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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 14, 1990                   TAG: 9003142958
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Short

HOSTAGE SEARCHES CONFIRMED

President Bush on Tuesday acknowledged "back alley" searches for information on U.S. hostages and predicted that the world will be "very, very fascinated" when the entire story can be told about the hoax telephone call to him from a purported Iranian leader.

Bush refused to provide any details. But one administration official said the phone call "came from a government building in Tehran . . . but no one knows who [it was]." A second official confirmed the gist of that comment.

The president defended his decision to accept a telephone call several weeks ago from a man claiming to be Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani. The caller wanted to talk about the eight U.S. hostages and 10 other Westerners held in Lebanon by pro-Iranian Moslems.

"What's wrong with reaching out and touching someone?" Bush asked. "The main thing is can we move forward and get the hostages out? And I'll repeat, goodwill begets goodwill," he said.

"I probably would" do it again, he said. "I will go the extra mile. And when the whole story comes out on this, you all are going to be very, very fascinated with the details," he added. "Very fascinated."

Bush said it was important to run down every avenue in trying to get hostages released. "And there are things that go on, going around in back alleys and trying to find out information. And we've got to do that."

by CNB