
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 1, 1990                   TAG: 9005010292
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

POLHILL GIVES MESSAGE ON HOSTAGES TO BUSH

Freed American hostage Robert Polhill delivered a message from his captors in Lebanon to President Bush Monday in an Oval Office visit during which he also joined the president in a telephone call to Frank Reed, who was released from captivity earlier in the day.

White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater said Polhill delivered the private message to Bush during an hour-long visit in the Oval Office in which he recounted his personal ordeal.

Polhill had been held by a group called the Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine. The group had said at the time Polhill was released that they were sending a message to Bush, but until Monday it had not surfaced.

"Apparently Polhill told his captors he would deliver a message privately and personally to President Bush only," Fitzwater said. "And that's what he did."

Bush promised Reed in Damascus "complete support" from the U.S. government as he recovers from captivity, Fitzwater said.

The president and other senior officials continued to insist that no secret deals had been made for the releases, but said there would be "no objection" if Israel were to free some or all of the several hundred Shiite prisoners it holds or releases Sheik Obeid, a Lebanese cleric who was taken by Israel last year.

by CNB