Reagan: U.S. Will Work to Free Hostages

WASHINGTON--President Reagan said last night that "We've never let up and we never will" in efforts to free American hostages in Lebanon and said that if Republican presidential contender Pat Robertson knew anything of their whereabouts, it was "very strange" that "he kept it to himself."

At a nationally televised news conference, Reagan also said he had "every confidence" in the personal integrity of embattled Attorney Gefneral Edwin Meese III. But he said he could not comment on reports of the investigation of Meese's role in a proposed Middle East oil pipeline.

In a session with reporters that blended international affairs with the domestic presidential campaign swirling around him, the President confirmed anew that Vice President George Bush expressed reservations during the Iran-Contra affair. But he refused to say precisely what Bush had told him.

Reagan said he did not want to become involved in the GOP nomination fight, but he showed plenty of zest when it came to bashing the Democrats vying to succeed him. To hear them, he said, one would think "we're in an economic slump," and suffering from a variety of ills. "At the moment none of those things are true," he said.

It was Reagan's first news conference in four months, and he passed up several invitations to criticize Israeli action against Palestinian protesters on the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"We don't support that sort of thing," was as strong a statement as the President would make, but he added quickly that there was evidence that the riots that provoked an Israeli military crackdown were not "spontaneous."

Asked to elaborate, he said: "We have had information that there have been certain people suspected of being terrorists, outsiders coming in and stirring up the trouble in those areas."

On other matters, Reagan said Secretary of State George Shultz had given him an "encouraging" report on his just completed trip to the Soviet Union, and said he hoped Israelis and Arabs would "rid themselves of old ideas and stances that cannot work" and begin serious peace negotiations.

Reagan also issued a fresh call for aid to the contra rebels fighting the Nicaraguan government, and said the Soviet Union had doubled military assistance for the leftist regime in the first two months of this year over 1987 levels.

The subject of Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson--nearly three years in captivity--and the other American hostages in Lebanon arose early in the 30-minute nationally televised question-and-answer session in the White House's East Room.

"We've never let up and we never will in trying to bring freedom for all our hostages," Reagan said.

When asked about Republican presidential contender Robertson's claim that his Christian Broadcasting Network had once known the location of some of the hostages and the Administration may have missed a chance for a rescue, the President said: "I can only say this. It would be very strange if he did have information...isn't it strange that no one in our Administration was apprised of it."

The President's statement on the contras seemed to be a soft appeal for support in Congress for fresh aid to the rebels. He noted with regret that the Democratic-run House had rejected his call for additional military aid.

House leaders have scheduled a vote for next week on an alternative support calling for humanitarian aid.