Word: berrie
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...took only hours. Wednesday morning, Berri summoned reporters and TV crews to the hot, crowded basement under his office in West Beirut to broadcast "my answer to threats from America." First, Berri announced the release of Palmer, 48, a hefty air-conditioning technician from Little Rock, who was seated next to him. Palmer suffers from high blood pressure and a heart condition...
Then came a seemingly offhand bombshell. Said Berri: "We are prepared to hand the kidnaped persons over to a Western embassy, Swiss or French, whichever they (U.S. officials) choose." Alternatively, he said, Amal might "send the airplane with all the hostages to Damascus." Berri attached one giant condition: Syrian President Assad, or whoever else took custody of the Americans, would have to pledge not to set them free until all Lebanese prisoners in Atlit had been released by Israel. In Washington, White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan was awakened at about 3:30 a.m. by a call from...
...would insist that not 39 but 46 American hostages be released "unharmed and unconditionally." In addition to those aboard TWA Flight 847, he was referring to the seven "forgotten hostages" who had been kidnaped one by one from the streets of Beirut during the previous 16 months. Berri has insisted that he did not have any control over the seven and did not even know where they are being held...
Switzerland convened an emergency Cabinet meeting on Thursday and, according to a Foreign Ministry source, "informed Berri that we would be happy to take the American hostages in our Beirut embassy but on our conditions, not his." The Swiss conditions: the hostages would be flown immediately from Beirut to Switzerland, and Bern could then set them free "at the time of our choosing...
...Syria as the most promising intermediary. Even though Syria is far from an ally, Washington was anxious to get the hostages out of Beirut and into Damascus, where the U.S. has a well-staffed embassy that would be dealing with a full-fledged government. (The Lebanese government, in which Berri is Minister of Justice, exists to a great extent only on paper.) Assad had been in contact with both Shultz and Reagan and promised to try to play a helpful role. Since his troops occupy strategic portions of Lebanon, he has influence with all factions in that nation's internal...