True Heroes Says Suffering Worse Than He Had Known --By Phil Galley WaShinglub Star Staff Writer WIESBADEN, West German Former President Jimmy Eller held a tearful reunion yesterday. with the 52 freed American hostages, embracing each and callirig them "true heroes" who had suffered physical and mental torture - far worse than he had previousl' be. lieved, Cafter, acting as President Rea ,,in 's emissary, came away from his ~etlng with the Americans it the me US. Air Force hospital here"clearly outraged," as an ~ aide put It,' by the stories 6f mistreatmenj-th4y'tdld,, .Onevery serious fact is becoming evident," Carter told a new4 confer. en;e, "and that is~ that. bur Aidericans in lran-we'k' ,misrriaWd much worse then has -bqer4, pre- viously revealed..The acts of.bar-: barism which were perpetrated on our people by Iran can ri~ever- be Fondoned," Some of, the former W. officials traveling with Carter said that placing the hostages before mock firing squads apparently had been a more common occurrence than they had realized from the reports received through diploinatic chan- nels. But beyond that, they refused to _provide specifics. For Carter, who was deprived of the opportunity of greeting the lih, erated Americans as president by a last-minute snag in the negotiations with Iran, the meeting was the emo tional climax to the ~K"ay criZ' that haunted the last days of Ws presidency. Ironically, one of the first sights Carter saw upon his arrival at the hospital was a quotation from the inaugural address of I~onald Reagan, who took the oat4 as president only 33 minutes before the first planeload of hostages left Tehran for freedom. A large banner draped from the third-floor balcony read: "'You.re free.After all-weareAmericans," Behind the banner some of the. former'hostages - now referred to as "returnees" - stood in sub- freezing weather to greet Carter with waves and, in the case.of one Marine braving the night air in .a T-shirt, a sharp salute. After a briefing from hospital of ficials, Carter went to a meeting See CARTER, A-7 Rejection of Deal Last-Minute Iranian Said to Be Unlikely' Hitch Said Legitimate By Walter Taylorstar wire Services, WDAInglo. Star Staff Writer WIESBADEN, West Germany - Officials said Former officials yesterday the of the Carter Rea- admin- gan administrationistration yesterday will revie)v said that they the are ' fine convinced Iran print on the 'had a legitimate hostage agreement with Iran beforegripe" in raising deciding whetherlast-minute ques- t, honor its tions that delayed provisions. release of the 52 ' Spokesmen at American hostages both the White until after Jim- House and the my Carter was State Departmentout of office. And they publicly urged The Rea- held out the gan administration option,of repudiatingto honor terms one or more elements of of the agreement the with Iran. agreement hammered out by U.S. negotiators On the flight in the closing here, where hours of Carter held an emotional meeting with the the Carter administration.released hostages, . I I former US. offi. Privately, officialscials traveling of the new with him described ad- ministration the last agonizing said it was bobrs of the unlikely hos. that President tage negotiations. Reagan would abro. ' See CARTER, A-8 A See PRESIDEN .7 n 93-6 Vote By a vote of 93 to 6, Alexander M Haig Jr. won. confirmation, from the Senate yesterday as secretary of state. But there was political skirmish- ing between Capitol Hill and the White House on President Reagan's first full day in office, Even while they were welcoming Vice President George Bush, the new president of the Senate, Sen- Sen. Helms Is blocking Carlucci's nomination, A-3. FBI una ble to corroborate charges against Donovan, A-3. ators on both sides of the aisle were warning they would keep their in. dependence and exert pressure on the White House when they felt it necessary. Senate Minority Leader Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, who voted against the nomination, complained See GEN. HAIG, A4 Torfid'i el`~Va-s' ~ Physical, Mentaf,- 4m'l* Told Y, J ies 8 n Dowd A Mauree Suzanne Bilello washingtou 9W stiff writers ~i 11 ~f~ . I Some of the reed,American hos-. tages yesterday told of.'physical and psychological abuse at'the hands of their Iranian captom " Life &a a hosta ir was not full Of the"luxuryhotels andmedicalspe. ciallsts-thif Iranian officials bragged ab6u(,or the cordial guards andovernowin 'b6wls'of fruit like those kin in tte'Christmas,films, ithq. former hO$tAges said in trahsitlantic telephone calls from West Girmanv to relatives and hysi6al ~abuse and tkl~ 'there were ranra~'secret po- Isolation cells in -xat prisoners nick- in Inns." iardt vilio-played with female, bos- t executions and ht raids, wearing I-Itligues and carry- 10he US. Air Force hospital in Wiesbaden, West Germany, Freder- Ick 'Rick" Kupke savored the feeling of slip In between crisp white sheets Tc r ae first time in 14 months and remembered his bard cot In an Iranian prison. Kupke, 34, a communications spe- cialist, is one of the 52 fornier hos- tages who are recuperating from their long Iranian ordeal at the Air Force hospital ta Wiesbaden. I "Rick had it real bad, but he's so proud to be free that he says he's no pain now,"said his father, =gr Kupke of Francesville, Ind., who talked with his son three times yesterday in a transatlantic reunion. Other former hostages found dif- ferent pleasures. After a diet of beans and rice in captivity, Bert Moore delighted in ordering out for an ice cold beer. And for Jimmy Lopez; who bad been forced to sleep n a closet for several months, bappi. I s was a haircut and shave. nes Keeping the phone lines buzzing all through the night and all day yesterday, the hostages-turned- heroes were bright and cheery with their relatives, chatting mostly about th&euphorlaof freedom and the family milestones they had misse& But the slick surface of the chit- See HOSTAGOS, A-7 Approved For Release 2000/08/08 CIA-RDP96-00788ROO2100450005-6- Rea'Ly-an' Holds Off on PaCt 'Haig AP roved P Until He Reads Fine Print For State Post Approved For Release 2000/08108: CIA-RDP96-00788ROO21004 .7 flostages Describe - Dark, Side Approved For Release 2000/08/08 ContittuedFromA.1 chatsoon llte!Sft loch'pa ~a, .;show in he and shock ath. .sp ~Th e guards were psychotic," one hostage, his V010 edged with bitterness, confided in his brother. SOBs,-,* said. Col. i;l 111AY wh 0 to Id h I s 7 9 -y e a r - old mother Clara he had spent a month in a "dungeon." ~ A State Department spokesman put it slightly more diplomatically yesterday, accusing the militants of "serious mistreatment" of some of the Americans, ~ ~L ~ Thr "Students' stole the It t Fer6onal effects and raide-Ods lel. and's house in Tehran, taking :everything they could carry, from furniture to frozen meat. , "Most of us lost everything,' Rich. ard H. Morefteld, consul gen&al at the embassy, told his wife 16 San Diego. "I walked out with my wed. dingring,andl hadto1fght forthat," I The militants lied constantly, their captives soon learned, telling the hostages ilinurperable tall. tales about their families and about why 'the Great Satan,",as they dubbed America, was letting them languish in. Iran. .... a:;. ! N ~ " rI jjj- 7,-, After a few months, the hostages were &D confused by a cal,s cradle of lies and propoganda,- that they "ended up belJpvIngnt)th6g;"_poIitI. Cal officer. Michael J. Metrinko, 9, of Olyphant, Pa., told his brother, Peter, who lives in Arlington. . ~ Each prisoner was treated differ. ently, according to their relative im. portance iii. the embassy 'their alleged spying activities a~d their comportment. Marine Sgt. ,Johnny McKeel Jr. told his parents In Balch Springs, Texas, that'he had assumed until yesterday that his mother was dead, something interrogators had told him in a vain effort to extract in. formation, When the Marine gave only his name, rank. and serial number, a guard knocked out one of his teeth. Another hostage, 49-year-old Mai. colm Kalp of Fairfax County, told his brother he was beaten, put in solitary confinement for months and cutoff from any communication with his family because he tried to ,escape several times. . "They knocked me around a coil. pie of times in the beginning," Rob. ert 0. Blucker of North Little Rock, Ark., told his mother Hazel Albin. 'But toward the end, I don't think they wanted to beat anyone up un- less They could help it." -~ . Lopez, who lost 50 pounds during the ordeal, was forced with several others to sleep In a closet for several months, and Metrinko, Kupke and several others spent long solitary stretches In jail. After the first few months, how, ever, the torture was more mental than physical. The guards would bring in the baskets of mail from families, open it and hold up snapshots and letters, and then, before the hostages' bitter gazes, burn the coveted stacks of all from home. RichaTd Queen, who was released after nine months because he con. tracted multiple sclerosis, yesterday CIA-RDP96-OO711ft6=!VA=PkX* 15 - 6 they were forced to line up against the wall and were stripped and search'-d Approved For Release 2000/08/08 CIA-RDP96-00788ROO2100450005-6 queen also described a InOcy ex- ec.ti. the hostages were subjected to -hen the Militants Pulled the triggers of empty guns, Another hostage who was released early, Elizabeth Montague, now an assistant on. the China desk at the State Department, talked of "threats with guns.* including an 'incident When the militants played Russlahl rouletta_VVi her and another em- bassy se&etarjtnrVjogqt.informA- tion. William Quarles, one.of the;13 hostages released earlier, visited his former colleagues at the ' hospital yesterday afternoon. Quarles said that bone of them told. him ~tfiqy bad been kept separated and were moved all over the country, iome -flown to differehtparts,sOMO taken by car." Nearly all of the'hiwagii were reported to have. been. moved out A-7 of the US. Embassy 'compound shortly after the abortive rq'scue at- tempt In April. most hostages reported being blindfolded and moved'at least four times; -pick, Kupke told his,falai[Y he was moved 19 tjmei. The hostagestried tq ind ways to cbramunicate with sWref codes. Col. Thomas Schaeffer, .0 military attache,, said the fiostag6s'used a Russian tapping code with each Oth- er to pass messages. John W. Limbert, a former Statq Department official from ftshfn&-~ ton whose son was q'hostage. Said ll~at JobnhJrglone tv a tell for ni 0 it s te camouflaged let- ters home. 'When he told me he was working on knotty chess prob. lems, LunderstoGd that he was in solitary confinement." I B.ruce Laingen, the charge d'af- I faires who remained with two other i -hostages in the relative comfort of t the Voreign Ministry. was aW to l catihome the first few months. De- 0 spite the fact that the Iranians mon- I itored the line, I.Alingen and his wife X Penne in Bethesda were able to Pass 0 surre=ds messages - that were later on to the State Depart- 13 ment by speaking in Thai. Washington Star Staff Wrifers P Lindsay Gruson, Christopher P Win P ner, Patrice Gaines-Carter and Diane Brockett also contributed to P, this article. Approved For Release 2000/08/08 CIA-RDP96-00788ROO2100450005-6