The Presidency

By Hugh Sidey

In the stuffy White House briefing room, George Bush sparred with the hostage tar baby last Thursday, anguish shadowing his eyes at each of a dozen questions that have no satisfactory answers. Does the situation look brighter? "I welcome the release of ((Robert)) Polhill and ((Frank)) Reed," Bush answered. "But I can't rejoice and say that my heart is full of great goodwill as long as six others are held hostage."

Wasn't the South Lawn ceremony with Polhill a hero's welcome for a man who disregarded U.S. warnings against staying in Beirut? And didn't Polhill's secret message to Bush suggest to terrorists that this was a way to communicate with the President? "I don't worry so much as to the message," said Bush. "What I do worry about is if anybody perceives that we're putting a higher price on some human being by all of this . . . I sorted it out and did my best."

For more than ten years Presidents have failed to sort it out. Jimmy Carter was driven from office by the hostage tragedy, and Ronald Reagan's futile attempt to swap arms for hostages blighted his presidency. Bush has steadily followed the recommendation of his own 1985 task force not to negotiate with terrorists and to cut out the hoopla, the yellow ribbons and prayer vigils, events that did raise the worth of the hostages.

But still, every act or failure to act brings criticism. John Root, a young New York City lawyer whose wife perished on Pan Am Flight 103, a bombing with a suspected link to Tehran, was incensed to hear Bush's "thanks" to Iran and Syria for their help in freeing Polhill and Reed. Thanks for a tiny lapse from barbarism? "We can't go by the Marquis of Queensberry rules," says Root, although he acknowledges sympathy for Bush and his impossible equation.

Bush fights with himself. Compromise and accommodation are in his nature. He has fought off aides who whispered that the men who maneuvered for the release of Polhill and Reed must show they can get something in return. Bush has spawned what is now called the "no-deal deal." This includes his vague thanks, subtle pressure on Israel to release Shi'ite prisoners, hints that $1 billion of frozen Iranian assets will be freed faster. The U.S. will increase its efforts to learn the fate of four Iranians who disappeared in Lebanon in 1982. There is more imagery and body language in all of that than there is substance -- yet.

Bush runs his own show, another lesson from the Reagan calamity. When the word came that Polhill's deliverance was imminent, the President was fishing off Key Largo, Fla. He got Ambassador to Syria Ed Djerejian on the phone before Djerejian was to pick up Polhill from the Syrian couriers. "Tell them that any improvement in relations is dependent on the release of all the hostages," Bush cautioned. Within five minutes of that phone call, Djerejian, who once worked in the Reagan White House, had Polhill in his car, heading back to the U.S.embassy.

In Washington Bush meticulously designed a low-key White House meeting with Polhill, who had asked to see the President. There was to be only one photo opportunity; private talk, no press conferences. The coincidental release of Reed changed the script, and Bush felt compelled to surface for reporters with Polhill and give his thanks.

By week's end the hostage case was back in the shadows. Something was moving, but it was not on paper and not in the diplomatic cables and not visibly near the top of George Bush's agenda. Bush plays this dreadful game for the wasting lives of six Americans -- and perhaps his own political health.