Airport plan scorned

Press, 3 July 1985, Page 10

Airport plan scorned

NZPA-Reuter New York President Ronald Reagan’s intention to try to shut down Beirut International Airport because of its use by hijackers received a cool reception in the United States yesterday. A former Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, called it “something of a flea-bite.” Diplomatic and congresional sources described it as an “empty gesture” since the airport was, to all intents and purposes, already closed. Mr Rusk, who advised John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson and who now teaches international law at the University of Georgia, said of Mr Reagan’s move, “I doubt if it will accomplish very much. He (Reagan) obviously feels he must show his displeasure (at the hijacking) in some fashion. But this seems to be something of a flea-bite.” Norman Mineta, a Californian Democratic congressman, who heads the House of Representatives’ aviation sub-committee, said that the measure would have little effect in discouraging international terrorism in the sky since “realistically, Beirut airport is for the most part already closed.” The only main international carrier still using Beirut was Middle East Airlines, which was Lebanese based, he said. The airport has already been put offlimits by American and European airlines. Mr Reagan’s intention was announced after the release of 39 American hostages hijacked aboard their T.W.A. flight from Athens to Rome and held in Beirut for most of their 17 days of captivity. But a sub-committee source said that as a retaliation measure it was “an empty gesture.” “I really can’t see it accomplishing anything. It is a gesture and nothing more. It’s rather like shutting the stbale door after the horse

has bolted.” One non-American diplomat experienced in Middle East affairs said that he did not feel Beirut airport’s closing would deter hijackers. “It might even exacerbate the dangerous situation in which future airline hostages might find themselves.” If Beirut airport was closed terrorists might opt to land in an even more extremist country, such as Iran, where their treatment might not be as moderate as that which they received at the hands of the (Shi’ite) Amal militia. The Amal, headed by the Lebanese Justice Minister, Mr Nabih Berri, took over the custody of the hostages from their original hijackers and helped negotiate their eventual release. In Frankfurt, West Germany, most of the released Americans were to fly home today. But joy at their freedom may be mixed with reservations over their sympathies for their captors. Airline officials said that a special plane would take off from Frankfurt for New York and that most of the group would be aboard. Many of the hostages were still clutching gifts from the. Amal when they landed in Frankfurt on Monday. Some went out of their way to tell reporters that they regarded their captors as kind and that they understood their demands. One of them, Robert Brown, rejected suggestions that the radical, pro-Iranian Hezbollah organisation, which held him and three other Americans captive, was extremist. He praised the treatment he received during his detention. United States officials have privately indicated some frustration with the former captives’ comments. But in public they have emphasised that the former captives are free citizens whose opinions are of no concern of the Government.