NATO recently said the Soviets had
441 missiles deployed, making Dutch
acceptance of cruise missiles seem
inevitable, but Gorbachev’s speech
signaled a new situation. The Dutch
Foreign Ministry said merely that it
was studying his statement.
“The Soviet pressure on the Ne-
the
daily
hostage, was kidnapped March 16,
1984, outside his home in Beirut. He
was a political officer at the U.S.
Embassy in the Lebanese capital.
Buckley, held in captivity the long
est of any of the Americans, looked
pale and drawn and had a beard in
the photograph. He was wearing a
gray track suit with yellow stripes
across the chest.
The newspaper quoted the
statement purportedly issued by the
shadowy extremist group as saying:
“We declare that in revenge for the
blood of our martyrs, we announce
the execution of the resident Ameri
can agent in the Middle East and the
first political officer at the American
Embassy in Beirut, William Buckley,
right after the publication of this
statement.”
An Israeli air strike Tuesday dev
astated the Palestine Liberation Or
ganization headquarters in a suburb
of Tunis, the Tunisian capital. Gov
ernment sources said 61 Palestinians
and 12 Tunisians were killed.
The Islamic Jihad statement de
clared that “beyond any doubt” the
Israeli raid “was carried out and
planned jointly by the United States
and Israel under the supervision of
American intelligence (CIA).
“The Israeli warplanes were sup
plied with fuel from American
therlands is mounting,” Joris Voor
hoeve, spokesman for the right-wing
Liberal Party in the Dutch coalition
government, said in the Netherlands.
But Voorhoeve said the Soviet pro
posal was no reason to refrain from
deploying cruise missiles. He noted
that Soviet SS-20s are mobile systems
and can be put back in place quickly.
Four other NATO allies Britain,
West Germany, Italy and Belgium
have accepted intermediate-range
American missiles as part of an alli
ance program to counter the Soviet
buildup of SS-20s. The Dutch decision
is due Nov. 1.
Lynn Davis, an American political
scientist who is assistant director of
the London-based International Insti
tute for Strategic Studies, said the
Soviet proposals appeared to be a
new attempt to widen divisions be
tween the United States and its Euro
pean allies.
“That is consistent with Soviet pro
posals in the past which have tried to
divide the Europeans from the Amer
icans,” Davis said. “But now he’s
made some fairly specific proposals
which are intriguing, and taking the
initiative now with Western public
opinion.”
Davis cautioned on the SS-20s, “We
don’t know if the Soviets are talking
about reduction of the number in
Europe only, still leaving additional
numbers deployed in Asia.”
She noted there were disputes
about how many Soviet missiles were
in Asia and how many were in a
“swing force” that could be targeted
on either Europe or Asia.
All the U.S. allies faced demonstra
tions by anti-nuclear campaigners
before the missiles were deployed,
and there are divisions in the Euro
pean political scene on the issue.
Collegian
warships in the Mediterranean,” it
said.
The United States has denied it had
any advance warning of the Israeli
raid and denied participating in it.
Islamic Jihad is believed by foreign
diplomats to be an umbrella group of
several radical Shiite factions. It is
believed to have ties to the Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini, the Shiite Mos
lem leader of Iran.
The Islamic Jihad statement said
that Buckley was “tried and found
guilty of involvement in American
Intelligence crimes in this world.”
The statement said: “We are re
sponsible for the blood of Moslems in
every part of the world and we under
stand that America and Israel are
responsible for the killing of Moslems
in Tunisia.”
Islamic Jihad had demanded in
exchange for the Americans’ free
dom the release of 17 men convicted
and imprisoned in Kuwait for the
December 1983 terrorist bombings of
the U.S. and French embassies in
Kuwait.
Three of the 17 have been sentenced
to death by hanging. Kuwait has
refused to release any of them.
The statement said Islamic Jihad
would make public later Buckley’s
“confessions and some documents
that we found in his possession.
In Britain, for example, the opposi
tion socialist Labor Party reaffirmed
Thursday its policy of unilateral nu
clear disarmament. Labor has been
ahead of Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher’s Conservative Party in re
cent opinion polls, and could turn its
anti-nuclear platform into govern
ment policy if it wins national elec
tions, which must be held by 1988.
President Reagan’s Star Wars pro
gram for researching space-based
Reagan responds to proposal
CINCINNATI (AP) President
Reagan raised no objections yester
day to the Soviet Union’s proposal for
separate arms talks with Britain and
France but suggested the Kremlin
was making an almost meaningless
gesture by offering to cut back its
medium-range missiles in Europe.
Reagan said the Soviets have not
promised to destroy the medium
range missiles that are targeted on
Europe, but simply have suggested
moving them elsewhere.
“To simply drive them up into the
Ural Mountains or someplace else
and then say that they’re not a threat
to Europe makes no sense,” Reagan
said. "They can be brought back any
time they want to turn on the gas.”
Reagan, visiting a soap manufac
turing plant during a trip to promote
his tax-overhaul program, stopped
briefly after lunch to answer report
ers’ questions about the arms pack
age unveiled in Paris by Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev.
“Everything they’re saying is a
change in their position,” Reagan
said.
In Geneva, the United States and
the Soviet Union are holding three-
William Buckley, before, captivity (left) and during (right).
“We warn the American govern
ment and Israel that they shall both
pay handsomely in Lebanon, Wash
ington and across the world because
the arm of our strugglers ( is long
enough to reach the aggressors,” the
statement said.
if added: “We are not against the
American people and only recently
we have released the Rev. Benjamin
Weir to prove this. But we are cer
tainly against American policy and
the spies who represent it, who sow
defense weapons is far from univer
sally popular in Europe. Britain has
expressed interest in joining the re
search, but France has rejected the
idea.
Both Britain and France previously
have refused to be included in the
superpowers’ nuclear arms talks.
Britain has 64 nuclear missiles de
ployed in four submarines.
France launched its sixth missile
launching submarine early this year-
tier negotiations dealing with space
weapons, strategic nuclear weapons
and medium-range missiles.
Reagan said he would not discuss
the details of Gorbachev’s proposals
“because that is going to be. dealt
with by our negotiators” in Geneva.
However, referring to the Soviets’
three-warhead SS-20 missiles, Rea
gan said, “As I understand it, the only
proposal they’ve made is one that
would not be destroying any of their
weapons. It would simply be moving
them ... It can move from place to
place.”
Asked if he thought Gorbachev was
trying to drive a wedge between the
allies with his proposals, Reagan
replied, “Oh, I don’t know whether
they’re trying to do that or not. It
would be nice to hope that they may
have gotten religion.”
In past years, the Soviet Union
persistently has tried to get the Unit
ed States to include the British and
French nuclear forces in the U.S.-
Soviet arms talks. Washington has
always refused, saying that the Brit
ish and French missiles are indepen
dent of U.S. control.
Friday, Oct. 4,1985
Vol. 86, No. 61 24 pages University Park, Pa. 16802
Published by students of The Pennsylvania State University
©1985 Collegian Inc.
corruption on earth and who train
criminals to massacre Moslems.”
Weir, 61, a Presbyterian minister
kidnapped in west Beirut on May 8,
1984, was freed Sept. 14.
He said when he returned to the
United States that the kidnappers
warned they would start executing
their hostages and abduct other
Americans if Kuwait did not free the
17 people imprisoned there.
Buckley, a bachelor, is from Med
ford, Mass. He became a Foreign
PSU will ask state
to fund construction
By DAMON CHAPPIE
Collegian Staff Writer
The University will request state
funding Monday to construct a.s2o
million research center and a $l9
million engineering building here, a
senior IJniyersity.administrator said.
The administration plans to submit
a capital funding request to the state
Department of Education for the two
new building's at University Park and
a new library at the Behrend Cam
pus, said the official who asked not to
be identified.
Charles Hosier, vice president for
research and dean of the graduate
school, confirmed that plans for a
major research building are in the
works, but a site on the University
Park campus has not yet been se
lected.
“This would be a building for gen
eral research and scholarly pur
poses,” Hosier said, adding that there
has been a great need for experimen
tation space across campus.
“The problem is that we have a
great potential for research, but
many investigators are holding back
from writing proposals because we
can’t show industry and the contrac
tors where the physical space is that
this research is going to take place,”
Hosier said.
“We. are all just bursting at the
seams for space,” he added.
The building will not be assigned to
a single discipline such as engi
neering or agriculture, but will be
open to all departments that can
justify the need for space, Hosier
said.
George McMurtry, dean of the col
lege of-engineering for administra
tion and planning, said engineering
faculty members are aware of the
plans for a new engineering building.
The building would primarily be
used for research activity and offices
for new faculty members, McMurtry
said.
Office space has been difficult to
find as the college expands its pro
grams and instruction, he said.
A great deal of construction is
Clarification
A recent article in The Daily
Collegian reported that Francis
Stoffa, executive director of On
Drugs, Inc. and member of the
University President’s Alcohol
Task Force, had visited various
fraternity parties to see if Interf
raternity Council party rules
were being followed and to identi
fy fraternity party problems.
The artwork and headline that
appeared with this article misre
presented the intent of Stoffa’s
visits as attempts to police the
parties. Stoffa said he discussed
his plans with IFC President
John Rooney prior to the visits.
He added that he presented the
presidents of the eight fraterni
ties he visited with identification
and explained that they were not
required to let him in.
The Collegian regrets any mis
understanding that occurred as a
result of the headline and art
work.
Service officer in 1983, after 18 years
as a civilian employee of the U.S.
Army, serving in Washington and
Vietnam. He was assigned to Beirut,
his first State Department post, in
September 1983.
In addition to the Americans, 11
other foreigners French, British
and Soviet citizens have been kid
napped and are believed being held in
Lebanon. Arkady Katkov, a Soviet
Embassy official who was kidnapped
with three other embassy employees
Monday, was found dead Wednesday.
Callers claiming to represent the
fundamentalist Sunni Moslem organi
zation Islamic Liberation Organiza
tion said they were responsible for
kidnapping the Soviets and killing
Katkov. Callers demanded that Syr
ia, the main Soviet ally in the Middle
East, call off its militia allies besieg
ing Sunni fundamentalists in the
northern port of Tripoli.
Anonymous callers claiming to
speak for the group have since
warned in telephone calls to news
agencies in Beirut that they will send
suicide bombers to blow up the Soviet
Embassy on Friday if the Syrian
backed leftist offensive is not halted.
AP Laserpholo
There were hopes that the three
other Soviets may be spared after the
Iranian Embassy in Damascus an
nounced a cease-fire in Tripoli.
under way in engineering including
an engineering services center that
will house shop equipment. Another
building is planned to be constructed
to house engineering activity while
the Mechanical Engineering Building
and Electrical Engineering West are
being renovated.
Hosier said the new construction
activity is a reversal of a 10- to 12-
year-old policy that halted new con
struction at the University Park cam
pus in favor of renovation.
“We said we would not expand the
number of buildings years ago, but
things have evolved in hindsight that
this was a bad policy to follow,”
Hosier said.
“We are going to pay for that” with
the research activity the University
is losing because it does not have
adequate facilities, he added.
But the momentum pushing the
University to the forefront of re
search and creating new knowledge,
a hallmark of University President
Bryce Jordan’s administration, is
gaining as demonstrated by the grow
ing contributions from industry for
research conducted at the University.
“We’ve had our backs against the
wall for some time,” Hosier said. But
he said he believes the University is
beginning to move toward national
recognition in research and devel
opment with the construction of the
new buildings.
“It doesn’t seem to be such a large
gamble at all. In fact, it will really
make this a much stronger universi
ty,” he said.
The funding request must be ap
proved by the General Assembly and
Gov. Dick Thornburgh.
Jordan said at a press conference
this week that the complete budget
requests would become public Mon
day when it is sent to the state De
partment of Education. However,
vice president for financial services
George Lovette, who refused to an
swer questions except through his
secretary, said the budget will not be
discussed publicly until the Universi
ty Board of Trustees meets Nov. 14-
15.
inside
• George Simkovich, a Univer
sity metallurgy professor, has
developed a group of new metal
alloys that may spark a change
in the materials used to build
equipment operating at high
temperatures Page 3
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