Looking For a Way Out

Jackson's coup creates an opening in Lebanon

The scene was historical theater at its best, complete with tears, smiles and the unlikeliest of costars. There, standing in the White House Rose Garden and surrounded by beaming relatives, was Navy Lieut. Robert Goodman, dramatically home after a month in a Syrian jail. There was the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Democratic presidential aspirant whose audacious diplomacy won Goodman his freedom. And there, in the middle, was Ronald Reagan, who a week earlier had declined to take Jackson's calls before the Baptist minister left for Damascus. But now the President graciously thanked the amateur envoy for his "personal mission of mercy." Any questions about Syrian President Hafez Assad's motives for releasing Goodman or the propriety of Jackson's engaging in foreign negotiations were lost in the fervor of the moment. As Reagan put it, "You don't quarrel with success."

The diplomatic coup earned political points for Jackson (see following story) and raised hopes for a settlement in Lebanon that would allow the Reagan Administration gracefully to withdraw the 1,800 U.S. Marines from Beirut. Making no mention of its own 40,000 soldiers in eastern Lebanon, the Syrian government said its gesture should prompt Washington "to end its military involvement in Lebanon." Though Reagan remained opposed to a U.S. pullout now, he did send a thank-you message to Assad saying that "this is an opportune moment to put all the issues on the table."

The liberation of Goodman at least eased tensions between the two countries, whose worsening relations deteriorated sharply in December when Syrian anti-aircraft batteries fired on U.S. reconnaissance planes over eastern Lebanon. During a retaliatory strike the next day, two U.S. fighter-bombers were shot down and Goodman was captured. The new mood could be seen in small ways: Syrian television and newspapers carried the full text of Reagan's note to Assad, while the U.S. President expressed a willingness to meet with the Syrian leader. Donald Rumsfeld, Reagan's special envoy to the Middle East, is now expected to see Assad on his current swing through the region.

The improving climate comes at an important time. Lebanese President Amin Gemayel is engaged in delicate negotiations with his country's brawling factions over a security pact that would extend his military authority beyond Beirut and strengthen the buffer zones between Christians and the Shi'ite Muslims and Druze. Washington is pushing the plan not only because it will enhance the chances for a lasting cease-fire but because it could provide an opportunity to redeploy the Marines to safer ground. Two of America's partners in the Multi-National Force also were increasingly restive about being pinned down in Beirut. France announced that in late January it would transfer one-fourth of its 1,750-man garrison to rejoin the United Nations Force in southern Lebanon. Italy plans to cut its contingent from 2,200 to 1,100 in the near future. Britain alone has promised not to reduce its presence, but its troops number only 100 or so.