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

DATE: TUESDAY, June 14, 1994                   TAG: 9406180003
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Newport News Daily Press
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS                                LENGTH: Medium

EX-HOSTAGE WON'T BACK NORTH'S BID

Terry Anderson, one of the hostages Oliver North tried to free by selling arms to Iran, said Monday that North should not be in the U.S. Senate. While praising North as a Marine combat leader, Anderson said North is an ideologue willing to break the law to achieve his ends.

``Were I a Virginian, I certainly wouldn't vote for him,'' said Anderson, a former Associated Press bureau chief in Beirut who spent nearly seven years held captive by pro-Iranian Muslim extremists in Lebanon. He was released in 1991.

``I don't think we need another right-wing Republican in the Senate,'' Anderson said. ``It's just that his ideology and mine are markedly different.''

North is the Republican nominee for the seat held by Democrat Charles Robb. Today's primary determines the Democratic nominee from a field of four, including Robb.

Anderson made the comments in a telephone interview from his office in Yonkers, N.Y., where he is writing a book and working to reform New York state politics.

In March, the North campaign sent to Republican convention delegates a letter from another former hostage, David Jacobsen, who was released in 1986. Jacobsen, who was held for 17 months, said, ``Not a day goes by that I do not thank Oliver North and President Reagan for what they did to secure my freedom.''

The arms-for-hostages idea was a bad one, Anderson said.

``I'm grateful for what he tried to do,'' he said. ``I disagree with the arms-for-hostages swap - strongly. It was a bad idea, and it didn't work very well. But it was part of the efforts to get me out of prison, and I'm grateful for that.''

by CNB