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White House Diaries
July
03
1985
July 03, 1985
Wednesday, July 3, 1985
We’re all agreed the new Soviet Foreign Minister is there to hold the fort for Gorbachev. We also decided—now that the meeting with him has been announced—that we must do nothing to raise public expectations. I said we must paint with a broad brush & not give the press specifics as to our agenda.
Then we had a frustrating N.S.P.G. meeting re the 7 kidnap victims & the matter of Lebanon generally. Some feel we must retaliate. I feel to do so would definitely risk the lives of the 7. We are going to proceed to enlist other nations in closing down the Beirut airport. We are also going to maintain a posture that if another hijack takes place & the plane is headed for a Beirut landing—we’ll get there 1st & bomb h--l out of the runway. We are also discussing a plan to take care of the Libya situation—including bombing some known terrorist training centers.
We know the identity of the 2 hijackers who murdered Robbie Stetham. The problem is how do we get to them for trial in the U.S. All in all it’s d--n frustrating even though we are overjoyed at our success in getting the hostages back. That’s about it for the day.
